From Welfare To Market: Testing the impact of marketisation on public support for housing associations
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Ryan Peddie, recent graduate in Policy, Politics and Economics from the University of Birmingham, shares insights into his research project as a recipient of Commonweal’s Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary.
In my final year, I was lucky enough to be awarded the Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary sponsored by Commonweal Housing, allowing me to incentivise my research experiment to generate insights.
My dissertation explored how language used in housing associations’ public communications has changed across the 21st century and whether these shifts affected people’s willingness to support these organisations.
To understand this, I conducted a literature review focussed primarily on three areas: marketisation, framing, and behavioural responses. Marketisation is the process of introducing markets into civil society. Within the housing association sector, marketisation has occurred due to reduced government funding and policies such as Cameron’s “Big Society”, which have increased competition for investment. This process has led to the adoption of more business-oriented language by housing association CEOs (as identified in previous research).
Framing theory suggests that the way an issue is presented causes different responses. This raises the question: if the language used by housing associations has become more business-like, how has this impacted public support?
Firstly, I conducted a thematic analysis of 12 annual reports from housing associations across the 21st century. Notably, this found some language shifts such as “tenants” becoming “customers”, as well as shifts in focus. For example, greater focus on community investment pre-2010, followed by greater emphasis on efficiency and financial performance post-2010.
However, one thing that became clear during this analysis is that the housing associations I reviewed kept the same mission. There were relatively similar levels of references to “need” and supporting those with a housing need, suggesting that the aims of their work remained the same, but how they discussed it shifted.
Ryan's presentation slides. Click here to access the full presentation deck.
The language identified here supported me in designing a dictator game experiment - a way of exploring giving and motivations for giving. The themes and language identified created two frames: a welfare-oriented and a market-oriented. Participants were shown one of two frames, given £5 and asked how much, if any, they would like to donate to the housing association’s (Walsall Housing Group) work.
I’m delighted that 250 participants took part, raising a total of £394, which was then donated to a community partner of the housing association, a food bank in Walsall. The results identified no significant difference between the two groups, with average donations of £1.57 under the welfare-oriented frame and £1.59 under the market-oriented frame.
However, this experiment found that personal characteristics were significant and positive predictors of donations. Older participants, women, and those with knowledge of the housing association were more likely to donate, suggesting that personal characteristics are more important in understanding motivations for support than language.
Ultimately, this research established that the language adopted in housing associations’ communications changed in response to greater marketisation, but raises the question of why this did not change behaviour. My analysis suggests that the marketisation of housing associations and the subsequent language shifts are neutral to the public, and the language evolution is only important for a certain audience, in this case, investors – an area for future research.
The Jane Slowey Memorial Bursary made my dissertation a dream, enabling me to run an actual experiment with real people across the UK. It also made me think more and more about housing issues in the UK, and opened my eyes to continue research and engaging with housing policy in the future.
After my graduation, I was given the opportunity to intern with Commonweal Housing over the summer. I have supported the Communications and Policy team on various projects, including the launch of Call For New Ideas 2026. It has been a fascinating experience, gaining significant insight into the ways that social policy issues can translate into research and projects.
At the end of September, I will continue my education with a Master's in Behavioural and Economic Science at the University of Warwick. I hope to be able to continue testing new ways of approaching social policy issues through research.
