Market Orientation in NGDOs: Construction of a Scale Focused on Their Stakeholders

Abstract

Nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs) have traditionally enjoyed notable recognition and visibility within the field of nonprofit organizations. However, the situation of this sector is problematic in its need to respond to various threats whether programmatic, financial, or of social legitimacy. This study poses as a hypothesis that market orientation, as a management philosophy which many NGDOs could adopt, may be fundamental for them to deal successfully with the challenges they face. An analysis of the literature on market orientation in the nonprofit sector showed that the existing models of market orientation did not adequately capture NGDOs’ real working context, thus recommending a broader market approach based on proposals oriented to the stakeholder and to social aspects. For this reason, the objective of the study was to create a scale of market orientation adapted to the reality of the work of NGDOs. Analysis of a sample of 104 Spanish entities allowed an eight-factor market orientation scale for NGDOs to be created and validated, which reached optimal values of reliability and validity.

From culture to behaviour: donor orientation and organisational identification

“…One of the main differences of non-profit organisations such as the BTCS is that they operate in a dual market, as their target audience does not only comprise the beneficiaries of From culture to behaviour their actions but also donors, who are key to achieving their aims (Padanyi and Gainer, 2004). Indeed, in the non-profit context the customer has been renamed "stakeholder" to reflect a broader definition of MO that leads to non-profit effectiveness (Padanyi and Gainer, 2004;Rey García et al, 2013;Valero-Amaro et al, 2019;Wymer et al, 2015) and in which customer is split into various subsets, namely, beneficiary, donor, employee, volunteer (Duque-Zuluaga and Schneider, 2008;Mitchell et al, 2015) or even society at large (Valero-Amaro et al, 2019;Wymer et al, 2015).…”

“…As for the contents of each dimension, it has been necessary to adapt or remove some items of the scales found in Narver and Slater's (1990) and Kohli and Jaworski's (1990) works owing to the particular characteristics of BTCS. Numerous authors have highlighted the need to modify the scales to the specific needs of each non-profit organisation (Alnawas and Phillips, 2015;Duque-Zuluaga and Schneider, 2008;Gainer and Padanyi, 2005;Valero-Amaro et al, 2019). These two new scales of MOcultural donor orientation (CDO) and behavioural donor orientation (BDO)were pre-tested by 10 managers of Spanish BTCS directly linked to the blood-extraction service.…”

“…There are very few published studies that delve into this issue, especially so in the blood donation context (Zhou et al, 2009). The lack of research on MO in the non-profit sector is largely a result of many characteristics peculiar to non-profit organisations, for example, the intangibility of their performance targets, stakeholder diversity or the wide range of subsectors comprised by the non-profit sector, each with markedly different goals and activities (Chad et al, 2013;Modi and Mishra, 2010;Padanyi and Gainer, 2004;Valero-Amaro et al, 2019).…”

“…Non-profit marketing is an issue scarcely addressed given the multiple specificities of the non-profit context (Chad, 2013;Modi and Mishra, 2010) and the role of employees' identification has been almost ignored in this context even though it is crucial in explaining their work behaviours (Rho et al, 2015). Also, from a methodological perspective, this research contributes by developing a specific empirical tool to address the issue of MO in the context of BTCS, this way following the suggestion of several scholars who state the need to adapt the classical MO scales to the specific context of the different non-profit organisations (Alnawas and Phillips, 2015;Duque-Zuluaga and Schneider, 2008;Gainer and Padanyi, 2005;Valero-Amaro et al, 2019).…”

A social capital approach of market orientation in public non‐profit organizations: The case of blood transfusion centers in Spain

“…On these lines, researchers such as Hersberger‐Langloh (2022), Korunka et al (2007) and Parker et al (2007) state that the concept of MO should be adapted to fit non‐profit organizations that offer products and/or services to satisfy social needs or non‐profit goals. Therefore, MO scales need also to be adapted to the specific needs of each non‐profit organization(s) (Alnawas & Phillips, 2015; Duque‐Zuluaga & Schneider, 2008; Gainer & Padanyi, 2005; Hersberger‐Langloh, 2022; Valero‐Amaro et al, 2019). A particular case of this kind of organizations is that of BTCS, the main unit of analysis of this study, and previous adaptations of the MO construct and scale to non‐profits have had very few applications for blood donation.…”