Measuring internal market orientation

Ian N. Lings*, Gordon E. Greenley

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Internal marketing has been discussed in the management and academic literature for more than three decades, yet it remains ill defined and poorly operationalized. This article responds to calls to develop a single, clear understanding of the construct, to develop an instrument to measure it, and for empirical evidence of its impact. Existing conceptualization of internal marketing are explored, and a new, multidimensional construct, internal market orientation (IMO), is developed. IMO represents the adaptation of market orientation to the context of employer-employee exchanges in the internal market. The article describes the development of a measure of IMO in a retail services context. Five dimensions of IMO are identified and confirmed. These describe different managerial behaviors associated with internal marketing. The impact of IMO on important organizational factors is also explored. Results indicate positive consequences for customer satisfaction, relative competitive position, staff attitudes, staff retention and staff compliance. © 2005 Sage Publications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)290-305
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Service Research
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2005

Bibliographical note

© Sage 2005. The final publication is available via Sage at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1094670504271154

Keywords

  • human resources
  • internal market orientation
  • internal marketing
  • scale development
  • statistical analysis

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