A Plea for Methodological Pluralism in Marketing Science: The Case of Nonprofit Marketing Concept (original) (raw)
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Concept of nonprofit marketing has emerged from discussions of applying the philosophy and techniques of marketing to the public and nonprofit sectors in the marketing literature. However, many of these marketing ideas emerged originally from social science disciplines. Almost all social science can be classified into the two general categories of «individualistic" and "collectivistic" perspectives . This study attempts to accommodate a pluralistic stance toward diversity of social science perspectives in context of nonprofit marketing theory. Thus, it is not limited to discussion of individualistic or collectivist references. The study attempts to consider different social science perspectives to validate nonprofit marketing theory.
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SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
The objectives of the study were (a) to identify the reasons and concerns of those public administrators and marketing scholars who do not accept the usefulness of marketing in the public sector; (b) to deconstruct, comprehend, interpret, and critically appraise the current conceptualization of nonprofit marketing from the viewpoint of negativists identified in step (a); and (c) to reconstruct, redefine, reinterpret, and reoperationalize the current controversial conceptualization of public sector marketing into a new conceptualization. The critical theory approach to the study primary used non-empirical procedures data collection and analytic procedures that included investigative research. The paper presents results of investigative research analysis.
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The field of nonprofit marketing has progressed considerably. However, the field has often been discordant and fragmented. Progressive streams of research in nonprofit marketing, in which connected incremental increases in our knowledge have been lacking. To provide a unifying framework which researchers can use when planning a research program, this paper presents a holistic model of research knowledge development. The purpose of this paper is to help researchers find useful research topics and to develop research programs that will make meaningful contributions to the field. Developing a nomological net is presented as a foundational means of establishing the proposed study's contribution to the extant literature. It is key in depicting the inter-construct influences acting on the focal outcome variables. The goal is to develop research that has greater theoretical significance and practical implications.
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The author deconstructs the prevailing controversial conceptualization of nonprofit marketing and concludes it rests on three principles: voluntary exchange, an open system organization, and self-interest motivation. Negative case analysis of these principles revealed that alternative principles were ignored in the social science literature. Based on a qualitative analysis a revised conceptualization of non-profit marketing was suggested which incorporated the principles of redistribution and reciprocity, the features of a closed model of formal organization, and public interest motivation. The critical theory approach to the study used non-empirical procedures that included negative case analysis. The paper presents results of negative case analysis.
Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 2015
In this article three generations of research addressing the marketing construct in nonprofit organizations are critically analyzed: (a) market orientation in nonprofit organizations, (b) societal orientation, and (c) research contributions aiming to close the existing practice-theory gap on this topic. A qualitative study among 24 nonprofit marketers is conducted in Canada and Germany to develop a construct labeled nonprofit marketing orientation. It includes the dimensions of brand orientation, supporters' orientation, commercial orientation, and service orientation. Furthermore, the authors describe the nomological net of nonprofit marketing orientation to present interconstruct relationships and to inform future research.
Developing a Marketing Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations: An Exploratory Study
Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 2009
Nonprofit organizations have grown tremendously in the last three decades. With this growth has come a greater interest from the nonprofit sector in the importance of marketing. Nonprofits did not apply marketing techniques until 1960-70, but it is now a well accepted practice. Traditional marketing theories do not work for nonprofit organizations, and this study proposes the development of a new marketing theory specifically for this sector. Through the use of interviews and surveys, the authors examine issues of marketing strategy that are distinct for nonprofits. Unlike previous studies, this study examines these issues from the viewpoint of the nonprofit organization. The perception of marketing is different in nonprofit organizations, and the strategic implications of this finding are discussed.
Industrial Marketing Management, 2016
This paper calls for methodological pluralism in industrial marketing research. We discuss three challenges that proponents of methodological pluralism have to address if their practice is to be seen as credible: the paradigm problem; psychological resistance; and lack of cultural readiness to accept pluralism. We review the works of a variety of authors from other disciplines who have tackled these problems, and identify useful ideas to take forward into a model of learning. This addresses the paradigm problem by making it clear that no pluralist methodology can exist without making its own paradigmatic assumptions. It deals with psychological resistance by talking in terms of learning, starting from wherever the researcher is currently situated (a large knowledge base is not needed to begin practicing methodological pluralism). However, this model does not deal with the question of whether the time is right, culturally, for methodological pluralism. We argue that the time will be right when it is widely appreciated that methodological pluralism adds value to industrial marketing research practice. The next step for our research community must be the accumulation of a body of empirical evidence to demonstrate that this added value does or does not exist.
Sinop University Journal of Social Sciences , 2023
Since its emergence in economics as a distribution matter, marketing has been discussed as to whether it is an art or a science. Although marketing as a thought dates back approximately a century, its existence ontologically coincides with the similar timeline of the appearance of mankind on earth. While practitioners and some scholars with a narrow view of marketing are inclined to see marketing as an art, scholars and practitioners with non-profit/macro/positive perspective acknowledge marketing as ontologically, epistemologically, and methodologically an original science. The main purpose of this study is to raise awareness about the scientific nature of marketing and discuss its scope, properties, and methodology. In the context of this study, it has been emphasized that marketing is a science of exchanges which is built upon the teachings of the four pillars of social sciences, namely sociology, psychology, economics and anthropology. Marketing aims to understand, explain, predict and, to a certain extent, control the exchange behaviors of humans in the real-world conditions and to bring theory and practice together. If marketing is separated from practice, it would diverge from reality and turn to a blackboard science which produces synthetic knowledge that fails to provide benefits to businesses and society, at large. This is why marketing has been evaluated as an original and synthesized applied science in this paper.
A Critical Appraisal of the Concept of Non-profit Services Marketing
Service Science, 2010
he author deconstructs the prevailing conceptualization of non-profit marketing and concludes it rests on three principles: voluntary exchange, an open system organization, and self-interest motivation. A review of the genesis of these principles revealed that alternative principles were ignored in the social science literature. Based on a qualitative analysis a revised conceptualization of non-profit marketing was suggested which incorporated the principles of reciprocity, the features of a contingency-choice organization, and altruistic interest motivation. A revised definition of non-profit marketing is offered based on these principles.