The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of the marketing concept within both the internal (internal market) and external environments in the context of the local public sector. It also aims to examine the impact of market orientation (MO) on employees' job‐related attitudes (job satisfaction and organisational commitment (OC)) and organisational performance (OP).
Researchers take a methodological approach by using a survey method. Structural equation modelling is employed to analyse the data collected from a sample of municipality executive board members in order to test the causal relationships proposed in the research model.
The results of this empirical study demonstrate that internal marketing implementation has an important effect in fostering market‐oriented behaviours of local public organisations. The effect of MO on both job‐related attitudes and OP was also empirically supported. However, the paper's findings do not support the hypotheses that increased levels of job satisfaction and OC enhance OP.
Local public sector managers should recognise the importance of allocating resources to ensure the gathering and dissemination of and responsiveness to market information in both internal and external environments: this will likely enhance job satisfaction, OC and OP.
Despite claims that the implementation of marketing in the internal environment is vital for external marketing success, this relationship has not yet been extensively discussed in the literature. The paper's results provide quantitative evidence to support this relationship. Also, this paper offers additional research on the role of market‐oriented behaviours on job satisfaction, OC and OP, presenting interesting challenges for further research among practitioners and academics.
