Market orientation in the non-profit sector: a resource dependence perspective

In the context of an increasingly competitive environment in which organisations are compelled to manage their resources and capabilities in more efficient and effective ways, the concept of market orientation has been acknowledged as highly important in the marketing and management literature. The existing literature, however, has mainly been focused on the for-profit sector and, to our best knowledge, little research has been undertaken in other organisational contexts, such as the non-profit sector. Given the specificity of NPOs and the increasingly demanding resource environments in which these organisations operate, thepresent study examines the extent to which resource dependence impacts the market orientation construct. The findings suggest that resource dependence has proven to provide important insights for gaining a better understanding of market orientation although this concept needs to be reassessed in the specific context of non-profit organisations. The paper concludes with a series of implications for theory and practice.