Analysis of the Internal Marketing Dimensions in Social Economy Organizations: Study Applied to Co-operativism in Ecuador

Francisco González Santa Cruz; Nelly Moreira Mero; María Iliana Loor Alcívar; Amalia Hidalgo Fernández

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.580673

Analysis of the Internal Marketing Dimensions in Social Economy Organizations: Study Applied to Co-operativism in Ecuador

Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 25:11:580673. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.580673. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Francisco González Santa Cruz¹, Nelly Moreira Mero², María Iliana Loor Alcívar², Amalia Hidalgo Fernández¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Law and Business Administration, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.
² Faculty of Accounting and Auditing, University Eloy Alfaro of Manabí, Manta, Ecuador.

Abstract

Internal marketing involves the development of organizational strategies that promote the welfare of the employees who, in turn, play a transcendental role in achieving institutional goals. Ecuadoran co-operativism lacks relevant studies of this construct and, because of this, this research intends to analyze the dimensions of internal marketing, through the validation of a measuring instrument that has been adapted to this sector of the social economy, in a developing country. The methodology is based on the completion of field work, where a structured questionnaire for a representative sample of 2,499 employees and officers of the operatives of Ecuador was applied. The suitability of the scale was determined through the means of a model of Ecuadoran structural equations. The results show that internal marketing is a multi-dimensional construct and it can be measured in six dimensions: Identify Value Exchange (IVE), Internal Market Segmentation (IMS), Internal Communication (IC), Management Concern (MC), Training (TR), and Work/Family Balance (WFB).

Keywords: Ecuador; co-creation of value; co-operatives; internal marketing dimensions; measuring scale.