Market orientation in NGDOs: Construction of a scale focused on their stakeholders

Abstract

Nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs) have traditionally enjoyed notable recognition and visibility within the field of nonprofit organizations. However, the situation of this sector is problematic in its need to respond to various threats whether programmatic, financial, or of social legitimacy. This study poses as a hypothesis that market orientation, as a management philosophy which many NGDOs could adopt, may be fundamental for them to deal successfully with the challenges they face. An analysis of the literature on market orientation in the nonprofit sector showed that the existing models of market orientation did not adequately capture NGDOs' real working context, thus recommending a broader market approach based on proposals oriented to the stakeholder and to social aspects. For this reason, the objective of the study was to create a scale of market orientation adapted to the reality of the work of NGDOs. Analysis of a sample of 104 Spanish entities allowed an eight-factor market orientation scale for NGDOs to be created and validated, which reached optimal values of reliability and validity.