The effectiveness of internal marketing strategies of private tertiary education institutions (PTEIs) in an emerging market

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to determine if internal marketing (IM) activities are fulfilling their intended purpose of creating customer centred employees. Such IM activities are designed to enhance employee productive behaviour (EPB). The target population of this study consisted of academic staff from the Private tertiary education institutions (PTEIs) in Gaborone, Botswana. The questionnaires were hand delivered to a sample size of 140 respondents. The descriptive research method as well as the quantitative research approach was used in this study. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, and analysed to compute factor analysis. The findings of this study show that the majority of the employees (96%) understood that the IM strategies motivate employees and was most importantly influenced the purposes of IM strategies. Two factors explained the ways management designed IM strategies: Management’s focus on the organizational goals and disregard for employees. The results of this study show that most of the employees (88%) believed that management unilaterally design IM strategies. Leadership and management of tertiary education institutions could apply the recommendations proposed by this study to create customer centred employees. In addition, recognizing the need for marketing faculty to make marketing knowledge creation and dissemination more relevant to education institutions. To accomplish this goal, more academic research can be targeted toward internal marketing for tertiary education institutions.