Prevalence of internal marketing as strategy implementation tool in selected Ethiopian commercial banks

Abstract

Strategy implementation requires, among others, internal marketing so as to treat employees as a customer and the job as a product using marketing like approach. The objective of the study is examining adoption and implementation of internal marketing practices as a strategic tool to implement the formulated strategy and to see the impact of internal marketing on enhancing employee attitude, organizational commitment and customer orientation in four last entrants of the Ethiopian banking industry. A quantitative, descriptive and correlational research approach is used to find out the appropriate answers of the research questions. Considering the mean score of the measurement variables, employees of the banks perceived that though the banks have a very good internal communication, they are very weak in internal information generation and the responsiveness to internal market which resulted in weak internal marketing practice. The banks found to have low commitment, engagement and low attitude to their organization. The customer orientation of the banks is also found to be weak. This shows that internal marketing has not been communicated and established amongst employees in the way that enable employees to have commitment and positive attitude to their organization to develop customer orientation as well. Based on the regression analysis, the major findings of this study is that internal marketing practice have a positive impact on enhancing employee attitude, organizational commitment and customer orientation of the banking sector. The researchers suggested that managers need to focus on internal marketing programs to achieve and sustain a strategic objective in the market. Managers should also involve the empowerment practice to increase motivation, consider that the human power is the greatest resource, and concentrate on trying to instill a customer orientation amongst their employees.

Keywords: Customer orientation, employee attitude, internal marketing, organizational commitment, strategy implementation