Development of a Market Orientation Research Agenda for the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract

Market orientation is the overarching framework by which practitioners and academics make sense of the interplay between customers, competition, stakeholders, and the organization within the commercial for-profit arena and is the way the marketing concept is put into practice. Many academics have argued that market orientation would also benefit nonprofit organizations by generating more funds in an increasingly competitive environment. The purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic review of market orientation, identify gaps, and develop a research agenda for market orientation research within the underresearched nonprofit sector. This research agenda highlights the structural, human resource, and cultural challenges nonprofit organizations face if they decide to adopt a market orientation, and the need to develop a praxis framework currently missing from the literature. The article offers suggestions for researchers to extend the concept of market orientation from the commercial for-profit into the nonprofit arena.