Internal marketing as an agent of change – implementing a new human resource information system for Malaysian Airlines

Abstract

The first part of this research determines the relationship between ten selected variables and employees' acceptance of a planned change in Malaysian Airlines. The second part draws on the original findings to conceptually investigate the potential role, degree and nature of internal marketing as a positive agent of change. The findings initially determine the causality of the primary research results. Subsequently and prescriptively, they indicate that ‘perception management' through internal marketing may play a critical role in both the acceptance and the implementation of change, especially regarding the more professional positions/processes of an organisation. The paper finally develops a provisional prescriptive model of internal marketing towards organisational change and expands on the practical and managerial implications of the findings. The value of the research lies primarily in its unorthodox introduction of internal marketing as a catalytic agent of organisational change, as well as in its prescriptive managerial implications and its innovative contemporary marketing context.