Introduction
The importance of a firm’s marketing culture has received considerable interest in the past few years from both researchers and practitioners (see Parasuraman, 1986; Schneider and Bowen, 1985). Marketing culture refers to the unwritten policies and guidelines which provide employees with behavioral norms, to the importance the organization as a whole places on the marketing function, and to the manner in which marketing activities are executed. Since service quality is one dimension of marketing culture, it follows that the kind of marketing culture an organization has would be particularly important for a service firm since the simultaneous delivery and receipt of services brings the provider and customer physically and psychologically close (Schneider, 1987).
The concept of marketing effectiveness has also been extensively discussed because of its strong association with many valuable organizational outcomes, such as stable, long-term growth, enhanced customer satisfaction, a competitive advantage, and a strong marketing orientation (see Kotler, 1977; Norborn et al., 1990). Given the importance of and interest in these two constructs, it is surprising to note that no published study has yet empirically investigated the linkage between the kind of marketing culture a firm has and its effectiveness. Thus, the purposes of the current research are to determine the role that marketing culture plays in determining marketing effectiveness and to determine if firms desiring higher levels of marketing effectiveness should take measures to strengthen their marketing culture. More specifically, this article briefly reviews the literature on marketing culture and effectiveness, presents the theoretical orientations which dominate the hypothesized relationship between marketing culture and marketing effectiveness, and empirically tests the relationship using data from 173 service firms representing banking, health care, public transportation, and product repair/maintenance industries.
