Employee and internal markets : finding personal profits in non-profits

In recent years there has been a growth in literature exploring why people engage in giving behaviour whether in terms of their time as volunteers or their financial donations. The related literature includes broader debate regarding whether such apparently altruistic actions were in fact motivated by the desire for some form of reward. As non profits battle increased competition for funds and limitations on their traditional sources of funding they are compelled to become more business focused in order to generate funds from the general population. In striving to achieve this, they must find a source of advantage to help distinguish them and their case from others and service quality has the potential to do this, provided they can employ and retain customer oriented employees. However, appearing with far less frequency in the marketing literature is the internal marketing of these organisations and investigations of employee motivations. This paper explores some of the challenges the non-profit sector has faced in terms of recruitment and internal marketing and reviews some specific motivations compelling employees of nonprofits to devote their time and energy to the cause, including implications of a proposed relationship with the concept of self efficacy.