An investigation into market orientation among non-profit organisations in Hong Kong and its associated effects on fundraising performance and donor relationships

Non-profit organisations are becoming vitally important to the development of the world economy and to global societal changes. However, the rising demand to execute their missions, compounded with the increasing competition for funding, has exposed non-profits to financial vulnerability. Accordingly, there is a vast body of research into non-profit fundraising effectiveness, which has affirmed that the implementation of marketing concepts enhance non-profit fundraising performance. Despite this, only minimal research into the marketing behaviour pertinent to fundraising effectiveness in the Chinese contexts is evident, within this specific body of research. Moreover, the interplay between marketing techniques and relationship marketing with donors is critical for non-profits in the Chinese culture but is underplayed in academic research (Ambler, 1994; Chad, Kyriazis, & Motion, 2013). This research endeavours to examine the implementation of the marketing concept in relation to non-profit fundraising effectiveness in Hong Kong, as compared to western contexts. The purpose of this research is threefold. Firstly, it verifies the relevance of fundraising market orientation for the non-profit sector in Hong Kong. Secondly, it identifies marketing behaviour pertaining to effective non-profit fundraising performance in Hong Kong, as compared to the UK and Australia. Thirdly, it explores if and how market orientation, mediated or moderated by relationship marketing with donors, enhances fundraising efficacy. This dissertation critically reviews and synthesizes the extant theories and perspectives on the nature and evolution of the use of marketing to manage funding resource dependence in the non-profit arena. In addition, this paper identifies geographic gaps in the extant literature and replicates the theoretical framework to examine an existing theory in a new geographical setting, in order to close the gaps. This research predominantly adopts a critical realist philosophical stance of inquiry which involves a primarily quantitative research method that allows a scientific comparison of fundraising-related marketing behaviour in the UK and Australia using inferential statistics. The research was set across all fifteen non-profit sub-sectors in Hong Kong and the respondents were fundraising directors or managers of non-profit organisations that undertook public fundraising in Hong Kong.