Marketing and performance evaluations in non‐profit services : “Missed” targeting in communicating stakeholders' expectations

Purpose – The paper aims to examine how not communicating stakeholders' expectations through marketing results in mis‐targeting. It also aims to suggest that, when non‐profit managers do not succeed in capturing stakeholders' definitions of performance, marketing is ineffective and may even result in decreased support for organisational goals. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys were administered to managers from a sample of 135 non‐profits in Israel with a 63 per cent return rate. Findings – The findings suggest that marketing practices have a differential effect on public/private stakeholders; and the effect of marketing on performance increases when targeting public stakeholders, but negatively affects performance when targeting private stakeholders. These results suggest that not properly communicating funders' expectations is the cause for the ineffective use of marketing in non‐profit organisations (NPOs). Research limitations/implications – Marketing may have both positive and negative effects on performance but attention should be addressed to the differences of marketing targets in order to fit between marketing techniques and marketing targets. Practical implications – The results highlight the importance of a professional approach to marketing practices in NPOs that consider the diversity of stakeholders in expectations and definitions of performance. Originality/value – This is the first paper that examines the reasons why marketing has not been a successful means to increase performance in non‐profit settings.