Title: Internal marketing and business excellence: are innovation and knowledge-sharing missing links?

Authors: Sayyed Mohsen Allameh; Pooya Entekhabi; Ardalan Samadi

Addresses: Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: This study aims to develop and examine a conceptual framework with the role of knowledge sharing in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) context. Unlike previous research that mainly focused on internal marketing and innovation separately, this study aims to examine these two by knowledge sharing to improve business excellence in SMEs. The structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the designed model and its hypotheses based on the survey distributed among practitioners in SMEs. Based on the results of SEM, the relationships between internal marketing, innovation, knowledge sharing and business excellence have been confirmed. The results helped to better understand how the mechanisms of internal marketing, innovation and knowledge sharing can lead to an increase in business excellence.

Keywords: internal marketing; employee; knowledge management; knowledge sharing; innovation; business excellence; organisational performance; European Foundation for Quality Management; EFQM; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2020.106931

International Journal of Management Practice, 2020 Vol.13 No.3, pp.237 - 251

Received: 14 Jul 2017
Accepted: 01 Nov 2018

Published online: 28 Apr 2020 *

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