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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/abr.96.10391. Samanta, I., & Arfara, C. (2021). The Impact of Internal Marketing on “Green” Management of Intellectual Capital. Archives of
Business Research, 9(6). 51-67.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Impact of Internal Marketing on “Green” Management of
Intellectual Capital
Dr. Irene Samanta
Associate Professor
University of West Attica, Department of Business Administration
Christina Arfara
University of West Attica, Department of Business Administration
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between internal marketing
and “green” management of intellectual capital by testing correlations between
internal marketing and knowledge capital, the development of “green” employees,
“green” organisational culture and the “green” reputation of the organization. A
questionnaire of 20 items was sent by e-mail via Google docs, to firms that employ
more than 250 employees and have received awards for their working
environment. Data collection lasted from July to November of 2020 and 609
questionnaires were collected. Results strongly confirmed the correlations
between facilitation of flow information and maintenance of knowledge capital,
informal communication and the development of “green” employees, participatory
and supportive character of internal marketing programmes and the adoption of a
“green” culture and internal customers’ satisfaction and the development of the
organization’s “green” reputation, thus indicating a new perspective in a macro- level management. Managers need to adopt a contemporary perspective of
managing the intangible assets of the organization. Integration of internal
marketing practices can foster the maintenance of knowledge capital, the
development of “green” employees and achieve the reinforcement of “green”
organisational culture and the reputation of the organization. There is no previous
research attempting to explore how the “green” management of specific elements
of intellectual capital are correlated with internal marketing.
Keywords: internal marketing, “green” intellectual capital, knowledge capital, “green”
employees, “green” organisational culture, “green” reputation.
INTRODUCTION
Organisations, in their efforts to address external challenges, realize that the answer lies within
their internal environment. The available resources, tangible and intangible, the skills of the
staff and the way they are used by the company, are the factors that make the organisation
special and are related to its performance since they form the basis of the design of its strategy.
Companies adopt modern approaches regarding the management of their intangibles and apply
practices from different fields such as internal marketing, human capital management,
organizational behavior and organisational reputation management, in order to diversify and
improve their effectiveness. While there is an extensive literature regarding internal [3, 24, 33,
35, 61, 64, 74, 71, 78, 79, 80] and the management of “green” intellectual capital [15, 16, 49, 66,
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86], little focus has been given in exploring the relationship between internal marketing and
intellectual capital by integrating them at the same time with the environmental mainstream.
The concept of internal marketing is linked to the concept of employee welfare and the creation
of a working environment where the needs and desires of employees are met and guaranteed
to be at a high level [64, 71, 78, 79, 80]. Ahmed and Rafiq [3], de Farias [24], George [33], Greene
et al. [35], Parkash et al. [61] and Sohl [74] have highlighted the importance of internal
marketing as a means of implementing company's strategy as the implementation of relevant
programmes reduces isolation and confrontations, bends resistance to change, resulting in
motivated employees. It therefore contributes to the achievement of the organisation's goals.
“Green” management of intellectual capital consists a contemporary approach that
concentrates researchers’ interest [15, 17, 18, 66, 84, 86] as it reflects the "green" conversion
of organisations and the strengthening of their “green” consciousness by making the best
possible use of their intangible assets. Firms realise that they are an integral part of the
environment and therefore their sustainability is directly linked to it. Organisations are
adopting new strategies that focus on their “green” character and try to find practices and
procedures to reduce their ecological footprint at the same time as ensuring their economic
survival [2].
This research correlates the relationships developed between internal marketing and specific
elements of intellectual capital. It explores the associations of internal marketing with the
maintenance of knowledge capital, the development of "green" employees, the promotion of
"green" culture and the building of a "green" reputation for the organisation. The above
elements were selected in such a way as to cover the three dimensions of intellectual capital.
The development of employees and the maintenance of knowledge capital are examined in the
context of the management of human capital and the organisational culture within the
structural capital of the organisation. Furthermore, the dimension of relational capital is
examined with regard to the reputation of the organisation.
This study aims to provide new perspectives regarding the dynamic role of internal marketing
and highlights contemporary managerial directions by integrating issues that concern
employees, organisation and society. By conducting quantitative research, the relationship
among between internal marketing, maintenance of knowledge capital, development of
“‘green”’ employees, adoption of “‘green”’ culture, and building a “‘green”’ reputation is
examined.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The dynamic role of internal marketing
Concept of internal marketing has been documented through research its relationship with the
adoption of new values and new culture [36, 40, 63] , knowledge management [9], the transition
of a company to a learning organisation [29], reinforcing employees commitment [10, 70], value
creation [13], organisational agility and reinforcing branding awareness [14, 28, 53]. In
addition, internal marketing is a tool to detect the personal needs of employees and creates
value because by meeting employees’ needs they feel secure, strengthen their dedication and
thus ensure the alignment of their values with the objectives of the organisation [5, 15, 34, 38,
39, 45, 47, 68, 71, 77, 85]. Therefore, internal marketing proves its dynamic role in the
corporate environment.
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Samanta, I., & Arfara, C. (2021). The Impact of Internal Marketing on “Green” Management of Intellectual Capital. Archives of Business Research, 9(6).
51-67.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.96.10391
The above concepts, organisational culture, employee satisfaction and loyalty, organisation
learning, value creation and enhancing brand awareness have been examined in the context of
intellectual capital management [20, 25, 27, 44, 50, 67] and the importance of their relationship
has been highlighted. Therefore, the relationship of internal marketing with the above concepts
leads to its correlation with the management of intellectual capital.
“Green” Intellectual Capital”
The sustainability of the organisation presupposes the integration of “green” approaches into
the organisation's strategy and the success of such an operation lies in the determination of the
management and commitment to the goals [2].
Chang and Chen [15] examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility and
“green” intellectual capital taking into account the role of environmental awareness at both
individual and organisation level. At the individual level, the proper communication of the
company's “green” orientation to employees cultivates and strengthens their environmental
attitudes and thus encourages proactive environmental behaviors.
Moreover, Chen [18] explored the relationship between “green” intellectual capital
management and competitive advantage and concluded that all dimensions of “green”
intellectual capital (“green” human capital, “green” organisational/structural and “green”
relational capital) are positively correlated with competitive advantage and the more effective
the management of “green” intellectual capital the more powerful the competitive advantage.
“Green” Human Capital – Maintenance of Knowledge Capital and Development
Management of human capital is one of the three dimensions of intellectual capital. Nerdrum
and Erikson [54, p.127] define it as: “individuals' complementary capacity to generate added
value and thus create wealth”.
Yosoff et al. [84] focus on sustainable resource exploitation and promoting environmental
awareness by encouraging initiatives that promote “green” culture and the achievement of the
organisation's “green” objectives. Relevant studies confirm the inextricable link between
“green” human resource management practices and environmental management [60, 66, 69].
Ahmad [2] argues that “green” human resource management is being developed in two pillars:
environmentally friendly practices and the maintenance of knowledge capital. “Green”
practices aim to identify and activate “green” common denominators and seek to raise
awareness and commitment among employees as well as increased responsibility in
environmental matters it is hoped that employees adopt this attitude in their personal lives
thus creating “green” knowledge capital. “Green” human capital management practices
motivate employees, contribute to a better understanding of the effort to create a “green”
culture, become more productive as they find meaning in carrying out their tasks, enrich their
skills and reinforce the trend towards innovation [26].
An organisation that adopts "green" human resource management and development policies
ensures the free flow of information and ensures that employees have unhindered access to
databases. Employees are able to have a complete picture of the organisation, develop new
skills, become more creative in recognising and appreciating the working environment that
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provides them with these opportunities and for this reason low turnover rates are recorded
[32, 52, 57]. Through internal marketing practices, the organisation highlights actions,
enhancing information sharing and transparency. In this way it contributes to the maintenance
of knowledge capital as the organization’s actions facilitate the smooth flow of information in
order to maintain its knowledge capital, the following hypothesis H1 is formed :
Η1: The facilitation of information flow impacts the maintenance of knowledge capital
Mampra [49] correlates "green" intellectual capital management with all human resource
management practices that encourage the sustainable use of a company's resources and
promote the environmental awareness of employees, which in turn enhances employees’
satisfaction.
Zoogah [86] describes "green" intellectual capital management as all practices, philosophy and
policies designed to promote the rational use of the organisation's resources and prevent
behaviors/actions that harm the environment. Renwick et al. [66] argue that “green”
intellectual capital management is aimed at enhancing “green” behavior, motivating employees
to think “green” and creating opportunities for employees to acquire knowledge and skills
related to environmental sustainability. The achievement of the above dictates the integration
of the environmental objectives of the organisation into the processes of intellectual capital
management. Essentially reference has been made to “green” functions of human resource
management (“green” attraction and retention of personnel, “green” training, “green”
evaluation and so on [56], which in turn will lead to resource savings, attract the most talented
people, enhance the reputation of the organisation and create a competitive advantage [1].
Khan and Khan [43] and Jia et al. [46] focus on the flexible, friendly and informal communication
style. A communication style that respects the needs and interests of employees is what will
speed up the processes and lead to the desired results as through the "green" practices of
human resource management, the "green" passion of employees is reinforced. In this context,
the hypothesis H2 follows:
H2: Informal communication affects the development of “green” employees
“Green” organisational/structural capital – Organisational culture
Organisational/structural capital is the second dimension of intellectual capital and includes all
the intangible elements that characterize an organisation and concern culture-values, “green”
innovation, information systems and the working environment [62].
Organisational culture is an important asset in the organisation's toolbox and a strong culture
can lead to positive results at both employee and organisational level. Research [22, 23, 29, 63,
87] has underlined the important role of organisational culture in the adoption of
environmental values and practices. The success of the environmental project is directly linked
to both the value system of the employees and the open, supportive culture, which facilitates
the dissemination of information and encourages communication and the exchange of views.
Harris and Crane [40] and Wang [81] refer to “green” organisational culture which raises
challenges and new data for employees and managers (adopting new values, gaining
competitive advantage) while stressing the supporting role that the organisation's policies and
activities should have. In addition, internal marketing programmes contribute to the change of
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Samanta, I., & Arfara, C. (2021). The Impact of Internal Marketing on “Green” Management of Intellectual Capital. Archives of Business Research, 9(6).
51-67.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.96.10391
organisational culture and the adoption of new values [36, 40]. Therefore, internal marketing
programmes that are in line with the support of employees, contribute to the adoption of
environmental values. H3 is formed within this context:
Η3: The supportive character of internal marketing programmes is correlated with the
adoption of “green” culture
“Green” Relational Capital – The reputation of organisation
Relational capital, the third dimension of intellectual capital is not limited to relationships with
customers and suppliers. Initially, Bontis (1998) referred only to the organisation's relations
with customers but very soon other dimensions such as strategic alliances, partnerships, the
supply chain and reputation of the company were examined and were even studied in the
context of environmental awareness [7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 50, 73, 75, 76, 82, 83].
Environmental trends have affected consumers’ behavior and have changed the criteria on
which they base their purchase intention. Armitage et al. [6] link the identity and reputation of
the company to economic and environmental performance [17, 18, 19, 21, 48, 55, 59, 65].
Corporate identity gives particular impetus to the organisation as long as it meets the ever- increasing demands of consumers which is a priority in their minds.
The organisation's commitment to new values, enhances the corporate reputation and identity
of the organization, which is the vehicle to enter new markets and attract new customers [17,
18, 50, 56].
According to Tortosa et al. [78] communication, and in particular informal information
gathering, is an important factor in the relationship between internal marketing and consumer
satisfaction. This is because informal information collection is based on emotion since in order
to express an opinion freely, one must feel safe and feel that one's opinion really matters. This
enhances employees’ satisfaction as they feel that they enjoy consumer confidence and their
behavior is intending to meet customers' needs [71, 77]. Organisation’s reputation is positively
correlated with job satisfaction [4] and consequently attract talented and committed
employees, who in turn confirm and reinforce the existing organisation’s reputation.
Therefore, the extent to which organisations intend to build a “green” reputation, they can
achieve it through employees’ satisfaction. In this context hypothesis H4 is developed:
Η4: The satisfaction of internal customers affects the building of a “green” reputation for the
organisation
METHODOLOGY
The research was carried out in the context of the ethical principles of conducting studies.
Participation was voluntary, all participants were informed of the purpose of the survey and
every effort was made to protect the privacy and personal data of the participants.
Data collection
Τhe sampling frame derived from companies operating in Greece with more than 250
employees These companies have been distinguished and awarded for their working
environment and have established themselves among the best companies according to the
institution Great Place to Work [37]. The evaluation of the working environment of these