ABSTRACT
In the context of an emerging economy, this study aims to identify the factors that shape non-profit brand orientation (NBO). It also seeks to identify the main antecedents, outcomes, and barriers that are involved in its strategy implementation. The focus of this research is non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Brazil. Qualitative exploratory research with NPOs’ employees, donors, non-donors, and partners was performed using data collected from interviews, non-participant observation, and documents. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The results reveal four themes with associated categories: NBO (cause, mission, communication, and symbols); antecedents (internal factors, external factors, and community involvement); outcomes (staff relationships, partners, reputation, and performance), and barriers (a non-commercial mindset, short-term focus, communication challenges, organizational culture, government barriers, and a lack of resources). We suggest that brand strategic communication is a key factor that enables an NPO to disseminate the organization’s mission, cause, and symbols. All these factors together reflect the NBO. An NBO model is proposed, highlighting its antecedents, outcomes, and barriers, and pointing out similarities to and differences from the previous literature based on well-developed economies. This research discuss the peculiarities of NBO strategy in an emerging country context and the central point of brand strategic communication.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq/Brazil), projects 304209/2018-0 and 425016/2018, by Foundation for Research Support of Espírito Santo (FAPES/Brazil), projects 84513772 (599/2018), 555/2018, 85395650 (228/2019), 141/2019 and 30007011003P2 (02/2018), by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/Brazil), project 88881.361587 (2019/01), by Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT/Portugal) through NECE (Núcleo de Estudos em Ciências Empresariais), project UID/GES/04630/2020, and by IFTS (Instituto Fucape de Tecnologias Sociais), project 2021-2024.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).