Identify the internal marketing dimensions focusing on employee's customer-oriented behavior in the home appliance manufacturing industry using the fuzzy Delphi

Internal marketing has been developed in various forms in all types of organizations. Mainly, internal marketing has been studied as a motivational strategy in service companies. Goods manufacturing industries have not benefited much from the use of internal marketing in strengthening employees' extra-role behaviors. Customer orientation is one of the extra-role behaviors of employees, which in turn is the source of value for internal and external customers. When we follow the internal process segmentation approach, the organization is divided into a set of internal suppliers and internal customers. In this case, it becomes important to study the customer-oriented behavior of employees in the exchanges within the organization. To ensure the implementation of internal marketing in manufacturing organizations, in a way that best meets the needs of these organizations, it was necessary to conduct a study specific to manufacturing industries; a study that included the identification of internal marketing components with a customer-oriented approach. The purpose of the current research was to identify and introduce the dimensions of internal marketing with a customer-oriented approach of employees in manufacturing industries.

This is a sequential mixed research in the inductive paradigm that was conducted in qualitative-quantitative phases. Its purpose is practical and its nature is exploratory. The data collection of the qualitative phase was carried out during semi-structured interviews that continued until theoretical saturation, and finally 15 experts and managers of manufacturing industries and university professors in the field of management participated in it. Qualitative phase analysis was done with them analysis approach using MAXQDA software. In the quantitative part, the fuzzy Delphi questionnaire was used to reach the consensus of the expert group on the dimensions identified in the qualitative phase.

The results indicate the extraction of internal marketing dimensions with a customer-oriented approach in comprehensive themes (individual factors of employees and managers, organizational factors, motivational factors) and in 9 organizational themes, 1- Demographic characteristics 2- Organizational citizenship behavior of employees and managers 3 - Managers' support 4- Internal communication 5- participatory management 6- Promotion of customer-oriented culture 7- Employee job security 8- Job satisfaction 9- Appreciation and 44 basic themes.