RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL MARKETING AND MOBBING (MORAL HARASSMENT) IN THE WORKPLACE: EMPIRICAL RESULTS OF SPORTS ORGANIZATION

Abstract

Internal marketing and workplace mobbing are among the important facts that affect the efficiency and performance of organizations. This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between internal marketing and mobbing behaviors. Data for the study were obtained from employees working at organizations providing sports services in Turkey. The study used the IM-11 scale developed by Yildiz and Kara (2017) to measure the employees internal marketing perception and the MS-A developed by Yildiz (2020a) to measure mobbing behaviors. The validity and reliability results in this study strongly demonstrated that both scales developed for higher education institutions can be applied to employees of sports services organizations. Correlation and regression analysis showed a significant and negative relationship between internal marketing and mobbing (beta=-0.471; p < 0.001). While internal marketing was moderately effective on vertical mobbing (beta=-0.376; p < 0.001), its highest effect was on vertical/horizontal mobbing (beta=-0.486; p < 0.001). The results of this study showed that internal marketing practices can be highly effective in preventing possible mobbing behavior among employees. Hence, managers who want to create a work environment free of conflict and low efficiency should effectively implement internal marketing within the organization.