Nonprofit Marketing: Theory Triangulation

Abstract

Concept of nonprofit marketing has emerged from discussions of applying the philosophy and techniques of marketing to the public and nonprofit sectors in the marketing literature. However, many of these marketing ideas emerged originally from social science disciplines. Almost all social science can be classified into the two general categories of "individualistic" and "collectivistic" perspectives (Collins, 1994; Olsen, 1992; Parsons, 1961). This study attempts to accommodate a pluralistic stance toward diversity of social science perspectives in context of nonprofit marketing theory. Thus, it is not limited to discussion of individualistic or collectivist references. The study attempts to consider different social science perspectives to validate nonprofit marketing theory.