Abstract
This study investigated the development and dissemination of marketing knowledge, from the perspective of business organizations in Ghana. It specifically looked at the inter-relationship between facets of the processes for developing and disseminating marketing knowledge, and developed, empirically tested and validated a model in the form of Guttman's measurement scale that defined the inter-relationships between these facets and their elements. The purpose was to provide a tool to help business organizations in Ghana to improve these processes when building marketing capabilities. The marketing literature has been searched for the concepts which are relevant to the development and dissemination of marketing knowledge in Ghana. This task became complex because of the diverse and fragmented nature of the literature. The author, therefore, has created a multifaceted understanding of the topic and wants this research to continue to have a multifaceted rich, complex focus on the whole of the processes for developing and disseminating marketing knowledge. After examining the theoretical perspectives and methodological issues involved in the processes under study, the author turned to Facet Theory approach to research. Three key facets and their elements were discerned in the literature, which were used to develop the first definitional model (mapping sentence) of the area under study. The three facets served as the basis for the development of Guttman measurement scale (questionnaire items) for the first survey pilot study conducted with business organizations in Ghana to establish the reliability and validity of the facets' multivariate structure. The outcome of the first pilot study served as a basis for the development of the second and third mapping sentences, which were used to develop Guttman measurement scales, for the second and third pilot studies respectively. The second pilot study "mapping sentence" was not empirically recovered, and was, therefore, abandoned. The third pilot study "mapping sentence" was empirically recovered and retained, including its 20-item questionnaire, for the main survey study. The study focuses on how organizations evaluate the interrelationships between facets of the processes for developing and disseminating marketing Icnowledge in organizations. These evaluations are based on analysis of quantitative data from 101 marketing and general managers in Ghanaian business organizations, using the 20-item questionnaire. Similarity Structure Analysis (SSA), the non-metric MDS procedure introduced by Guttman, (in a statistical package, Hebrew University Data Analysis Program SSA version) are used to analyse the data. Clear empirical evidence was obtained to support the inter-relationships proposed between facets. The results indicate that there are three key facets of the processes for developing and disseminating marketing knowledge in organizations. This study makes a contribution to marketing knowledge in four ways. It re-organizes and renders coherent the otherwise fragmented marketing literature relating to the processes for developing and disseminating marketing knowledge in organizations, by organizing this literature around a coherent conceptual framework. Secondly, it expands the knowledge element of the market-orientation debate, by getting the absolute kernel of the debate of marketing knowledge out of the literature. Thirdly, it defines the boundaries of this area in the form of a multifaceted definitional framework. Finally, it provides a tool for helping organizations to contextualise this model, which illustrates the processes for developing and disseminating marketing knowledge in their organizations.