RELATIONSHIP MARKETING AS A STRATEGY FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
Keywords:
relationship marketing, social enterprises, stakeholders, organizational legitimacy, network capitalAbstract
Social enterprises are hybrid organizations that simultaneously pursue the fulfillment of their social mission and the achievement of economic sustainability. Their success largely depends on their ability to establish long term relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Consequently, relationship marketing emerges as an appropriate theoretical framework for the strategic management of these relationships, which are essential for the long term sustainability of social enterprises. Although relationship marketing has been extensively developed as a theoretical discipline, its three dominant schools the Nordic School, the IMP School, and the Anglo Australian School examine relationship building processes from different perspectives without providing an integrated theoretical framework capable of addressing the specific needs and characteristics of social enterprises. This represents a significant theoretical gap, as social enterprises, unlike traditional for profit organizations, operate within a multilayered ecosystem comprising beneficiaries, donors, institutions, business partners, and local communities whose interests must be effectively balanced. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically analyze the three dominant schools of relationship marketing and based on their respective contributions, propose an integrative conceptual model applicable to the context of social enterprises. The research is based on a critical comparative analysis and synthesis of the relevant scientific literature in this field. The findings identify the key strengths and limitations of each school and develop a model that integrates interaction quality, network embeddedness, and strategic stakeholder management as interrelated mechanisms for building organizational legitimacy and network capital. Organizational legitimacy and network capital are identified as key determinants of the long term functioning of this type of hybrid organization. The proposed model provides a theoretical foundation for the strategic management of stakeholder relationships and for enhancing the organizational sustainability of social enterprises. The scientific contribution of the paper lies in the development of an integrative theoretical framework that overcomes the limitations of the individual schools of relationship marketing by combining their complementary contributions into a single conceptual model tailored to the specific hybrid nature of social enterprises.
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