The Influence of the Marketing Department on Business Performance in the Hotel Industry
(A2020-62210)

AUTHORS

Evangelia Katsikea, King's College, London; Marios Theodosiou, University of Cyprus; Andreas Andronikidis, University of Macedonia; Panagiota Kouri, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence.; Pascale Hardy, Maastricht School of Management

KEYWORDS

Marketing department capabilities; marketing department influence; business performance

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the factors that determine the level of influence of the marketing department within the firm and examines how such influence results in superior business performance. We examine the role of marketing department’s capabilities and organizational factors in driving the influence of the marketing department. We also assess the impact of marketing department’s influence on marketing manager’s job satisfaction and company identification, as well as the relationship between these job outcomes and business performance. Our empirical effort focuses on the hotel industry, and we collect dyadic data from hotel general managers and marketing managers. Our findings indicate that marketing department’s accountability and customer connecting role, as well as a customer-centric management system are the main drivers of the marketing department’s influence within the firm. Furthermore, top management respect strengthens marketing manager’s job satisfaction and company identification, which in turn have a positive effect on business performance. The implications of the study for practitioners and academic researchers are discussed.