| dc.description.abstract | The Societal Marketing concept is a philosophy of management that calls for the
developmentof integrated marketing programme that generates long-run profits by satisfying the
long-terminterests of consumers and the society. According to this concept, it is the marketer's
concernfor long-run consumer and societal welfare that leads to sustained profitability.
The survey for the study reported here was done between 8th March and 27th June 1996.
The study sought to assess the awareness and attitudes of Kenya Hotel Industry's marketing
executivestoward. the Societal Marketing Concept.
The need for the study arose out of the fact that the hotel industry in Kenya is facing stiff
competitionfrom other African countries, conflicts with the society due to moral decay, spread of
diseases, child prostitution by tourists and neglected social services despite its economic
contributionto the Gross National Product.
The study's objectives were to measure the level of awareness of the Societal Marketing
concept,to assess attitudes of these executives toward the marketing concept, to assess the extent
of adoption, and to determine whether there is a relationship between the adoption of Societal
MarketingConcept and the company's demographics.
The study was a census bf all categorised hotels in Nairobi Province. The international
categorisationused in the study is that of l-star; 2-star, 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels. All hotels
fallingunder the said categories were investigated. The relevant data was collected using partially
structured questionnaires, and analyzed and presented using proportions and percentages. The
attitude index was also used to determine attitude level of individuals. This technique was used to
quantifythe favourableness or unfavourableness of the attitudes of the hotel marketing executives
toward the Societal Marketing Concept. The results of the study revealed that marketing
executivesin the hotel industry in Nairobi are aware of the Societal Marketing Concept.
Concerning the attitudes of marketing executives in the hotel industry, it was discovered
that majority of the executives had a positive attitude. All the executives expressed a positive
attitude towards customer orientation statements. The statement that social contributions take
awaycompany profits had a negative index of 58, which revealed that money spent on social issues
is not money wasted (index 91). All marketing executives were in favour of striving to earn profits
through maximizing customer satisfaction. The hotel industry seeks to secure the long-run survival
by achievi.ng a balance between its profit making objective for the shareholders and its social
responsibilityto its employees, consumers and the society at large. Most hotel executives (86% of
the respondents) agreed that profits should be channelled to the needy in society. All respondents
agreedthat long-run profitability results from customer satisfaction (lOOO/o).
The issue of adoption of the Societal Marketing Concept was seen to be in practice. Fivestar
hotels were more inclined towards the implementation of the Societal Marketing Concept
whileother star-hotels were found to have adopted some aspects of customer satisfaction. Many of
the executives agreed that customer satisfaction leads to the long-run profitability of the hotel
industry.The study was constrained by a non-response of 11 hotels (23.4%) and hence it could not
be determined how these hotels would have responded. Time was insufficient for data collection
and hence the research may not have been sufficiently intensive. Collecting data on self-reported
beliefs,feelings and action tendencies is quite dynamic and so the researcher may not have been
given"true" reponses.
Future researchers should therefore study and compare the adoption of Societal Marketing
Concept in the hotel industry and other sectors of the economy. A more comprehensive research
shouldbe done to find the level of awareness, and attitudes of marketing executives in other firms
related to hotels in Kenya.
In conclusion the study revealed that marketing executives in the hotel industry are aware
. of and have positive attitudes towards the Societal Marketing Concept | en |
