| While nonprofit organizations and their brands are growing in importance and stature, these organizations display surprisingly limited brand management activities. This is partly due to the fact that no explicit brand equity models exist specifically for nonprofit organizations. The aim of this research is to build a formal model of brand equity for international nonprofit organizations engaged in development, advocacy and relief work, using a combination of a system dynamics approach and grounded theory development.; Based on in-depth field work in five organizations (Care, Oxfam, and World Vision, Amnesty International and the IFRC), several waves of focus groups with a total of 28 brand managers, led to the derivation and validation of a formal brand equity model. At the heart of this model are four core variables (Consistency, Focus, Trust, and Partnerships) and their associated causal loops, as well as a computer simulation of Trust.; This dissertation contributes to the marketing literature by advancing our understanding of brand equity in nonprofits through modeling and demonstrating the effective use of system dynamics in areas of marketing that have traditionally not considered this methodological approach. Specific recommendations for international nonprofit managers and future areas of related research are also included. |
