TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of the marketing concept within both the internal (internal market) and external environments in the context of the local public sector. It also aims to examine the impact of market orientation (MO) on employees' job‐related attitudes (job satisfaction and organisational commitment (OC)) and organisational performance (OP).Design/methodology/approach– Researchers take a methodological approach by using a survey method. Structural equation modelling is employed to analyse the data collected from a sample of municipality executive board members in order to test the causal relationships proposed in the research model.Findings– The results of this empirical study demonstrate that internal marketing implementation has an important effect in fostering market‐oriented behaviours of local public organisations. The effect of MO on both job‐related attitudes and OP was also empirically supported. However, the paper's findings do not support the hypotheses that increased levels of job satisfaction and OC enhance OP.Practical implications– Local public sector managers should recognise the importance of allocating resources to ensure the gathering and dissemination of and responsiveness to market information in both internal and external environments: this will likely enhance job satisfaction, OC and OP.Originality/value– Despite claims that the implementation of marketing in the internal environment is vital for external marketing success, this relationship has not yet been extensively discussed in the literature. The paper's results provide quantitative evidence to support this relationship. Also, this paper offers additional research on the role of market‐oriented behaviours on job satisfaction, OC and OP, presenting interesting challenges for further research among practitioners and academics. VL - 4 IS - 2 SN - 1750-6166 DO - 10.1108/17506161011047398 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/17506161011047398 AU - Rodrigues Ana Paula AU - Carlos M. José PY - 2010 Y1 - 2010/01/01 TI - Market orientation, job satisfaction, commitment and organisational performance: The specific case of local public sector T2 - Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 172 EP - 192 Y2 - 2024/04/24 ER -