Co-creating sociality: organizational identity and marketing in voluntary organizations

A traditional understanding of voluntary organizations with a social mission is that they are offering social services. In this article, this understanding is argued to be misleading. In a study of 59 social voluntary organizations (SVOs) an alternative view is proposed. Instead of offering social services, these organizations co-create sociality, and this is realized in collaboration with clients and in the contexts of social networks. This shift in understanding regarding what these organizations provide is mirrored in their marketing approach and managerial practice. The study is based on theory of organizational identity and service-dominant logic (S-D logic) and the findings advances our understanding of marketing approaches of SVOs, identifying the dialectical relation between organizational identity and managerial action, an organizational action embedded in integrative and excluding forces in the local society. The study also adds to research of transformative service research unfolding how service organizations create up-lifting services.