International Journal of Business and Economics Volume 18, No. 1 June, 2019

Factors Affecting Political Marketing in Rural and Urban Bangladesh: A Multi-Dimensional Approach

Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury and Shahneela Naheed

Department of Marketing and International Business, School of Business and Economics, North South University, Bangladesh

Abstract

This study argues that applying political marketing models of developed countries on developing nations is not realistic, and thus its main purpose is to offer separate multidimensional political marketing mix models for rural and urban Bangladesh in order to find differences in voters’ priorities. We use the Structural Equation Modeling approach to develop and validate the models, based on 1284 and 1372 primary data observations collected from rural and urban electoral , respectively. This paper offers one 39-item eight-dimensional political mix model and another 39-item eleven-dimensional political mix model for rural and urban areas, respectively, presenting 24 common and 30 uncommon variables between the models. Both groups show importance towards using celebrities, national icons, and national leaders in campaigns as well as modesty and articulation power of the candidates. As the proposed model development method is highly significant and valid, the applicability of the instrument can be tested in other developing countries. This study recommends nominating local candidates with strong political background and candidates with a better social image, using party leaders (preferably party chair), utilizing posters, postal mails, and billboards to showcase achievements, and building up a sophisticated voter information system to identify the requirements of the electorates .

Keywords：political marketing, marketing mix, multi-dimensional model, developing countries, Bangladesh.

JEL Classifications：M31, M38, M39.

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