Market Orientation Culture, Market Orientation Behavior and Their Impacts on Organizational Performance: The Moderating Role of Information Technology Competence

It is widely believed that market orientation (MO) is a key strategic predictor for a firm’s sustained competitive advantage and performance. While the pursuit of MO may well be laudable, few studies incorporate both MO culture and MO behavior simultaneously into their research. Furthermore, little attention has been given to the role of information technology competence (IT competence) in the relationship between MO behavior and business performance. Drawing from the “structure-conduct-performance” framework and the resource-based view, this study attempts to advance our understanding by investigating the “MO culture-MO behavior-performance” causal chain, and the moderating impact of IT competence on MO behavior-organizational performance relationship. Our research findings – based on a survey – show that both MO culture and MO behavior indeed positively influence organizational performance, and MO behavior mediates the MO culture-organizational performance relationship. Moreover, we also found a significant moderating effect of IT competence on the MO behavior-organizational performance relationship. Implications for practitioners and researchers and suggestions for future research are also addressed. Key-Words: Market orientation culture, market orientation behavior, organizational performance, information technology competence