Market orientation and organizational performance in Nigeria

The received wisdom and dominant view hold that market orientation (MO) leads to higher organizational performance. Although widely researched and the literature is replete with studies on the subject, conflicting, contradictory, inconsistent and inconclusive findings beset the marketing domain on the efficacy of MO on organizational performance. These lingering obfuscations and the need to develop a method of implementing the construct underpin the present study. Therefore, this study examines the extent of MO, its effect on objective and subjective performance measures, the roles of mediating and moderating variables in the hypothesised relations and how to implement the construct in organizations within Nigeria. The convergent parallel mixed methods research design is employed to allow for the fusion of breadth and depth in the study. In the quantitative strand, using a random sampling technique, data were collected from a sample of 258 managers in diverse functions in 180 organizations across industries through intensive questionnaire survey in Nigeria. While in the qualitative study, in-depth interview approach was used to interview a sample of 10 managers purposively drawn from micro, small, medium and large organisations representing diverse sectors. Scales well established in the literature and re-validated for the Nigerian context were employed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for scale validation, structural equation modelling- bootstrapping method in AMOS 21 and hierarchical regression analysis in SPSS 20 for a test of hypotheses. The study finds that (a) inter-functional coordination predicts market share- an objective measure of performance, while no empirical support was found for the effects of composite MO, customer orientation and competitor orientation (b) technological turbulence moderates the inter-functional-coordination-subjective performance links (c) MO and its sub-dimensions have direct and significant effects on subjective performance (d) these relationships are mediated by innovation, learning orientation and total quality management (e) No empirical evidence was found for the moderating roles of market turbulence, competitive intensity and market growth (f) but the moderating variables IV moderate the mediated effects and mediators mediate the moderated effects (g) technology emerged as an antecedent of MO and (h) MO implementation was prescribed drawing on Lewin's model of change. Integrating mediators and moderators in a single model strengthens the MO-performance relations and enhances our understanding of the hypothesised links. Thus, moderated-mediation and mediated-moderation models offer support for the efficacy of MO in varying market conditions. These findings positively and significantly refine the body of extant knowledge regarding the effect of MO on performance and offer an enhanced conceptual framework for academics and practising managers. The study recommends the implementation of MO in conjunction with other strategic orientations for the full benefit to accrue to managers and organizations as higher levels of performance outcomes.