Date of Award

Winter 2004

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Department

Marketing and Analysis

First Advisor

Shahid Nakib Bhuian

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to extend Jaworski and Kohli's (1993) market orientation (MO) model in the banking industry of Jordan. Specifically, the study (1) added entrepreneurial orientation (EO) as a second mediating variable with market orientation, (2) incorporated national culture and country institutional profile as moderators on the performance effects of MO and EO, and (3) replicated other relationships in the market orientation model of Jaworski and Kohli in the banking industry of Jordan. These moderating variables explained some of the discrepancies in the direct performance effects of MO and EO observed in international contexts.

To accomplish these objectives, the study used the following instruments: Jaworski and Kohli's (1993) scales of market orientation, Coven and Slevin's (1989) scales of entrepreneurial orientation, Hofstede's (1980) scale of national culture, and Busenitz, Gomez, and Spencer's (2000) scale of country institutional profiles.

The past two decades have witnessed great interest into two critical strategic organizational practices, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation, which can enhance an organization's capabilities to manage its environment and to perform well. Central to the interest in market orientation and entrepreneurship is their potential influence on organizations' performance. As discrepant evidence has started to accumulate about the direct performance effects of market and entrepreneurial orientations, researchers have begun to explore the roles of various contingency variables on the influence of both market orientation and entrepreneurship on performance. Two such contingency variables that are increasingly encountered by transnational and national organizations are national culture and country institutional profile. In this regard, research suggests that, while pursuing market orientation to enhance performance, marketing managers ought to take into account the effects of national culture and country institutional profiles. Likewise, research suggests that the cross-national variations in the success of entrepreneurial activities may be accounted for by the differences in national culture and country institutional profiles.

A national sample of 950 branch managers and senior management members from 475 bank branches listed in The 2003 Banks and Finance Institutions Directory in Jordan, were participated in this study. Responses were received from 507 participants, yielding a response rate of 53%. A host of statistical techniques were employed to test the hypotheses. These techniques include explanatory alpha, rotation factors analysis, and multivariate regression analysis.

The findings of the study were as follows: (1) market orientation as well as entrepreneurial orientation are in their initial stages in the banking industry in Jordan; (2) top management, organizational, and structural factors are significant determinants in the degrees of market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation; (3) there is a significant relationship between the degree of market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation in performance of banks in Jordan; (4) national cultural plays a limited role in moderating the effect of market orientation on performance of banks in Jordan, while national culture has no moderating role on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance of banks in Jordan; (5) likewise, country institutional profiles have a significant moderating role on the linkage between market orientation and performance of banks in Jordan. However, country constitutional profiles play no moderating role on the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance of banks in Jordan.

Policy implications of these findings along with contributions to marketing and entrepreneurial literature are discussed. Finally, suggestions for future research are also provided for practitioners and academicians.

Download

Share

COinS