Title:
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THE IMPACT OF MARKET ORIENTATION ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AND WEBSITE ADOPTION: A STUDY AMONG IRANIAN SMES |
Author(s):
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Yasaman Darabi , Albert Caruana , Seyed Hessameddin Zegordi |
ISBN:
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ISSN: 1645-7641 |
Editors:
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Pedro Isaías |
Year:
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2007 |
Edition:
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V V,2 |
Keywords:
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Marketing, Internet marketing, Market orientation, Business performance, Website adoption,
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) |
Type:
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Journal Paper |
First Page:
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27 |
Last Page:
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39 |
Language:
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English |
Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload
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Paper Abstract:
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Studying the impact of market orientation on business performance has been a popular research topic in
recent years. However, there seems to be a lack of empirical studies that measure market orientation in
an e-commerce environment. According to previous studies market orientation is a prerequisite for a
successful business operation, but actually there is not enough evidence in support of this relationship in
an Iranian context and particularly about the impact of market orientation on the perception of managers
toward having websites. To test these assertions, this study looks into the nature of the relationships
between market orientation, company performance and website adoption using 117 website adopters and
102 non-website adopters as sample data from Iranian SMEs. Narver and Slaters scale (MKTOR) for
market orientation, Weerakoons Multi-Model Performance Framework (MMPF) for business
performance and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for website adoption are tested and used.
Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to validate the measures in the study. Regression analysis
was performed to determine whether market orientation is associated with firms performance and
website adoption using the Partial Least Square (PLS) technique. Our findings suggest that market
orientation is affecting business performance in both sample groups, while Iranian SMEs with higher
levels of market orientation are more willing to use website as a business tool in comparison with firms
with lower level of market orientation. In website adopters sample group, behavioral intention, perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use has positive direct effect on website adoption, although perceived
usefulness plays most important role. Among non-website adopters, behavioral intention, perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use are not found to have any positive impact on website adoption.
Managers of both sample groups have a positive attitude toward having websites while this attitude is
found to be greater among website adopters than non-website adopters. Furthermore, website adopters
report that having website would enhance their job performance and effectiveness while non-website
adopters believe websites is not so helpful in their jobs. |
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