The impact of market orientation on business performance and website adoption : a study among Iranian SMEs

Abstract

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 Slater’s scale (MKTOR) for market orientation, Weerakoon’s Multi-Model Performance Framework (MMPF) for business performance and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for website adoption are tested and used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the measures in the study. Regression analysis was performed to determine whether market orientation is associated with firm’s 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.