تأثیر فرهنگ ملی بر جهت بازار: چارچوب مفهومی و گزاره های پژوهشی

Significant research has focused on the market orientation concept and its antecedents in recent years. Nevertheless, the market orientation research provides little information concerning the effects of national cultural values on the market orientation of companies. The conceptual framework presented in this manuscript contributes to the extant literature in international business by investigating the role of national cultural values as factors that shape and modify an organization's market orientation through its organizational culture. Specifically, using Schwartz's cultural value dimensions, the authors present a set of propositions regarding the effects of national culture on the internalization of market-oriented values and norms, which in turn positively affect the implementation of market-oriented behaviors. Based on these propositions, implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The concept of market orientation has its philosophical foundations in the marketing concept, which refers to the corporate state of mind or a philosophy of business management that is based on the integration and coordination of marketing activities to satisfy customer needs (Felton, 1958). Consistent with Felton's (1958) early definition, Kohli and Jaworski (1990) introduced market orientation as a term to refer to the organization-wide implementation of market-oriented behaviors (i.e., generation and dissemination of, and responsiveness to market intelligence). Alternatively, Narver and Slater (1990) focus on the cultural aspects of market orientation with an emphasis on values and norms that facilitate the creation of superior value for customers. Since then, market orientation has attracted considerable research attention. In particular, researchers have proposed and tested models that (1) conceptualize and measure firm's market orientation (e.g., Kohli & Jaworski, 1990; Narver & Slater, 1990), (2) identify its antecedents and consequences (e.g., Gebhardt, Carpenter, & Sherry, 2006; Hult, Ketchen, & Slater, 2005), and (3) investigate the mediators and/or moderators of the market orientation–performance relationship (e.g., Slater & Narver, 1994). Importantly, it has been shown that a firm's market orientation is an organizational capability that has positive impacts on organizational performance (Hult & Ketchen, 2001; Kirca, Jayachandran, & Bearden, 2005). Despite the progress, an important gap in knowledge exists, offering venues for future research. Specifically, despite the growing interest in the factors that affect a firm's market orientation in recent years (e.g., Gebhardt et al., 2006; Kennedy, Goolsby, & Arnould, 2003), little research exists on how the external environment of firms, in particular national cultural values, affects the firms’ market orientation (e.g., Nakata & Sivakumar, 2001; Selnes, Jaworski, & Kohli, 1996). Instead, the extant market orientation research focuses primarily on the effects of internal organizational factors, such as senior management actions (e.g., leadership), structural factors (e.g., centralization), and organizational systems (e.g., reward systems) (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990) based on the assumption that “the degree of market orientation is inextricably linked to organizational structures, systems and processes” (Ruekert, 1992, p. 230). Notably, researchers have examined the extent to which the market orientation–performance relationship is moderated by market, environmental, and technological turbulence, as well as competitive intensity. Nevertheless, these findings have often been mixed (Kirca et al., 2005). In this paper, we address an important gap in the extant market orientation literature concerning the widely recognized but rather neglected role of the external environment on the extent of firms’ market orientation in a cross-cultural context. Moreover, as further detailed later, we provide a novel conceptualization of the market orientation construct with two dimensions in the present paper; the behavioral component that involves the implementation of market-oriented behaviors (i.e., generation, dissemination, and utilization of market intelligence) and cultural component that represents the internalization of market-oriented values and norms in organizations (i.e., success, innovativeness, flexibility, openness of internal communication, speed, quality emphasis, competence emphasis, inter-functional cooperation, and responsibility) (Homburg & Pflesser, 2000). As such, we investigate the theoretical links involving national cultural values and the internalization of market-oriented values and norms, as well as the implementation of market-oriented behaviors. Since “the success of international marketing strategy is largely dependent on its conformity with the values and beliefs of employees in various host countries” (Deshpande & Webster, 1989, p. 9), our aim is to further explore the compatibility of national cultural factors with an important strategic marketing practice (i.e., market orientation) (cf. Nakata & Sivakumar, 2001; Selnes et al., 1996). Moreover, we posit that the internalization of market-oriented values and norms meditates the relationship between national cultural values and the implementation of market-oriented behaviors. As such, our contribution to the extant international business literature rests on our explicit focus on the intersection of national culture and organizational cultures. In this ways, we also contribute to the growing body of the literature in marketing that examines how to enhance a firm's market orientation in a global context (cf. Nakata & Sivakumar, 2001; Gebhardt et al., 2006). The paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we provide a brief summary of the extant literature with emphasis on the concept of market orientation and its development in organizations. Then, the conceptual framework and a series of research propositions are offered. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for practice and future research.

Reflecting a distinct source of competitive advantage that differentiates a firm from its competitors, market orientation is a core organizational competence that enhances organizational performance (Day, 1994; Hult & Ketchen, 2001). Accordingly, a considerable amount of research in strategic marketing literature has been devoted to understanding how market orientation can be adopted and developed in organizations. The conceptual framework presented in this paper contributes to the extant literature in market orientation by investigating the role of external organizational environment (i.e., national cultural values) as factors that shape and modify an organization's market orientation. As such, we provide a set of external factors that have not been previously considered in the literature to better understand how market orientation can be implemented in various cultural contexts. Importantly, and consistent with the growing body of the literature in marketing, we integrate the behavioral and cultural perspectives in the market orientation literature by incorporating in our model the distinction between the behavioral aspects (i.e., implementation of market orientation) and cultural aspect of market orientation (i.e., internalization of market orientation) (cf. Gebhardt et al., 2006; Homburg & Pflesser, 2000). This distinction enables us to propose a mechanism (i.e., the internalization of values and norms) through which national cultural values affect the implementation of market-oriented behaviors. Specifically, and consistent with organizational culture and market orientation literature, we propose that the national culture permeates into an organizations through its organizational culture (i.e., Erez & Earley, 1993; Hofstede et al., 1990 and Tayeb, 2001). As such, we investigate the role of national culture in the internalization of market orientation, and provide useful insights concerning the cultural aspects of effective implementation (Kennedy et al., 2003). The extant literature on the relationship between national values and norms (i.e., national cultures) and organizational values and norms, and behaviors tends to be descriptive in nature. This paper is among the few attempts to provide insights into the issue of why market orientation adoption shows variance around the globe (cf. Deshpande and Farley, 1998 and Deshpande and Farley, 1999). This paper proposes a theoretical framework aimed at explaining the variations in organizational values and practices by linking them to the characteristics of their respective socio-cultural environments. Using Schwartz's value dimensions, we provide fresh perspectives on how societal and organization-level cultures interact to affect the implementation of market-oriented practices in organizations (cf. Aycan et al., 1999). As such, this paper focuses on an important but under-researched issue: how do national culture and organizational culture interact to shape and modify the implementation of organizational practices? In this respect, we provide useful theoretical and managerial insights, as detailed subsequently.