یک دیدگاه مبتنی بر ارزش بازارگرایی و خدمات به مشتریان

This study aimed to build a model of business performance based on customer value-defined market orientation. In the context of a service retail industry, both firms’ and customers’ perspectives were involved in the development of the construct, using such dimensions as management support, employee efforts and customer satisfaction. The authors undertook a large-scale fieldwork to collect matched response data from firms and consumers and to test the proposed model. The results provide empirical evidence of the effects of a customer value-based market orientation on business performance, measured in terms of customer retention. In addition, this study identified three drivers of employees’ effort to implement market orientation from a value perspective.

Although market orientation is one of the most dominant concepts in the development of marketing theory, previous empirical findings suggest that its implementation does not necessarily result in business profit (e.g., Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Liu, 1995; Narver and Slater, 1990; Pelham and Wilson, 1996; Slater and Narver, 1994a and Slater and Narver, 1994b; Appiah-Adu, 1998; Atuahene-Gima, 1995; Cahill et al., 1994; Greenley, 1995a and Greenley, 1995b; Liu and Davies, 1997; Workman, 1993). This uncertain relationship between market orientation and business performance calls for a closer investigation of the original market orientation construct. The discrepancy in empirical findings may stem from a variety of reasons. Despite market orientation scholars paying much attention to the validation of extant measurement (Oczkowski and Farrell, 1998) or their capability for generalisation (Mavondo and Farrell, 2000), the controversy over market orientation may not be limited to these issues. Other problems may lie embedded in the original market orientation constructs themselves. For instance, while a customer-centric thinking would appear to be at the core of market orientation (Levitt, 1960), the organization's views have dominated the development of market orientation constructs. A criticism often leveled at past market orientation studies concerns the domination of the organization's view in the research process (Gabel, 1995; Harris, 2002). Given the variety of reasons behind the mixed empirical results found in relation to the market orientation-business performance relationship, the focus of this research was to define and measure market orientation to allow a fuller reflection of customer-centric thinking. Hence, this study aims to build a model of performance based upon a market orientation construct that includes customer value, and which also comprises customer service (exchange process) and customer retention (business performance). A specific strength of this study lies in its inclusion of the perceptions of both firms and consumers in validating the proposed customer value based market orientation (CVBMO thereafter) construct. Such an approach was deemed essential to bring about customer-centric thinking and provide new insights into market orientation. With this purpose in mind, we undertook the following research steps. The first step integrated the concept of customer value into the proposed construct. A review of the literature on the advantage of customer value suggests its potential to consolidate the market orientation construct (Weinstein and Pohlman, 1998; Woodruff et al., 1993). Then, we tested the CVBMO construct in the service context of the retail industry. Hypotheses were developed in order to provide a better understanding of the construct and its effect on business performance. This empirical study examined the frontline service employee–customer relationship in terms of market orientation implementation. As most previous studies about market orientation focus on the internal interface (the relationship of an organization and its employees), a focus on the external interface (the relationship of employees and consumers) provided a much-needed perspective in relation to market orientation outcomes. Moreover, the use of customer retention, a non-financial performance index, shed additional insight into the market orientation-business performance link. Past research in this area has typically used traditional financial indices, primarily in the context of the manufacturing industry.

This study contributes to the field of marketing by conceptualizing a customer value-based market orientation for customer service as having three dimensions (i.e., management support, employee efforts, and customer satisfaction) and, by developing a predictive model of customer retention in a competitive retail industry. Our CVBMO model is distinct from extant market orientation constructs by providing a value-based perspective of market orientation. This model provided empirical evidence for the merit of conceptually linking customer value with market orientation (Payne and Holt, 2001). Rather than interviewing management regarding their practice of market orientation, this study presented the views of frontline employees on their organization's management support for value delivery in the implementation of market orientation. The need for management support by frontline employees themselves suggested several effective ways to enhance their market orientation efforts. This study demonstrated an integrated approach to effectively implement market orientation. By providing empirical evidence of the direct and indirect links between market orientation and customer retention at three levels (i.e., central management, frontline employees, and consumers), this research contributes significantly to the research domain of market orientation. Contrasting with the lopsided view held in previous studies of market orientation, this study considers equally the internal, interactive, and external relationships between an organization, employees and customers engaged in the exchange process. This study also suggested avenues to retain customers. Overall, our findings show that frontline employees seeking to implement market orientation should attempt to manage customer satisfaction and perceptions of value simultaneously as both these contribute positively and directly to customer retention. In addition, our study identified three driving forces for improving employees’ market orientation behaviors: management support, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. This extends our knowledge of how frontline employees’ perceptions of supervisory support, awareness of customer satisfaction and customer retention can all affect service behaviors, service performance, and consequently, business performance. Except for the importance of management support for frontline employees’ market orientation performance, this study provides evidence of the importance of customer feedback in terms of attitudes (satisfaction) and behaviors (retention) to motivate frontline employees to deliver customer value in their market orientation practice.