The impact of different types of market orientation on product innovation performance: Evidence from Chinese manufacturers

This study aims to examine the role of responsive market orientation and proactive market orientation in product innovation performance directly and indirectly via innovativeness, as well as the moderating effect of environmental turbulence in the market orientation‐product innovation performance link among Chinese manufacturing firms.

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 227 manufacturing firms in mainland China. A total of 11 hypotheses related to responsive and proactive market orientation, innovativeness and new product success as well as moderating environmental variables are examined by structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression techniques.

The research results show that: both proactive market orientation and responsive market orientation have a positive total effect in improving product innovation performance; the direct path dominates the total effect of responsive MO on new product success, while proactive MO impacts product innovation performance primarily via innovativeness as a mediating variable; and the role of responsive market orientation in new product success is more significant under stable technological and market conditions, while proactive market orientation improves product innovation performance to a greater extent under turbulent technological and market conditions.

The research examines the relationship among responsive and proactive MO, innovativeness and new product success as well as potential environmental moderators, thus contributing to market orientation literature theoretically. In addition, relevant implications are provided for management as to how to improve product innovation performance.