Market orientation and performance in service firms: role of innovation

There is wide acceptance of the precept that market orientation is associated with superior firm performance. However, empirical support for the proposition in prior literature is weak. This study examines the relationship between market orientation and performance with data from 201 international hotels and finds that market orientation is positively associated with both judgmental measures of performance – service quality, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction, and objective measures of performance – occupancy rate, gross operating profit, and market share. Specifically, the study finds that the immediate impact of market orientation is to spur innovation, which, in turn, enhances judgmental performance, which, in turn, enhances objective performance.