Consequences of market orientation for customers and employees

The present empirical study intends to address a significant topic for business management, such as the influence of market orientation (MO) on the internal and external environments of an organisation. More precisely, the main objective of this paper focuses on the effect of such an orientation on employees – organisational commitment and OCBs – as well as on customers – satisfaction and perceived service quality.

Structural equation models are employed to analyse the data collected from the spanish retail banking sector in order to verify the hypotheses corresponding to the causal relationships proposed in our research model.

The results achieved in this research represent significant contributions both from a theoretical perspective as well as for management in the service industry. From a theoretical perspective, these findings reinforce the research position stressing the role of the employees in the MO relationship and the operational level of the business incorporating new evidence into this emerging field of study.

Limitations of the study can account for the anomalous relationships that have been identified. First, the cross‐sectional nature of the study could have been an obstacle to revealing short‐term answers. In addition, the empirical study focused on one particular case in the service industry – banking – hindered the generalization of results.

Provides further research on the role of market orientation as a major source of achieving sustainable competitive advantage.