Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 14, No.

3, 2013 261

The impact of market orientation strategy on

performance of commercial banks in Jordan

Sulieman Ibraheem Shelash Al-Hawary*

Department of Business Administration,
Faculty of Finance and Business Administration,
Al al-Bayt University,
P.O. Box 130040, Mafraq 25113, Jordan
E-mail: dr_sliman73@aabu.edu.jo
E-mail: dr_sliman@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

Kamel Mohammad Yousef Al-hawajreh

Department of Business Administration,
Faculty of Finance and Business Administration,
Petra University,
P.O. Box 1023, Khribt Al-Souk 11621, Jordan
E-mail: hawajreh2005@yahoo.com
E-mail: Kalhawajreh@uop.edu.jo

Hussein Ali Al-Zeaud

Department of Economic and Finance Administration,
Faculty of Finance and Business Administration,
Al al-Bayt University,
P.O. Box 130040, Mafraq 25113, Jordan
E-mail: husseinhah@yahoo.com

Anber Abraheem Shlash Mohammad

Marketing Department,
Administrative and Financial Sciences Faculty,
Petra University,
P.O. Box 961343, Amman 11196, Jordan
E-mail: mohammad197119@yahoo.com

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the impact of market orientation

strategy on the performance of commercial banks in Jordan. A 17-question
questionnaire was devised and distributed to a random sample of
274 employees. Two hundred seventy questionnaires were restored with a
response percentage of 98.54%. And by using SPSS version-17, the impact of
market orientation was assessed as to the performance of the companies
concerned. The study revealed the existence of a positive impact, with its whole
dimensions, of the market-orientation. This includes the following being
ordered according to their importance: customer-orientation, competitors

Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

262 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

orientation as well as inter-functional coordination. The study recommends a

continuous review of the market-orientation in order to reinforce its positive
aspects and address its negative ones, motivate bank work teams to improve
their skills of precisely defining the clients’ needs and ensure meeting them,
and respond immediately to the competitors’ plans and strategies. This has the
effect of motivating the clients to proceed to deal with and prefer the bank
concerned, cooperate with its employees and share the information related to
clients and competitors with them.

Keywords: commercial banks; market orientation; customer orientation;

inter-functional coordination; Jordan.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Al-Hawary, S.I.S.,

Al-hawajreh, K.M.Y., Al-Zeaud, H.A. and Mohammad, A.A.S. (2013) ‘The
impact of market orientation strategy on performance of commercial banks in
Jordan’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.261–279.

Biographical notes: Sulieman Ibraheem Shelash Al-Hawary is an Associate

Professor of Management at Faculty of Finance and Business Administration,
Al al-Bayt University, Jordan, he has been teaching in the Department of
Business Administration for about ten years. He received his PhD in Financial
Management from the Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India. He obtained his
MCom from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, and a Bachelor in
Commerce from Yarmouk University in Jordan. His research interests are
supply chain, TQM, service quality, and HRM.

Kamel Mohammad Yousef Al-hawajreh is an Associate Professor of Business

Administration at Faculty of Finance and Business Administration, Petra
University, Jordan, he has been teaching in the Department of Business
Administration for about eight years. He received his PhD in Management from
the Amman Arab University for Graduate Studies, Amman, Jordan. He
obtained his Master of Management from the University of Jordan, and a
Bachelor in Management from Jordan University in Jordan. His research
interests are strategic management, TQM, learning organisation, supply chain
and HRM.

Hussein Ali Al-Zeaud is an Assistant Professor of Management, at Faculty of

Finance and Business Administration, Al al-Bayt University, Jordan. He has
been teaching in the Department of Management for about four years. He
received his PhD in Finance Economic from Jordan University, Amman
Jordan. He obtained his MCom from the University of Al al-Bayt University in
Jordan, and a Bachelor in Statistics and Economics from Yarmouk University
in Jordan. His research interests are inflation, financial markets, financial and
economic crises.

Anber Abraheem Shlash Mohammad is an Assistant Professor of Marketing, at

Faculty of Financial and Business Administration, Petra University, Jordan. He
has been teaching in the Department of Economic for about seven years. He
received his PhD in Marketing from the Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India. He
received his MA from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, and a
Bachelor in Political Science from the Jamia Millia Islamia University in India.
His research interests are brand management, internal marketing, green
marketing, and e-marketing.
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 263

1 Introduction

As we approach the 21st century, great attention has been given to service sectors in
many countries, particularly in Arabic countries, due to the fact that these sectors can
improve the state of economy of these countries. Therefore, organisations have become
increasingly focused on service sectors, which in turn enhance qualitative and
quantitative level of service delivery in order to meet and/or exceed customers’
requirements. Accordingly, organisations have turned to two main areas to improve their
competitiveness, which are marketing theory as well as customers’ preferences. In fact,
this is evident thorough marketing principles and mark orientation strategy that are
unfurling. Banking sector, like many service sectors, have been implementing
organisational restructuring to transform itself to a market-led organisations.
MO strategy is one of the most common research agendas in marketing strategy
nowadays [Sin et al., (2003), p.910; Guo, (2002), p.1154]. It is a popular term used by
marketers as an indicator of the extent a firm implements its marketing concept (Aziz and
Yassin, 2010). Market orientation (MO) is a firm philosophy focused on discovering and
meeting the needs and desires of customers through the product mix (Boohene et al.,
2012). It has also been described as the implementation of marketing activities designed
to satisfy customer needs better than competitors are able to satisfy customer needs
(Martin and Grbac, 2003). In essence, MO can be thought of as a coordinated marketing
campaign between a company and its customers (Amirkhani and Fard 2009). MO
facilitates the firm’s ability to anticipate, react to and capitalise on environmental
changes, and therefore produces superior value for customers and outstanding
performance for the firm (Vieira, 2010; Aviv et al., 2005; Day, 1994; Narver and Slater,
1990). It has been characterised as a culture of the organisation that plays a dominant role
in the organisational performance-based resource (e.g., Narver and Slater, 1990; Jaworski
and Kohli, 1993). Agarwal et al. (2003, p.68) assert that this concept has a common use
among marketing practitioners as an indicator to measure the extent to which
organisations applied marketing concept. For him, marketing concept can enable
organisations to meet organisational goals such as market share, sales growth and
profitability, which depends on organisation’s ability in determining the target market
specifications and achieving high levels of satisfaction in an effective and efficient
manner, where market-led organisations posited to have a high sense of market and high
competencies that lead to high profitability in comparison with less market-oriented
organisations.
Although a number of researchers conducted many studies, there are a limited
number of empirical evidences regarding the impact of MO on performance at the local
level. In addition, there is consensus among studies about the relationship between MO
and performance. Boohene et al. (2012), Muhammad et al. (2012), Micheels and Gow
(2012), Mahmoud (2011), Vieira (2010), Sany et al. (2009), Hurley et al. (2003), Lin
et al. (2008), Farrell and Oczkowski (2002), Vijande et al. (2005), Oczkowski (2002),
Farrell et al. (2008) and Olimpia et al. (2007), for example, have indicated a strong
positive relationship between MO and performance in view of the fact that MO strategies
or practices lead to high levels of performance in that manner market-oriented
organisations are able to satisfy customers’ needs on account of its ability to recognise
customers’ wants and high levels of efficiency. In contrast, as for the second stream of
research, Selnes et al. (1996) found no relationship between MO and market share,
Deshpandé et al. (1997), Baker and Sinkula (1999) point out that there is no impact of
264 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

MO on performance, Slater and Narver (1996) reveal that there is no relationship

between MO and profitability and return on investment (ROI). Therefore, the anecdotal
research conducted on MO and the mixed findings reported complicate efforts amongst
both academics and practitioners to conclude on the real effects of the construct upon
business performance [Dauda (2010) as cited by Muhammad et al. (2012)].
There is limited research that has been conducted in developing countries. It is noted
in the literature that the positive association between MO and performance does not
necessarily hold true in developing countries (Sany et al., 2009). Given the preceding
arguments, it is worth noting that being able to characterise the relationship between MO
and performance will provide additional grounding to further enrich our understanding of
performance-based MO research and unlock the development and management of
superior performance. Therefore, the present study responds to these calls by examining
how MO contribute to performance, examine the relative importance of MO in affecting
performance, and to offer important managerial implications for marketing practitioners.
The remaining sections of this empirical paper are arranged in the following manner. The
literature review and hypotheses development in Section 2. The research model is
presented in Section 3. The methodology including detailed information on the measures,
sample, procedural definitions, and analysis performed in this study is presented in
Section 4. The regression analysis is discussed in Section 5. The results, and discussion
are discussed in Section 6, followed by managerial implications in Section 7,
recommendation and direction for future research (Section 8).

2 Literature review and hypotheses development

2.1 Marketing concept and MO

The literature review has emphasised the importance of MO strategy. According to Kohli
and Jaworski (1990; cited in Golann, 2006), MO has been defined as the
“organization-wide generation of market intelligence pertaining to current and future
customer needs, dissemination of the intelligence across departments and organization
wide responsiveness to it” (p. 371). Maydeu-Olivares and Lado (2003, p.284) defined this
strategy as a set of activities developed by organisations to monitor, analyse, and respond
to market changes, such as customers’ preferences, rapid growth of technology, and
intensive increase of competition.
Market-oriented organisations should create a mechanism or behavioural processes in
order to generate and analyse marketing information about customer and competitors,
that helps responding to customers and market opportunities (Hunt and Morgan, 1995).
Despite the need for managers to be very close to customer, the academic efforts related
to practical guidelines provided to transform organisations to market oriented
organisations, behavioural and attitudinal measurements developed in this respect,
researches do little to help managers in developing their own MO behaviours in their
organisations.
In response to continuous changes of customer expectations and behaviour;
organisations should pay a great attention to market and business environment on an
ongoing basis; which means it should generate a marketing intelligence systems (Silva
et al., 2009). Additionally, MO culture should be disseminated among internal customers
and behavioural skills should be developed to help producing innovative solutions for
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 265

market requirements. Therefore, MO and customer orientation were regarded as pivotal

factors in organisations success (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). According to Silva et al.
(2009), organisation’s mission should give a high priority for customers as well as its
strategy should be translated into practical changes to create an added value for different
customers rather than for stakeholders (Silva et al., 2009).
In their 1990 study, Kohli and Jaworski indicated that MO philosophy leads to
marketing activities and behaviours that symbolise marketing concept. In other words,
MO represents one of practical aspects relate to marketing concept. For them, a practical
framework of MO includes three main activities:
1 information intelligence in order to collect information about present and future
needs of customers.
2 disseminating information all over organisation levels
3 responsiveness to knowledge by translating it into practical activities.
On the other hand, Narver and Salter (1990, p.23) pointed out that MO consists of three
behavioural components:
a customer orientation
b competitor orientation
c inter-functional coordination as well as two standards related to long-term decision
making and profitability.
Accordingly, MO has two main approaches. Cultural approach developed by Kohli and
Jaworski (1990) and Kohli et al. (1993) state that MO has three main components:
a intelligence generation involves gathering information about customers, competitors
and the market place
b intelligence dissemination which involves disseminating information at all levels
within the organisation
c responsiveness; involves responding to information.
On the other hand, behavioural approach developed by Narver and Salter (1990) state that
MO has three main components:
a customer orientation, which reflects activities relate to customer’s information
acquisition and dissemination
b competitor orientation, which includes activities relate to competitor’s information
acquisition and dissemination; and finally
c inter-functional coordination among business units.
Further, Jaworski et al. (2000) suggested two methods for MO. The traditional one where
the organisation is market-driven and the modern one where the organisation is
market-controller organisation. The main focus of both methods is on customers,
competitors and market conditions. Market-driven organisations intent to understand and
interact in response to customer preferences in the target market, while market-controller
organisations seek to affect both customer behaviours and market conditions in order to
achieve a competitive advantage. Hence, this study aims at analysing and measuring the
266 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

impact of MO on organisational performance, considering that MO consists of customer

orientation, competitor orientation, and inter-functional coordination. These components
interact to foster an organisation-wide understanding of customer needs and competitive
offerings so that there is an organisational focus on providing superior value to customers
(Alhakimi and Baharun, 2009).

2.2 MO and performance

Narver and Salter (1990) defined MO as a competitive strategy in which the relevant
behaviour is generated to create and enhance customer’s added value, which in turn
improve organisation outcomes. Through MO organisations can develop high skills and
competitive advantage in understanding customer needs and providing better products
than customers can do (Day, 1994). Therefore, it goes without saying that MO is very
important strategy.
Market oriented organisations are able to meet customers’ needs by understanding
these needs, reduction of manufacturing waste and enhancement of competitive
advantage (Chang and Chen, 1998). MO was extensively cited as one of strategic
behaviours that lead to competitive advantage (Olson et al., 2005). Therefore, marketers
from different industries and cultures should adopt MO due to the fact that MO strategies
and practices are positively correlated to high levels of marketing performance. Despite
this fact, there is empirical evidence that MO adoption is still low among organisations
(Harris, 1998).
Performance derives within organisations has received much interest among
marketing and strategic management researchers (Stoelhorst and Raaij, 2004). Although
MO plays a very important role in organisational performance (Narver and Slater, 1990;
Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Matsuno and Mentzer, 2000). However, there is a need to
understand how MO contributes in the improvement of organisational performance (Hunt
and Lambe, 2000; Noble et al., 2002).
MO is critical to a firm’s performance (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Kohli and
Jaworski, 1990; Kohli et al., 1993; Narver and Slater, 1990; Deshpandé and Farley, 1998)
because it encourages and supports new product development to meet current and future
market needs.
A number of empirical studies test the relationship of MO and firms’ performance.
Some studies find that MO associate positively with business performance (Boohene
et al., 2012; Muhammad et al., 2012; Micheels and Gow, 2012; Mahmoud, 2011; Vieira,
2010; Sany et al., 2009; Li et al., 2008; Hinson et al., 2008; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993;
Narver and Slater, 1990; Dawes, 2000; Farrell, 2000; Pulendran et al., 2000; Sue et al.,
2003; Matsuno and Mentzer, 2000; Slater and Narver, 2000; Noble et al., 2002; Sin et al.,
2003; Hurley et al., 2003; Farrell and Oczkowski, 2002; Vijande et al., 2005; Oczkowski,
2002; Farrell et al., 2008; Olimpia et al., 2007; Piercy et al., 2002), Raaij and Stoelhorst
(2008) found positive effect of MO on sales, market share and profitability. Recent
studies have provided empirical support for the positive impacts of MO on customer
perceived quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and employees as well (Kirca et al.,
2005; Dauda, 2010). Based on the review of the literature, hypotheses were formulated as
follows:
H1 MO has a significantly positive effect on performance.
More specifically:
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 267

H1a Customer orientation has a significantly positive effect on performance.

H1b Competitor orientation has a significantly positive effect on performance.
H1c Interfunctional coordination has a significantly positive effect on performance.

3 Research model

Based on study hypothesis, the following theoretical framework, shown in Figure 1, was
proposed in order to show the relationships among independent and dependent variables.
We have argued that MO the reason for better performance. As can be seen from the
framework, the study investigates the impact of MO on performance, where MO is the
independent variable represented by (customer orientation, competitor orientation,
inter-functional coordination) and are positively related to performance as the dependent
variable. This relationship was used to develop the hypotheses for this study.

Figure 1 Theoretical model

Customer
orientation

Competitor
Performance
orientation

Interfunctional
coordination

4 Methodology

In this section, we discuss measures, sample and data collection, operational measures of
variables used in the study as well as the statistical tests used to examine the impact of
the multidimensionality of MO and performance.

4.1 Study sample

The target population of the survey was all managers at Jordanian commercial banks
(17 banks) working in positions such as general manager, deputy director general,
assistant general managers, branch managers, and marketing managers (960 managers) in
the city of Amman (capital of Jordan). Sample size equals 274 managers as computed
according to the following equation: (Issac and Michael, 1989).
χ 2 NP (1 − 9)
n=
D 2 (n − 1) + χ 2 P(1 − P )
268 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

where n = sample size, N = population size, P = proportion of population subjects (0.5),

D = accuracy degree (0.05), χ2 = chi-squared value at df = 1, and significance
level = 0.01, which equals 1.69. Out of 274 questionnaires distributed to managers, 4
questionnaires were not included in the analysis. Thus, data analysis is based on a sample
of 270 questionnaires representing a response rate of 98.85%.
The respondents include 270 managers of Jordanian commercial bank. Females make
(31.85%) of the managers on the other hand males respondents represented (68.15%) of
the survey population. The largest group of respondents (37.40%) were aged 25 – less
than 35. The next largest group (25.92%) were aged 45 years and more. Smaller groups
of respondents were aged Less than 25 (12.95%). With regard to educational level,
holders of bachelor degrees were the largest group of respondents make (61.11%). While
holders of postgraduate degrees make (38.89%) of the managers. With regard to
Experience, the largest group of respondents (33.33%) with experience 5 – less than 10,
and also (30.74%) with experience less than 5. The smaller groups of respondents with
experience 10 – less than 15 (16.67%). The sample characteristics of the respondents
represented in Table 1.
Table 1 Description of the respondents

Frequency %
Age group Less than 25 34 12.95
25 – less than 35 101 37.40
35 – less than 45 65 24.09
45 years and more 70 25.92
Educational Bachelor 165 61.11
level Postgraduate degrees 105 38.89
Gender Male 184 68.15
Female 86 31.85
Experience Less than 5 83 30.74
5 – less than 10 90 33.33
10 – less than 15 45 16.67
15 years and more 52 19.26

4.2 Operational definitions

• MO: Organisational culture that leads to relevant behaviours responsible for creating
a high value for customers and a high level of performance. This strategy includes
implementation of marketing concept to achieve high value for customers through
customer and competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination (Narver and
Salter, 1990).
• Customer orientation: A set of organisational activities that covers understanding of
customers’ behaviours and ability to increase market segment benefits by responding
to customers’ needs (Narver and Slater, 1990; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993).
• Competitor orientation: A set of organisational activities and behaviours that
comprises understanding of weakness and strength points of potential competitors
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 269

(Porter, 1990); therefore, organisation’s behaviour must be focused on competencies

development to satisfy customers more than competitors can do (Narver and Slater,
1990; Lukas and Ferrell, 2000).
• Inter-functional coordination: A set of activities and behaviours that involves
inter-dependability among functional units in order to ensure that organisations’
resources are utilised effectively to create a high value for customers. This behaviour
emphasise that organisation strategy is designed based on dissemination of
information related to customer and market among employees within organisation’s
units. Consequently, a best strategy is the one that responds to market information
with a view to provide customers with the best (Porter, 1990).
• Organisational performance: Refers to outcome of organisation’s activities that
includes achievement of internal and external goals of an organisation, as well as
sales growth, profitability and market share (Narver and Slater, 1990; Jaworski and
Kohli, 1993; Greenley, 1995).

4.3 Measures
The aim of this research was to examine the impact of MO strategy on performance of
commercial banks in Jordan. A survey was conducted to measure MO and performance
of commercial banks in Jordan. To measure MO, we employ the MKTOR measure
(Narver and Slater, 1990) due to its wide acceptance (Raju and Lonial, 2002; Lai, 2003)
in the extant literature. MKTOR measure consists of 14 items and assess the sub-factors
of competitor orientation, customer orientation, and inter-functional coordination. The
MKTOR measure has been employed in many studies which have demonstrated its sound
psychometric properties. Minor modifications were, however, made to some items in the
original scale to adjust for semantic meanings and also two items were deleted resulting
in a 14-item scale that are measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly
disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’.
Performance is a complex construct with multiple possible observed indicators. Three
dimensions was adopted from previous empirical studies by Jaworski and Kohli (1993),
Narver and Slater (1990) and Greenley (1995) [1]:
1 market share
2 growth which is equivalent to sales growth
3 profitability per year averaged over the last three years (similar to the ROI rate).
Performance scale is measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly
disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’.

4.4 Psychometric properties and dimensions of the revised MO scale and

performance
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett’s test of sphericity has been used as pre-analysis testing
for the suitability of the entire sample for factor analysis as recommended by Comrey
(1978), the value of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was used to assess the suitability of
the sample for each unifactorial determination. The KMO values found (see Table 2) are
generally considered acceptable (Kim and Mueller, 1978). All factors in each unifactorial
270 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

test accounted for more than 60% of the variance of the respective variable sets. This
suggests that only a small amount of the total variance for each group of variables is
associated with causes other than the factor itself, and the Bartlet tests of sphericity was
significant at p < 0:01, thus, indicating that the sample was suitable for factor analytic
procedures (see Table 2).
Table 2 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity

Bartlett’s test of sphericity

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
Variables Approx.
values df Sig.
chi-square
Customer orientation 0.664 240.521 3 0.000
Competitor orientation 0.752 352.285 3 0.000
Inter-functional coordination 0.691 278.621 3 0.000
Performance 0.854 186.548 1 0.000

4.5 Goodness of measure

Factor analysis and reliability analysis were used in order to determine the data reliability
for the MO, and performance measures. On the basis of Cattel (1966) and Hair et al.
(1998) criterion, factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 and factor loadings that are
equal to or greater than 0.50 were retained. Fourteen items, loading under three
dimensions of MO were extracted from the analysis and these items explained (75.043)
of the overall variance. Three items, loading under dimension of performance were
extracted from the analysis and these items explained (73.594%) of the overall variance.
The reliability values were all above 0.79. Thus, it can be concluded that the measures
used in this study are valid and reliable. The results of the factor analysis and reliability
tests are presented in Table 3.
In assessing construct validity, the researchers also conducted Pearson correlation
analysis to learn the relations of the theoretic foundation of this research with other
theories. The survey questionnaire has four factors, as shown in Table 4. Gaski and Nevin
(1985) point out that if the correlation of two rubrics of different assessments was smaller
than their individual Cronbach’s alpha, the two rubrics have discriminant validity. The
correlation of any two factors of this research is smaller than its own Cronbach’s alpha.
This shows good discriminant validity analysis validity and construct validity.
Correlation matrix is used in this project to show the strength of relationship among
the variables considered in the questionnaire. The correlation matrix in Table 4 further
indicates that MO was positively and moderately correlated with performance. The
correlation coefficients between the independent variables (MO) and the dependent
variable (performance) were less than 0.9, indicating that the data was not affected by a
collinearity problem (Hair et al., 1998). These correlations are also further evidence of
validity and reliability of measurement scales used in this research (Barclay et al., 1995;
Hair et al., 1998).
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 271

Table 3 Factor analysis of the study variables

Factor % of
Construct and item Eigenvalue Reliability
loading Variance
Market orientation 2.251 75.043 0.86
Customer orientation 0.85
Customer satisfaction is a fundamental driver 0.912
of our bank objectives
Our bank evaluates the level of commitment 0.858
to serve our customer needs on a continuous
basis
Our strategy is focused on creating a superior 0.827
value for customers
Our competitive strategy can be achieved 0.898
through successful serving of our customers
Our bank measures customer satisfaction on 0.878
a regular and systematic basis
Our bank pays more attention to after-sale 0.767
services
Competitor orientation 0.79
We share competitor knowledge within our 0.649
bank
We respond to competitors actions that threat 0.840
us
Top management discusses competitors’ 0.817
strength points and strategies regularly
We target customers who give us an 0.803
opportunity to achieve a competitive
advantage
Inter-functional coordination 0.87
All departments share information related to 0.742
customers
All departments communicate to understand 0.868
successful and unsuccessful practices
delivered to our customers
All departments integrate to serve market 0.854
segment needs
All managers aware of individual abilities in 0.825
creating superior values for our customers
Performance 2.944 73.594 0.83
Sales growth 0.890
Profitability 0.867
Market share 0.863
272 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

Table 4 Summary of means, standard deviations, and correlations of MO and performance

Variables Mean SD CO COO IC P

Customer orientation 3.81 0.86 1
Competitor orientation 3.63 0.68 0.60** 1
Inter-functional coordination 3.47 0.74 0.5** 0.78** 1
Performance 3.44 0.62 0.70** 0.58** 0.66** 1

There was a significant positive relationship between three dimensions of MO and

performance, the highest correlation was between customer orientation and performance
(r = 0.70, n = 270, p < 0.01), followed between inter-functional coordination and
performance (r = 0.66, n = 270, p < 0.01) and between competitor orientation and
performance (r = 0.58, n = 270, p < 0.01). In other words, the results indicate that the
most important MO practice on performance was customer orientation (i.e., with the
highest scores of correlation), which goes to prove that customer orientation was
perceived as a dominant MO; improvements in banks’ performance levels were
significant. Thus, H1 was supported.

4.6 Descriptive statistics analysis

Table 4 has shown the statistical description of MO, performance of 270 respondents,
banks managers evaluated customer orientation (with the highest mean scores, i.e.,
M = 3.81, SD = 0.86) to be the most dominant MO and evident to a considerable extent,
followed by competitor orientation (M = 3.63, SD = 0.68), and inter-functional
coordination (M = 3.47, SD = 0.62) with the lowest mean score was perceived on the
overall as least dimension of MO. The standard deviations were quite low, indicating the
dispersion in a narrowly-spread distribution. This means that the effects of MO on
performance are an approximation to a normal distribution.

5 Regression analysis

Multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses. It is a constructive

statistical technique that can be used to analyse to analyse the relationship between a
single dependent variable and several independent variables (Hair et al., 1998). The detail
of the regression output was shown in Table 5. Each of the variables had a tolerance
value of more than 0.10 and a variance inflation factor (VIF) of less than ten. The finding
indicated that the models had no serious multicollinearity problem (Hair et al., 1998).
From these analyses, it can be concluded that regression model of this study met the
assumptions required to ensure validity of its significance test (Ooi et al., 2006).
As shown in Table 5 performance acts as the dependent variable, (customer
orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination) as the independent
variables The R2 is .743, which means that 74.3% of the variation in performance can be
explained by MO. The proposed model was adequate as the F-statistic = 119.32 were
significant at the 1% level (p < 0.01). This indicates that the overall model was
reasonable fit and there was a statistically significant association between MO and
performance.
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 273

Table 5 Regression results between MO and performance

Standardised
Independent variables t Sig. Tolerance VIF
beta
Constant 1.315 7.159 0.000*
Customer orientation 0.184 4.028 0.000* 0.732 1.971
Competitor orientation 0.273 5.450 0.000* 0.522 1.384
Inter-functional coordination 0.241 4.865 0.000* 0.317 1.758
2 2
Notes: R = 0.743; adj. R = 0.62; sig. F = 0.000; F-value = 119.32; dependent variable,
performance; p < 0.01.
Regression analysis indicated that, Customer orientation had significantly positive effect
on performance (p < 0.01; β = .184). Thus, H1a, proposing that customer orientation is
positively related to performance, was supported by this study. The other result is
competitor orientation had significantly positive effect on performance (p < 0.01;
β = .273). Hence, the hypothesis H1b was also supported by the study. Finally,
inter-functional coordination had significantly positive effect on performance (p < 0.01;
β = .241). Thus, H1c proposing that inter-functional coordination is positively related to
performance was supported by this study. Based on the values, competitor orientation has
the highest impact on performance followed by inter-functional coordination and
customer orientation.

6 Discussion

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of MO on performance of commercial
banks in Jordan. Organisational performance positively correlated to MO constructs i.e.,
customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination.
Competitor orientation has the highest impact on performance followed by inter-
functional Coordination and Customer orientation. This result supports the findings of
many studies conducted by Boohene et al. (2012), Muhammad et al. (2012), Farrell et al.
(2012), Mahmoud (2011), Vieira (2010), Sany et al. (2009), Jaworski and Kohli (1993),
Narver and Slater (1990), Dawes (2000), Farrell (2000, 2008), Pulendran et al. (2000),
Sue et al. (2003), Matsuno and Mentzer (2000), Deshpandé et al. (1993), Slater and
Narver (2000), Noble et al. (2002), Sin et al. (2003), Hurley et al. (2003), Lin et al.
(2008), Albert and Nora (2003), Farrell and Oczkowski (2002), Vijande et al. (2005),
Oczkowski (2002), Olimpia et al. (2007), Cadogan et al. (1999) and Piercy et al. (2002).
In contrast, this finding does not support the findings of Deshpandé et al. (1997), Baker
and Sinkula (1999) who found that there is no relationship between MO and
organisational performance, as well as, Ho and Huang (2007) who found a weak
relationship between MO and organisational performance. Therefore, MO was regarded
as an effective strategy in Jordanian banking sector considering that MO has an influence
on organisational performance. In brief, MO is prerequisite condition for any
organisation to achieve good levels of performance.
The findings indicated that commercial banks have a high level of customer
orientation. This dimension indicates a high agreement with items dedicated to measure
customer orientation. This finding emphasises that bank’s goals are focused on customer
satisfaction and create a high value for them, on the strength of bank’s belief that meeting
274 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

customer’s needs and continuous evaluation of their satisfaction is very important effort
to pave the way to competitive advantage. In consequence of this, bank management
encourages customer orientation strategy through commitment to customer’s needs and
wants. This finding is consistent with a study by Osuagwu (2002) who suggested that
customer orientation is radical factor in satisfying customers, and Hooley et al. (2005)
who found that customer orientation leads to high levels of customer satisfaction.
Commercial banks have a high level of competitor orientation. This dimension was in
the second rank with a high degree of agreement. This result asserted that commercial
banks in Jordan have adopted competitor orientation strategy by detecting competitors’
trends, responding to their fundamental changes, and reviewing their strength points.
Consistent with this finding, Anwar and Sohail (2003) found that MO constructs such as
competitor orientation can be used in competitive environments as a powerful driver of
business performance. Commercial banks have a moderate level of inter-functional
coordination. This dimension was the smallest mean rating indicating a moderate
agreement with items dedicated to measure inter-functional coordination. This result
indicates that all activities of commercial banks in Jordan support marketing efforts and
provide customers with a superior value, as well as building internal organisational
culture and employee commitment to satisfy customers.
Customer orientation had the highest impact on organisational performance. This
dimension id concerned with understanding customers’ needs and specification and
developing products to meet these requirements, developing innovative products in order
to enhance organisation performance. Furthermore, competitor orientation is very
important to help organisations building competitive advantage based on quality, cost
reduction, superior characteristics of products, increase the ability of detecting
competitors’ information related to strategies, marketing programmes, production and
prices. Equally, inter-functional coordination encourages the strategic trends in provision
of new innovative products and enhances the integration among different units to make
new creative with much relative advantage and less cost. MO is very important tool in
improving service quality and bank’s profitability. Therefore, managers must
continuously detect any changes in customers’ preferences and make relevant changes in
alignment with these preferences. Market-oriented banks have high level of performance,
which in turn reduce of waste and rework activities and improve the competitive
advantage.

7 Managerial implications

The result of this study provided several important marketing and strategic implications
for managers and decision makers of commercial banks in Jordan. The findings generally
confirm the overall hypotheses that there are significant impacts of MO on performance.
The model in this paper identifies customer orientation, competitor orientation, and
inter-functional coordination as a strong determinants of performance to commercial
banks in Jordan. The study makes some contribution by providing important information
regarding factors that affect performance for marketing strategies and promotional
planning. This research makes a significant contribution towards a better understanding
of the relationships between MO and performance. This research have gives a deeper
understanding of the factors that can affect performance and helps managers and
 The impact of market orientation strategy on performance 275

marketers to better understand their market and also help them to better serve the needs
and wants of their potential customers.
As the findings of this research can be used as a guide for commercial banks in
Jordan to improve their organisational performance. The managerial implication of our
study is that by enhancing their MO, banks will know and service its customers better.
The study showed that customer orientation had impact on organisational performance. In
this regard, managers and decision makers of commercial banks in Jordan have to
motivate teamwork to detect customers’ needs in an accurate manner in order to meet
these needs, and to build a reputable friendship with customers and periodically review of
changes in their preferences and make timely response to these changes and preferences.
Also, not only collect information related to customers but also design method and
processes to disseminate this information among organisational units to satisfy
customers.
The study showed that competitor orientation had impact on organisational
performance. In this regard, managers and decision makers of commercial banks in
Jordan have to respond to competitor strategies and plans to attract customers by
providing better service more than competitors , managers and decision makers have to
encourage cooperation among employees and knowledge sharing of customers and
competitors’ information, and to participate in information processing activities that are
devoted to understand customers and competitors and to create an integrated response
among different units.
The study showed that competitor orientation had impact on organisational
performance. In this regard, managers and decision makers of commercial banks in
Jordan have to turn their eyes to inter-functional coordination and develop a culture of
MO among employees, and to have a measurement system for performance in order to
evaluate the bank activities.

8 Limitations and directions for future research

The study suffers from a number or shortcomings that must be considered and possibly
addressed in future research. First, the sample used for analysis was drawn only from
Amman, the biggest city in Jordan, and the generalisability of the result remains to be
tested. Future research, therefore, can expand the present study by attempting a
nationwide survey. Second, we note in particular our small sample size. With smaller
samples, the power of the tests decreases. A replication of our analysis with larger sample
sizes would facilitate a more precise description of these phenomena. Third, the data
were collected from banking industry in Jordan, which may restrict to some extent
generalisability of findings to other industries, further research in needed to test the
proposed model in various industries. Forth, the generalisability of the findings of this
study is limited to the sample space used in the survey. The links between
MO and performance need to be extended by considering other variables such as learning
orientation, organisational structure, entrepreneurship and innovation. Fifth, in this study
we adopted the MO scale developed by Narver and Slater (1990), though there were
other scales that might also be applicable to banking industry (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993).
Perhaps an implementation of alternative scales on the same sample would provide
further insights into the causal links between MO and performance. Finally, the use of
sample from only one country also constitutes another study limitation. Consequently, in
276 S.I.S. Al-Hawary et al.

order to be able to make generalisations with confidence about the relations revealed
here, further research in needed to test the proposed model in various countries.

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the reviewers for their constructive and helpful
comments.

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