The Moderating Role of Environmental Turbulence on the Relationship between Market Orientation and Firm Innovativeness

Abstract

It is generally agreed that innovation is critical to firm competitive advantage. This study evaluate the moderating role of environmental turbulence on the relationship between market orientation and SMEs innovativeness in Kano Nigeria. Accordingly, a sample of 320 SMEs aged between 5 to 20 years from four different sectors participated in the study. Moreover, Structural Equation Modelling (using Smart PLS) approach was applied to assess the measurement model and the relationships between the constructs. Consequently, the findings shows that both market orientation and environmental turbulence have positive effect on SMEs ability to innovate. Similarly, the result demonstrates that during turbulent environment, effective market orientation predict SMEs innovativeness. The research expand the innovation literature by confirming the influence of market orientation on SMEs innovativeness in a developing nation (Nigeria). Moreover, this finding will help managers of SMEs on how to improve their firms’ ability to innovate by considering market orientation in their respective organizations.