The effects of market orientation and market knowledge search on business model innovation: evidence for two distinct pathways
Abstract
Purpose
This investigation seeks to elaborate on how proactive market orientation (MO) and responsive MO motivate firms to conduct business model innovation (BMI) through the breadth of market knowledge search (BMKS) and the depth of market knowledge search (DMKS).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the survey data of 259 high-tech firms in the industrial parks of the Yangtze River Delta, this study uses multiple hierarchical regressions to examine the hypotheses and conducts Sobel and bootstrapping methods to further test the mediating effects.
Findings
The findings indicate that the positive effects of proactive and responsive MO on BMI are mediated by BMKS and DMKS. It also shows that proactive MO has a greater impact on BMKS than responsive MO, while responsive MO has a stronger impact on DMKS than proactive MO.
Practical implications
Firms with different MOs can choose different types of market knowledge search to promote BMI, which reminds managers to give attention to the importance of bridging MOs with knowledge search strategies in BMI.
Originality/value
This study introduces a constructive theoretical framework by examining the roles of MO and market knowledge search on BMI. The findings reveal that MO as a key initiating factor and market knowledge search as an important conduit play vital roles in the experimental process of BMI and identify the differential effects of proactive and responsive MO on two types of market knowledge search.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This research was conducted with the support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71972002, 72274061), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (Grant No. 2108085Y25).
Citation
Ye, J., Shi, S. and Feng, Y. (2023), "The effects of market orientation and market knowledge search on business model innovation: evidence for two distinct pathways", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-08-2022-0453
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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