Market orientation for sustainable performance and the inverted-U moderation of firm size: Evidence from the Greek shipping industry

Abstract

Sustainability, despite being a major concern for companies, has not been studied from a marketorientation perspective. Market-oriented companies can integrate sustainability activities into their business strategies but there is a gap in our knowledge to what extend this affects firm performance This paper analyses the sustainable performance differences and provides confirmation of the market orientation to performance relationship within the transportation (shipping) sector. In an attempt to fill the literature gap we examined, by employing Stochastic DEA and hierarchical regression analysis, the moderating effects of firm size on the relationship as well as the efficiency levels of the organizations to support the sustainable use of resources. We conducted a large-scale survey of the Greek shipping industry, which directly or indirectly controls 15.42% of the total world fleet. We surveyed the total population of 2,150 shipping firms of all types (ship owning, ship management, charterers etc.) and received 703 responses from managers of 397 shipping firms, which corresponds to an 18.5% response rate. The findings show the effects of market orientation upon firm performance for shipping companies by disaggregating MO to its constituting factors, those of responsiveness, intelligence generation and dissemination. Further, we uncover the differences in the size of shipping companies on the MO-Performance (P) link. Findings indicate that there is an inverted U-shape effect of size on firm MO performance and identify where improvements are required.

The relationship between innovation culture and innovation outcomes: exploring the effects of sustainability orientation and firm size

“…This result is both counter‐intuitive and a significant new finding from this study. It refutes the argument made by some researchers that large firms have the resources to engage in higher numbers of sustainability initiatives and have the resources to sustain such activity over longer periods (Darnall et al ., ; Dixon‐Fowler et al , ; Pantouvakis et al ., ). Research by Shevchenko et al ., , p. 911) concluded that large firms differ from small firms partly as a result of the expectations of external stakeholders: our evidence shows that there is no difference between large and small firms with regard to SO and innovation.…”

Same Same but Different: How and Why Banks Approach Sustainability

“…Although research results may be sensitive to how company size is measured [88], extensive empirical evidence has been derived as to the positive relationship between the size and sustainability performance of a company [89][90][91][92]. In this regard, the high resource slack of large companies is employed as an explanatory dimension [93].…”

The Mediating Role of CSR on the Market Orientation and Strategic Performance Relationship—A Study of the Public Housing Companies in Sweden

“…Customer, competitive and inter-functional orientation have significant influence on CSR. [39] MO constructs (Kohli and Jaworski), sustainability/CSR (aggregated) and effects on firm performance (shipping).…”

“…The table shows that views differ as to whether CSR should be seen as mediating the MO-SP relationship or having a moderating effect. None of the studies, except Pantouvakis et al [39], has tested the effect of CSR on different MO constructs or tested how different CSR dimensions affect different MO constructs, which this article aims to do (gathering of information, dissemination, and responsiveness = GDI + R). However, there is a strong agreement that CSR has a positive influence on the strategic performance measured.…”