Exploring market orientation in banks: an empirical examination in Saudi Arabia

Examines market orientation and its relationship with return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and sales‐per‐employee within a novel context, banks in Saudi Arabia. Toward this end, a sample of 92 bank managers was investigated. Findings indicate that banks in Saudi Arabia are marginally market‐oriented and that market orientation is unrelated to ROA, ROE, and sales‐per‐employee. Further, results imply that executives of firms, in general, should weigh the external environment in which the firm operates before adopting a market‐oriented philosophy because market orientation may not be a preferred orientation under all circumstances.