Competitive advantage as the critical pathway: Linking entrepreneurial marketing and organizational learning to marketing performance under varying competitive intensity

This cross-sectional study investigates relationships between organizational learning, competitive advantage, and marketing performance among 253 logistics companies in Indonesia. Using structural equation modeling, we find that organizational learning significantly predicts competitive advantage (β = 0.600), while competitive intensity moderates the competitive advantage-performance relationship (β = 0.067, p < 0.001). Organizational learning shows full mediation in predicting marketing performance, suggesting that learning capabilities require transformation into competitive advantages before affecting performance outcomes. The competitive advantage-performance relationship is stronger in high versus low competitive intensity contexts, supporting contingency theory predictions. These findings contribute to understanding how learning capabilities function in emerging market contexts and suggest that environmental conditions influence when competitive advantages translate into superior performance. Limitations include cross-sectional design restricting causal inference and single-industry focus limiting generalizability. Future research should examine these relationships longitudinally across multiple industries and emerging market contexts.