The Connubial Relationship Between Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation

Research examining the relationship between market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has recently received considerable attention in both the marketing and the management literature. To date, most academic studies have treated EO and MO as separate constructs. Here, we argue that both EO and MO reside in a single coexisting network. Unlike past research, a reverse moderation from one MO construct (i.e., Intelligence Generation) is found in the mediated EO network (Proactiveness → Risk-Taking Propensity → Innovativeness). We also find that our mediated EO is directly related to a market-oriented dimension (i.e., Responsiveness). Furthermore, we examine some hidden relational links between the operational dimensions of MO and EO in order to unwrap the structural nature of correlations between the two constructs. Practical implications are discussed along with some important theoretical recommendations.