Impact of market orientation, organizational learning and market conditions on small and medium-size hospitality enterprises

This paper focuses on the impact of Market Orientations (MO), Organizational Learning (OL) and Market Conditions (MCs) on Firm Growth (FG), within the context of hospitality Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Entrepreneurs/managers were sampled using cluster-sampling technique and surveyed using a 5-point Likert type scale instrument. The questionnaire’s validity was determined by 1) expert opinions, and 2) pilot testing the instrument on a small group of target respondents. A total of 254 completed questionnaires were analyzed to test the research model using Structural Equation Modeling approach (SEM) via the Partial Least Squares (PLS) software. The findings reveal that MO has a strong influence on FG and that OL partially mediates the MO-FG relationship. However, MCs have no moderating influence on the OL-FG relationship. The paper then discusses the findings’ implications on theory and practice.