The Role of Market Orientation In Business Dyadic Relationships: Testing an Integrator Model.

Over the last decade market orientation and relationship marketing have been two of the most outstanding fields of research within Marketing discipline. However, little attention has been devoted towards the investigation of the interface existing between both concepts. The aim of this study is to overcome this deficiency. Thus, the paper begins with a review of the existing literature into relationship marketing and market orientation as well as their main constructs. The results of this analysis is the proposal of a theoretical causal model in which the cultural market orientation that buyer firms show appears as a conditioning factor of their loyalty towards a supplier. Next, the methodology followed as well as the empirical contrast of the model proposed are thoroughly presented. The empirical data was obtained from two personal surveys conducted on the same sample of 141 industrial companies. Finally, results, conclusions and practical implications are discussed. In this way, the research proves that a buyer firm's cultural market orientation acts as an indirect antecedent to the degree of loyalty shown to its main supplier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]