Abstract:

Although market orientation plays a crucial role in building firm market competitive competence, China’s publicly traded firms vary enormously in their levels of market orientation. Based on agency theory, this study examines the antecedents of market orientation from the perspective of a firm’s ownership structure. We provide empirical evidence that the differences in ownership structure are closely related to varying levels of market orientation across firms. Moreover, the relationship between ownership structure and market orientation is contingent on firm size and age. This study enriches the extant market orientation literature by exploring the important but understudied role of ownership structure.

Key words: Market Orientation, Ownership Structure, Market Competitiveness