The Link Between Market Orientation and Performance in Universities: Some Empirical Evidence

Abstract

Amidst rapid changes in the tertiary education sector witnessed in recent years, issues such as performance and accountability are becoming increasingly important. Amongst other things, market orientation has often been linked to performance. This paper investigates the degree of market orientation and its effect on performance at Australian and New Zealand Universities. Results confirm a positive relationship between market orientation and overall performance: providing support for the relevance of market orientation to universities. The study has confirmed the importance of the responsiveness dimension. Another interesting finding is that there is no significant difference in the level of market orientation between business and non-business schools or departments in universities in Australia and New Zealand. Implications, limitations and directions for further research are also discussed.