Market or society? Dual orientations and the impact on innovativeness in media organizations

Abstract

Shortening life cycles of products and new technologies make innovation a vital part of the long-term growth and survival of firms. Interestingly, media firms see themselves in a particular difficult position in innovation because traditional values such as public information access, good taste, information diversity, and social responsibility can be in conflict with the market success of certain new media products and services. This is also a key reason why there are public media firms in certain information markets in the first place. In this study, two different orientations in media organizations are studied simultaneously, namely “market orientation” and “social responsibility orientation” in relation to innovativeness. Based on a sample of 54 Dutch media organizations, we find that firms scoring high on both dimensions are not necessarily more or less innovative (indicating that innovations emerge in the whole orientation space). What is important for innovativeness is the degree to which professionals identify with the orientations of the firm. The broader implications of a more prominent role of social responsibility in NPD are discussed.