Moderated-mediation investigation on internet marketing and export market growth in the Jordanian export sector

Abstract

This quantitative research study set out to replicate and extend Bianchi & Mathew's (2015) findings on the relationship between Internet marketing capabilities and export market growth. In particular, it examined the mediating effect of the availability of export information as well as international business network relationships on the primary relationship within the context of the Jordanian export sector. In addition, the study examined the moderating effect of economic and spending growth of target foreign markets. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the model as it is most suited for predicting changes in the outcome variables in complex conceptual models with multiple independent and dependent variables measured on multiple dimensions (Emeagwali, 2015). The population of the study consisted of Jordanian export firms. A total of 313 online surveys were collected establishing the data to be analyzed for the study. SPPS statistical software version 21 was used to verify the model and the hypotheses of the research study. Findings revealed that while Internet marketing has no direct influence on export market growth, it does have a direct influence on the availability of export information, which in turn has an influence on export market growth. Findings also showed that Internet marketing capabilities had no significant effect on business network relationships. However, the availability of export information had a strong and significant effect on the ability of the companies under study to develop and nurture business network relationships even though business network relationships was found to have a weak but significant effect on export market growth. A key contribution of this study is the finding that economic and spending growth were both observed to strengthen the mediating effects of availability of export information on export market growth as well as the mediating effect of business network relationships on export market growth.