Marketing culture and business performance

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity and reliability of marketing culture measurement scale developed by Webster (1990, 1993) in the context of Jordanian tourism restaurants industry. Further, the paper aims to assess the impact of marketing culture, and its dimensions, over Jordanian restaurants performance. Design/methodology/approach – A structured and self-administered survey was employed targeting managers and employees of tourism restaurants operating in Jordan. A sample of 334 of tourism restaurants managers and employees were involved in the survey. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the research constructs dimensions, unidimensionality, validity, and composite reliability. Two structural path models analyses were also used to test the hypothesized relationships of the research model. Findings – The empirical findings indicate that marketing culture dimensions are found to be seven rather than six dimensions as proposed by the original model; service quality, interpersonal relationships, management-front-line interaction, selling task, organization, internal communication, and innovativeness. A new dimension is found, named as management-front-line interaction, which exerted a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance. The structural findings indicate that the marketing culture “construct” has a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance, meanwhile only three out of seven of its dimensions exerted a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance; innovativeness, management-front-line interaction, and organization, respectively. Research limitations/implications – Theoretically, the author examined only seven components of marketing culture; meanwhile there could be other factors of marketing culture, or other organizational factors, that may affect restaurants performance. Empirically, the research has also examined the effect of marketing culture on restaurant financial performance only. Further, the research is industry limited; tourism restaurants in Jordan. Accordingly, the findings cannot be generalized to other service industries without further examination. Practical implications – Tourism restaurants managers should recognize that marketing culture is not simply a number of dimensions that shape it rather; it is a complex organizational phenomenon that affects performance. Marketing culture is a multidimensional construct that consists of seven dimensions not just six as proposed by the original model. Tourism restaurants managers and executives can benefit from the research findings while designing their marketing culture strategies to achieve long-term performance objectives. Originality/value – This is the first research effort devoted to reveal the marketing culture dimensions and examine their effect on tourism restaurants performance in Jordan. Executives and managers can benefit from the research findings to enhance their marketing culture strategies to achieve long-term objectives. International tourism restaurants planning to expand their operations in Jordan's tourism industry have now empirical evidence concerning the marketing culture dimensions and their effect on performance.