Market and technology orientations for service delivery innovation: the link of innovative competence

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deploy an alternative way, drawing upon research in service innovation, to predict service delivery innovation from the extents of market and technology orientations and innovative competence. Design/methodology/approach – Five hypotheses were proposed. A two-part questionnaire was developed. One part of the questionnaire was completed by the sales manager and the other part by the marketing manager of select companies. The questionnaires were distributed to 533 information technology companies in Taiwan. Of the 533 questionnaires returned, 160 questionnaires were deemed usable. This study uses the partial least square analysis to test the hypotheses. Findings – Proactive market orientation and technology orientation affect exploratory and exploitative innovative competences; but, only exploitative innovation competence affects service delivery innovation. Practical implications – The findings indicate that managers need to understand the market trends and the technology availability and be able to customize corresponding service/product features which can further lead to stimulate exploitative innovative competence and facilitate service delivery innovation. Originality/value – The paper is among the first attempts to examine how market and technology orientations affect innovative competence and service delivery innovation. In addition, this study provides the explanatory variance missing in the literature that has not examined the black box relationship between market and technology orientations and service delivery innovation.