Market orientation, entrepreneurship orientation, relationship commitment and communication among SME exporters in Malaysia

Abstract

Building partnerships with foreign importers or distributors is critical for internationalizing small and mediumenterprises with limited resources. Doing so can help them leverage the resources of their partners and enhance theirexport performance in foreign markets. Within this context, commitment to the relationship stands as an importantcross-border relationship dimension. In addition, market orientation and entrepreneurship orientation have beenhighlighted in the literature as important variables to develop relationship commitment. The literature alsodemonstrates that effective communication between partners is the critical function of relationship closeness andstrength. This study used the resource-based view for theoretical foundation. We collected data from 220 small andmedium business exporters in the manufacturing sector in an emerging market, namely, Malaysia which wereanalyzed using hierarchical moderated regression analysis. The results showed that entrepreneurship orientation ispositively related to relationship commitment. The findings also revealed that the relationship between marketorientation and commitment was fully moderated by communication. This means the entrepreneurial values of risktaking, innovation, and pro-action are crucial in providing SMEs with the ability to develop and maintainrelationship commitment. Future studies may investigate how the rapid changes in the international businessenvironment affect SME relationship commitment.Keywords: cross-border relationship, entrepreneurship orientation, manufacturing sector, market orientation,relationship commitment, SME communication