In recent years organisational performance has become one of the
most important aspects, both in profit and non-profit sectors. Higher
Education institutions (HEIs) are not an exception to this notion
although they are faced with a myriad of market-oriented challenges
that militate against their performance. The purpose of the study is to
conduct a comparative content and empirical analysis on market
orientation scales in performance of Universities of Technology
(UoTs) in South Africa. This study is premised within a postpositivism cross-sectional quantitative research design and adopted a
non-probability convenience sampling method out of a total of 1250
questionnaires that were conveniently distributed among the six
participating UoTs in South Africa, only 507 were usable for analysis.
The content analysis was undertaken through a literature review while
the statistical analysis of the collected data included descriptive
statistics, correlations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis,
structural equation model and multiple regression analysis. In
addition, reliability and validity of the scales were performed. The
MKTOR scale yielded customer orientation, inter-functional
coordination and competitor orientation as predictors while the
MARKOR scale identified market intelligence generation,
dissemination and responsiveness as predictors of university
performance. The results of the study indicate that there are
significant similarities between both scales. In addition, these results
support theoretical arguments that universities can be successful in terms of their performance by initiating and adopting market-oriented
activities. The study also found a significant impact of market
orientation on university performance as consistent with previous
market orientation studies undertaken in other contexts. The study has
succeeded in affirming that market orientation positively and
significantly influences university performance. Management in
different HEIs need to rethink their policy framework and strategy to
become market-oriented and enhance performance of their
institutions. Furthermore, recommendations, limitations and future
research opportunities are also identified.
Primary Language | English |
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Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 1, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 |