The Mediating Role of CSR on the Market Orientation and Strategic Performance Relationship—A Study of the Public Housing Companies in Sweden

Agneta Sundström,Zahra Ahmadi

doi:10.3390/su11061537

Abstract

This article serves to analyze the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on (1) the market orientation and strategic performance relationship related to public housing companies’ choice of construction strategies and (2) the companies’ responsiveness to gathered and disseminated customer information. The quantitative method is applied, with data analyzed by the PROCESS analysis. The result is based on a survey sent to 289 public housing companies in Sweden. Previous research suggests a positive relationship between market orientation and strategic performance, which was not confirmed by this study. When testing the mediation effects of CSR on the market orientation and construction strategies relationship, these hypotheses were confirmed related to social and environmental dimensions—not economic ones. This study was limited to public housing companies, a sector that radically differs from the situation of companies in the open market. The study increases public housing companies’ knowledge of CSR effects on the market orientation and strategic performance relationship. This result contributes useful information for companies implementing CSR in their activities. The study highlights the importance of integrating CSR into an organization’s market orientation work and shows how CSR improves the companies’ ability to meet customers’ strategic needs.

Highlights

Market orientation (MO) research commonly relies on the principle that a positive relationship exists between companies’ market orientation and business strategic performance [1,2,3,4]
This study focuses on the mediation role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the MO–strategic performance (MO/strategic performance (SP)) relationship in the context of public housing companies (PHCs) in Sweden
The H1 is accepted relative to the gathered and disseminated information (GDI)/R relationship (MO components), whereas the MO/SP relationship is not confirmed

Summary

Introduction

Market orientation (MO) research commonly relies on the principle that a positive relationship exists between companies’ market orientation and business strategic performance [1,2,3,4]. This MO–strategic performance (MO/SP) interrelationship has been criticized for being difficult to define, measure, and evaluate, contributing to split results in research. Customers today are more organized, informed, and demanding regarding company engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, which require new business strategies and efforts to create mutual value [8]. The main challenge is to replace the traditional view of MO, which is based on assimilating knowledge of customer needs related to products and services, with an updated research approach that includes relevant CSR issues related to contextual circumstances

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion