Market Orientation: Scale Invariance and Relationship to Generic Strategies Across Two Countries

This article presents a scheme for investigating scale invariance for the market orientation construct across different countries by examining the psychometric properties of the operationalisation of market orientation (Narver and Slater, 1990). We investigate the measurement of market orientation in two countries (Australia and Zimbabwe—one being an example of a developed economy, the other of a developing economy). We then proceed to test the relationship between market orientation and Porter's (1980) generic strategies. The results suggest that the psychometric properties of the market orientation construct differ in important respects across countries. However, tests for convergent, predictive and discriminant validity using the generic strategies are fully supported for Zimbabwe while for Australia they are supported mutatis mutandis.