| Abstract: | This paper revisits the literature on organizational culture to motivate new theorizing about implementation of the marketing concept. We propose an individual-level construct, conceived as an alternative to the SBU-level conceptions featured in current theorizing about market orientation, and ground it in the organizational cognition perspective on culture. Our alternative construct—customer focus—is defined as an individual's beliefs about the value of direct customer contact for achieving desired performance outcomes in his or her own job. A measure for the construct is presented and its predictive validity is demonstrated with respect to individuals' interactions with customers. As a parsimonious and functionally-unbounded construct, customer focus can motivate theory development through identification of its unique antecedents and consequences. A preliminary nomological network is offered to suggest avenues for future research and indicate the potential role of customer focus in effecting organizational change and vitality. |
