Customer orientation, conflict, and innovativeness in Japanese sales departments

There has been an argument over whether customer orientation enhances innovation; moreover, the customer orientation/innovation mechanism remains unclear. This study investigated how customer orientation influences innovativeness through three types of conflict using a sample of 193 sales departments in Japanese firms. A structural equation modeling revealed that (1) customer orientation was positively related to task conflict and negatively related to process conflict, and that (2) task conflict was positively related to innovativeness, while process and relationship conflict was negatively related to innovativeness. The results suggest that customer orientation influences innovativeness by enhancing positive conflict and reducing negative conflict.