The effects of market orientation, technological opportunism, and e-business adoption on performance: A moderated mediation analysis

Understanding the effective adoption of technological innovations, such as e-business, is arguably one of the key challenges facing organizations. The literature indicates that the relationship between firm capabilities and firm performance is mediated by the effects of the adopted innovation (e.g., e-business). However, the complementarity effects of capabilities on the adoption of innovation have received little attention. Drawing on the Resource Based View, this paper examines the complementarity between two firm-specific capabilities [i.e., Market Orientation (MO) and Technological Opportunism (TO)] with regard to e-business adoption (EBA) as well as the mediating effect of EBA on the capability-performance relationship. A moderated mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between MO and EBA is moderated by TO and that EBA partially mediates the effects of MO and TO on firm performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed regarding bundling capabilities and subsequent complementarity to increase causal ambiguity in order to increase both EBA and firm performance.

► We model the affects of firm capabilities on e-business adoption and firm performance.
► Technological opportunism moderates the affects of market orientation on e-business.
► E-business mediates the affects of market orientation on firm performance.