The Market Orientation from Dual Perspectives: Customers and Managers Perceptions in Tunisian Banks

Several studies have been conducted on market orientation over the last three decades. However, the majority of previous research focused exclusively on an internal vision that conceives the market orientation from an organizational perspective, considering the market orientation as a strictly perceived culture or behavior by company's staff (managers and employees) .This study aims to emphasize the importance of analyzing the market orientation from a dual perspective by investigating simultaneously the perceptions of customers and those of managers. It examines the perceptual gap or perceptual congruence of market orientation between customers and managers. A survey is conducted with Tunisian bank managers and B to B customers to measure their market orientation perception. The results should reveal level of manager's market orientation in Tunisian banks compared to customers' perceptions. The perception gaps of market orientation between managers and customers named congruence is highlighted and categorized. This study provides some contributions to fill the gap emerging from the one-sidedness of market orientation evaluation and gives a dyadic vision of market orientation that helps managers in their continuous learning about markets and sensing customers' needs and expectations. Market orientation level between the two groups is evaluated to give some managerial recommendations.