The role of multi-stakeholders in market orientation and sustainable performance

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between market orientation (MO) and stakeholder orientation (SO) in sustainable corporate performance, with a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) results. Design/methodology/approach This research is operationalized by way of a structural equation model (SEM) involving 208 energy companies and covering a worldwide context. Primary data relating to MO and SO were collected by survey questionnaire, while secondary data on sustainable performance were collected from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability report. Findings The results reveal that SO not only enhances strategic positioning and activities linked to market intelligence, but also serves as a determining factor of superior performance. The findings provide new insights into how MO is connected with sustainable corporate performance. Practical implications The impact of this study leads to improvements in planning marketing and in market intelligence process, which are essential activities of managers and marketing planners. There are also implications for other organizational processes. The authors point out the relevance including multi-stakeholders, whose impact is perceived in the organization's results, and improving relations with them. Originality/value The authors' first contribution is empirically examining organizational competence with regard to the MO and marketing intelligence that have the greatest impact on sustainable performance. Second, the authors operationalized the SO construct, which until then had been treated in isolation in the literature.