5 Measuring Market Orientation: Are There Differences Between Business Marketers and Consumer Marketers?

The paper investigates issues of scale equivalence and generalisability across different populations. This area of research is important because it allows for valid comparisons to be made when studies investigate the same constructs across qualitatively distinct populations. The study investigates the generalisability of the Narver and Slater (1990) and the Kholi, Jaworski and Kumar (1993) models of market orientation. Results indicate that the Narver and Slater model of market orientation is understood equivalently across different populations (i.e. it is more generalisable). Thus, on the basis of our results, researchers undertaking cross‐cultural, cross‐country, cross‐group or cross‐industry comparisons of market orientation would choose the Narver and Slater approach.