Customer Orientation and Performance of Women-Owned Businesses: A Configurational Approach

The present research aims to improve the current understanding of the relationship between customer orientation and performance of women-owned businesses. This study proposed that risk-taking and financial capital are vital moderating factors of this relationship. Additionally, the study postulates that new insights can be unearthed by combining these factors with customer orientation in a three-way interaction model. Using a sample of 264 women entrepreneurs, the results showed that (a) customer orientation is positively associated with the performance of women-owned businesses, (b) the association is significantly moderated by both risk-taking and financial capital, and (c) a more detailed understanding of the association is provided by the three-way interaction of customer orientation, risk-taking, and financial capital.