Customer-Defined Market Orientation, Brand Image and Customer Satisfaction: A Mediation Approach

Over the past two decades, marketing literature has classified market orientation's nature, antecedents, and consequences as intra-organizational phenomena. Most studies focus on market orientation at the organizational level, concentrating on managers' views of their companies. Another school of thought contends that customer perception of company offerings is critical. This research provides empirical data on the effect of a customer-defined market orientation on consumer satisfaction, with brand image functioning as a mediator. The study focused on South Asian ethnic restaurants in Malaysia. Data was collected from 301 respondents and analyzed using the PLS-SEM technique. Results reveal that customer-defined market orientation has a positive impact on consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, brand image mediated the link between customer-defined market orientation and customer satisfaction to a lesser extent. Finally, researchers addressed managerial implications, limitations, and future directions.