Commercialization behaviour in production agriculture: The overlooked role of market orientation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of market orientation (MO) on the major determinants of commercialization behavior among Sub-Saharan smallholders. The study addresses the shortfalls in prior research on smallholder commercialization, which makes little difference between MO and market participation (MP). Design/methodology/approach The study reports on an empirical data set of 272 vegetable growers from Kiambu West District in Kenya and employs a partial least squares structural equation approach to test the hypotheses. Findings The results evidence that MO: fosters farmers' ability to create value within commodity markets by capitalizing on market opportunities; changes the way in which farmers perceive the role of institution and infrastructure support and; and develops a drive for adopting business approach in farming operations. Research limitations/implications Fostering commercialization behavior among smallholders in Kenya requires implementing a two-pronged approach: improving MO to adopt business approach in farming operations; and facilitating MP at output level. The major limitation of this study is data collected only from high value vegetable producers in Kenya, signifying a need to include other agriculture produce across different Sub-Saharan countries. Originality/value Research on smallholder agriculture is replete with investigating institutional and technical constraints to make smallholders more productive, however, research on MO to adopt business approach in farming operations is scant. This study emphasizes that understanding MO, as a distinct and separate concept from MP, is vital for scaling up business approach among smallholder farmers.