Entrepreneurial Orientation and Marketing Performance in SMEs: The Mediating Roles of Digital Marketing Capabilities and Digital Marketing Implementation in Oman

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and marketing performance (MP) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Oman, with specific focus on the mediating roles of digital marketing capabilities (DMC) and digital marketing implementation (DMI). Although there has been evidence of the performance benefits of EO, there has been limited empirical evidence to illustrate how entrepreneurial behavior translates into marketing performance through digital channels in emerging markets. Using the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, this study bridges this gap to examine the mediating dual roles of digital capabilities and implementation in an SME setting. The data for this study was collected from 402 SME employees using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings of this study reveal that EO has a positive direct impact on MP and also an indirect relationship with MP via both DMC and DMI, thus confirming that marketing performance in entrepreneurial firms becomes superior when digital readiness and implementation synergies become aligned. The implications of this study for SME managers and policy-makers who aim to improve digital competitiveness in SMEs in emerging markets such as Oman are provided. Further studies may investigate this model in different countries or use longitudinal approaches to analyze how changes in dynamic capabilities over time affect marketing performance.