A Review of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Performance of Online Business in Malaysia: The External Environment as a Moderator

Abstract

The tremendous technological evolution has brought drastic changes to the current market structure. The Internet has become an important alternative means of distribution for goods and services, specifically. Online business to date seems to have gone through several major transformations mainly due to increasingly stiff competition, changes in consumer behaviour, and technological advancements. The online business sector in Malaysia is essential primarily due to its significant contribution to the economic growth, boosted by the support and various initiatives offered by the government. Hence, this online business segment must be properly managed to ascertain sustenance. Having that said, this study aims to assess the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and organizational performance (OP), as well as the moderating effect of external environment (EE) on the studied correlation. Incorporating a moderator factor in this study will enable more precise descriptions on the relationship between the two variables mentioned and the study outcome. Only a handful number of studies have investigated the relationship involving EE and its consequences on OP of online business across developing countries. Hence, this study is keen to do so within the context of Malaysian online business from the lens of the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory. This study will adopt the quantitative approach, whereby 400 questionnaires will be disseminated to the target population. The gathered data will be analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via SMART PLS 3.0. The expected study outcomes may serve as a guideline for online business owners or founders to enhance their OP to compete in the cutting-edge digital sphere.