The Impact of Managers' Leadership on Market Orientation in Social and Solidarity Economy Enterprise: An Analysis of the Moderating Effects of Certification and Cooperatives

This study aims to analyze the effects of directive, supportive, participative, and achievementoriented leadership, as defined by the path-goal theory, on market orientation in social and solidarity economy enterprises(SSEEs). Also, it considers as contingency factors whether a SSEE is certified, whether it is a cooperative, and whether it employs vulnerable groups. The study seeks to determine whether these factors moderate the relationship between leadership styles and market orientation. The findings are summarized as follows: First, the directive leadership of SSEE managers did not affect market orientation. Supportive leadership had a weak positive effect on customer orientation and a strong positive effect on interfunctional coordination but did not impact competitor orientation. Both participative and achievement-oriented leadership positively influenced customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Second, the interaction term of directive leadership and certification had a weak negative effect on customer orientation. The interaction of participative leadership and cooperative had a weak positive effect on customer orientation, while the interaction of directive leadership and cooperatives had a weak negative effect on competitor orientation. Conversely, the interaction of participative leadership and cooperatives had a positive effect on competitor orientation. Thus, in certified SSEEs, directive leadership slightly reduced customer orientation. In co-operative enterprises, directive leadership lowered competitor orientation, while participative leadership enhanced both customer and competitor orientation. This study is significant in identifying which leadership styles are necessary to enhance market orientation - an important factor for SSEEs to gain competitiveness - and in determining the contigency factors that have moderating effects.