BUSINESS PERFORMANCE THROUGH MARKETING, ORIENTATION AND INNOVATIVENESS: MEDIATED BY ENGAGEMENT AND TRUST

The current study aims to examine how entrepreneurial orientation, digital marketing capability, and consumer innovativeness influence the business performance, with focus on the mediating effects of customer engagement & brand trust. The research integrates perspectives from entrepreneurship, marketing, and behavioral sciences to provide a holistic understanding of performance drivers in emerging markets. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was adopted, collecting data through a structured questionnaire from 400 SMEs operating in consumer goods & services sectors of Pakistan. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The measurement model was validated for reliability and construct validity before assessing the structural model. In this regard, the results show that brand trust, consumer innovativeness, and entrepreneurial orientation significantly boost business performance, both directly and through customer engagement. In this linking, digital marketing capability improves performance and engagement but does not significantly impact brand trust wherein mediation analysis confirms the indirect roles of trust as well as engagement, except in the case of digital marketing capability.