Does entrepreneurial orientation improve customer equity drivers?: Moderating roles of relationship learning and branding capability

Purpose This study aims to establish a link between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and customer equity (CE) drivers in business-to-business contexts. This study theorizes that EO positively influences value equity (VE), brand equity (BE) and relationship equity (RE). More importantly, this study identifies boundary conditions − branding capability (BC) and relationship learning (RL) − that strengthen the effects of EO on BE and RE. Design/methodology/approach The research setting captures the dyadic B2B relationship between a supplier firm and its customer in an emerging market, India. This study adopts a large-scale survey design in which a supplier respondent assessed the supplier’s EO, BC and RL, while a customer respondent evaluated the supplier’s three CE drivers. Using a seemingly unrelated regression approach, this study empirically tested the moderation model with 158 supplier−customer dyads. Findings A B2B firm’s EO does not equally contribute to three CE drivers and requires complementary mechanisms to augment its influence. Specifically, EO positively influences VE assessment, while EO does not directly affect BE and RE. EO’s effect on BE is found to depend on BC, while its effect on RE is not moderated by RL. An additional floodlight analysis suggests that an entrepreneurial company in the B2B context should possess a high level of BC to augment EO’s effect on a firm’s BE. Research limitations/implications The causal link between CE drivers and financial performance should be further validated to provide a more comprehensive understanding of EO and CE theories. Practical implications An entrepreneurial supplier should strengthen BC alongside innovation to enhance BE and mitigate risks perceived by customers. Engaging key customers early in entrepreneurial initiatives and customer success efforts fosters RE through joint learning and value co-creation. Overall, an entrepreneurial firm should integrate CE drivers into key performance indicators to improve both short-term utility and long-term relationship quality and brand perception. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to extend current EO thinking by empirically exploring EO’s impact on CE drivers from both the supplier’s and the customer’s perspectives in a B2B context.