Boundary-Spanning Behavior and the Cross-Boundary Role of Professional Marketers in Shaping Organizational Market Orientation

This study focuses on human behavior, rather than institutional or structural mechanisms, as a key factor in enhancing an organization’s market orientation. In particular, it empirically examines the role of boundary-spanning behavior, which involves translating and coordinating information, knowledge, and relationships across organizational boundaries, in shaping organizational market orientation. Based on a web survey of 131 professional marketers and structural equation modeling (SEM), the results reveal that while top management support and organizational systems have direct effects on market orientation, interdepartmental dynamics contribute indirectly through boundary-spanning behavior. Moreover, this behavior significantly influences intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination, but not responsiveness, within the market orientation framework. As generative AI advances and automates information collection and analysis, the importance of human actions that interpret context and bridge organizational boundaries is expected to become even greater.