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1Theroleofcorporateculture,marketorientationandorganisationalcommitmentinorganisationalperformanceThecaseofnon-profitorganisationsJose´CarlosPinhoSchoolofAccountingSchoolofEconomicsandManagement,UniversityofMinho,Braga,PortugaAnaPaulaRodrigues1.IntroductionPublicandnon-profitorganisationsareincreasinglycommittedtointroducingdeepchangesassociatedwiththegrowthofcontract-basedservices,improvingservicequalitystandardstowardsusers,introducingefficientandeffectivemechanismsofmanagement(MacedoandPinho,2006;RodriguesandPinho,2010).Inthiscontext,theadoptionofbusiness-orientedapproachesinnon-profitorganisationsisrecognisedasacriticalfactor,withorganisationalcultureandmarketorientationpotentiallyplayingapivotalroleininfluencingorganisationaloutcomes.Thephenomenonoforganisationalcultureisestablishedasadominantconceptinorganisationaltheoryandotherfieldsoforganisationalresearch(HarrisandOgbonna,2002).AccordingtoO’Reilly(1989)organisationalculturereferstohowwellanorganisationmeetscustomerrequirementsandtheextenttowhichorganisationalmembers“fit”withinaparticularorganisation.Ithasbeendefinedas“thepatternofsharedvaluesandbeliefsthathelpindividualsunderstandorganisationalfunctioningandthusprovidethemwithnormsforbehaviourintheorganisation”(Deshpande´andWebster,1989,p.4).Despiteincreasedresearchinterestinthisconstruct,thereisnoclearagreementaboutitsdefinitionandmeasurementamongresearchersandpractitioners(Deshpande´andWebster,1989).However,thereisconsensusthatthiscomplexandbroadconstructisthecriticalelementthatmanagementcanusetoshapestrategicdirection,particularlyincircumstancesrequiringarapidresponsetoexternalpressures(Smircich,21983;Appiah-AduandBlankson,1998).Marketorientation,arelatedbutdistinctconstruct(Denison,1990;Farleyetal.,2008),hasforthepastfewdecadesdominatedthemarketingtheoryandpractice.Themarketorientationconstruct,whichisconsideredtoreflecttheimplementationofthemarketingconcept(KohliandJaworski,1990;NarverandSlater,1990),caneitherbeviewedfromabehavioural(Kircaetal.,2005)orfromaculturalperspective(HomburgandPflesser,2000).Althoughsomeresearchersviewmarketorientationasanaspectoforganisationalculture(HomburgandPflesser,2000),orasaculturewithinthefirm(Deshpande´andWebster,1989;NarverandSlater,1990),othersregarditasaseparateconstruct(Farleyetal.,2008).Inthisstudy,marketorientationisnotconsideredasatypeofculture,butratherasapatternofbehaviourswhichexistsinvaryingdegreeswithinorganisationaltypes(McClure,2010).Therationaleforstudyingorganisationalcultureandmarketorientationisthatbothcaninfluenceorganisationaloutcomesthroughtheimpacttheyexertonorganisationalcommitmentandperformance(LokandCrawford,2004).Organisationalculture,forexample,playsacriticalroleincreatingasetofkeyvalues,understandingsandafavourableworkingenvironmentwherecommittedemployeescontributepositivelytotheorganisation’swell-being(Appiah-AduandBlankson,1998;Goodmanetal.,2001).Similarly,market-orientedbehavioursarecontrollablevariablesthatorganisationscanstrivetoimproveinordertoenhancethecommitmentoforganisationalmemberstobetterperformance.Thusorganisationalcommitment,whichisthewillingnessofmemberstogivetheireffortandloyaltytoanorganisation,hasnumerousantecedentsandconsequences,suchasorganisationalperformance(Buchanan,1974;Rashidetal.,2003;YiingandAhmad,2009).Despitethesignificanceoftheseissues,existingknowledgeabouttherelationshipsamongtheseconceptsisfragmented,withresearchersfromdifferentacademicfieldsfocusingeitheronthemarketorientationperformanceortheorganisationalculture-performancerelationship.Thisstudyaddressesthisfragmentationbydrawingtogethertherelationshipsfromthesedifferentfields,whileapplyingconceptsthataremoretypicallyassociatedwithcorporateorganisations.Theprimarygoalistoexaminethe3relationshipsamongthefollowingconstructs:corporate/organisationalculture,marketorientation,organisationalcommitmentandorganisationalperformance.Specifically,thestudycontributestoknowledgebyconsideringthefollowingresearchquestions:RQ1.Towhatextentdoescorporatecultureimpactonorganisationalcommitmentandperformance?RQ2.Towhatextentdoesmarketorientationimpactonorganisationalcommitmentandperformance?RQ3.Towhatextentdoesorganisationalcommitmentimpactonperformance?Thispaperexaminestherelationshipsamongtheseconstructswithinthespecificcontextofnon-profitorganisations.Thiscontextisworthyofattentionbecausetheseorganisationsarerequiredtoadoptadifferentattitudetotheirfundingsourcesandorganisationalstrategiesthantheircommercialcounterparts(MacedoandPinho,2006).Inotherwords,non-profitorganisationshavetofindcreativenewwaysofmanagingtheirscarceresourcesinordertoaccomplishtheirgoals.Incontrasttotheprivatesector,inwhichorganisationsprofitsamongtheirstakeholders,non-profitorganisationsexistprimarilytofulfilthesocial,philosophical,moralorreligiousvaluesoftheirfounders(Jeavons,1992;MacedoandPinho,2006).Thedatainthisstudyaregatheredinthenon-profithealthsector.ThequantitativeresearchdesigninvolvesamailsurveytargetedatPortuguesenon-profitorganisationsthatprovidehealthservices.Structuralequation