THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF MARKET ORIENTATION AND INNOVATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY ORIENTATION AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC HEALTHCARE ORGANISATIONS

This paper seeks to develop an integrative model to examine the mediating effect of market orientation and innovation on the quality-organisational performance relationship. The present study employs a quantitative approach. The study empirically examines the proposed model on a sample of public health care organisations in Portugal. This research demonstrates that the relationship between quality orientation and organisational performance is better understood if taken into account the influence of market orientation which acts as a mediator construct in the aforementioned relationship. Findings of the present may assist healthcare managers as well as public policy makers in the design of policies to achieve quality goals while improving organisational performance. The present study shows the importance of market orientation in driving quality while fostering performance in the healthcare sector.