From Entrepreneurial Marketing to Environmental Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the UAE: The Roles of Market Agility, Customer Agility, Marketing Capability, and Market Turbulence

Abstract

Entrepreneurial marketing (EM) has emerged as a critical strategic orientation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) navigating volatile markets, yet the mechanisms through which EM is associated with environmental performance of SMEs remain theoretically underdeveloped. Drawing on entrepreneurial marketing theory, dynamic capabilities theory, the resource-based view, the natural resource-based view, and contingency theory, this study proposes and tests a two-stage capability model in which EM is linked to market agility and customer agility as parallel dynamic mechanisms that subsequently build marketing capability, which in turn is associated with environmental performance of SMEs. Market turbulence is examined as a boundary condition moderating the agility-to-capability pathways. Data were collected from 402 SME owners and managers across manufacturing and service sectors in the United Arab Emirates and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. Results confirm that EM is positively associated with market agility, customer agility, and marketing capability, and that both agility constructs partially mediate the EM-to-marketing capability relationship. Marketing capability shows a strong positive association with environmental performance of SMEs. Market turbulence significantly strengthens the market agility-to-marketing capability and customer agility-to-marketing capability relationships, while its moderating role in the direct EM-to-marketing capability path is not significant. These findings contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing and dynamic capability literature by specifying the organizational mechanisms linking EM to environmental performance and by identifying market turbulence as a selective boundary condition that strengthens agility-driven, but not orientation-driven, capability development. Practical implications for SME managers in emerging market contexts are discussed.