Would Marketing Capability and Network Resource Inϐluence Business Performance? The Case of Bumiputera Online Entrepreneurs in Malaysia

The rapid development of information communication technologies has created business opportunities for individuals to create wealth, where these individuals may or may not be employed by organizations. Online business has gained popularity as it allows individuals to generate income at their convenience, regardless of their age, marital status or ethnicity. Nevertheless not all individuals are successful with their online business. The performance differences were found to be present among Bumiputera online entrepreneurs, which then raised the question of what factors contributed to such differences. Using resource-based view as the underpinning theory, this research argued that marketing capability and network resource would be the contributing factors towards their business performance. Hence, this research was conducted to determine the relationship between marketing capability, network resource, and performance of Bumiputera online entrepreneurs. Using face-to-face and online survey, a total of 158 responses were collected from Bumiputera online entrepreneurs throughout Malaysia. Results from regression analysis found that both marketing and network had direct relationship with most of the performance indicators. However, the influence of network as the moderator was not significant, and need to be further explored. The findings of the research can be useful to the online entrepreneurs, and contribute to the content development of entrepreneurship programs. It is recommended to strengthen measurements for marketing capability and network resources of online entrepreneurs for future research