Relationship between competitive aggressiveness and export performance of tourism firms in Tanzania: The role of organizational structure

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship between competitive aggressiveness and export performance of firms operating in the tourism sector of Tanzania. The organizational structure was used to assess the type of structure, which better provides a facilitative condition for the relationship. The study utilized primary data collected from randomly selected 202 firms operating in the tourism sector in Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. SmartPLS-3 software was used as an analytical tool using the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. Empirical findings suggest a strong and positive relationship between competitive aggressiveness and export performance. Further results from Multi-group moderation analysis show a lack of significant differences between mechanistic and organic firms in terms of competitive aggressiveness and export performance relationships. Contrary to the structural contingency theory, the study concludes that competitive aggressiveness is beneficial to all types of tourism firms regardless of the kind of organizational structure they adopt.