Entrepreneurial orientation and competitive advantage in hospitality: mediating roles of knowledge sharing and market orientation utilizing dynamic capability theory

Why hotel strategy matters to travelers

When you choose a hotel, you mostly see room prices, service quality, and online reviews. Behind the scenes, managers are constantly deciding how bold, creative, and customer focused their hotels should be to stay ahead in a crowded market. This study looks at how those choices play out in Ethiopian hotels and asks which internal habits really help a hotel stand out from its rivals.

Hotels facing a changing world

The research starts from a simple idea: in a fast changing world, it is not enough for a hotel to have good buildings and staff; it must also be able to sense change and adapt. Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is growing as a political and tourism hub, attracting business travelers and visitors to famous cultural sites. That growth creates both opportunity and pressure for hotels. The authors use a management lens called dynamic capability theory, which focuses on how organizations adjust their resources and routines, to frame their investigation of what gives hotels an edge over competitors.

The key habits under the microscope

The study examines three main habits inside hotels. The first is entrepreneurial orientation, which captures how innovative, proactive, and willing to take risks managers are. The second is market orientation, meaning how strongly the hotel listens to customers and watches competitors, then responds. The third is knowledge sharing, or how well staff and managers spread useful information among themselves. The authors surveyed managers from 62 three to five star hotels in Addis Ababa, asking detailed questions about these habits and about how their hotels perform compared with rivals on quality, efficiency, and customer value.

What the data revealed

The analysis showed that hotels with a strong entrepreneurial mindset tend to report a clearer competitive advantage. Being willing to try new services, lead rather than follow rivals, and accept calculated risks is linked to doing better in the market. However, the link is not simple. Market orientation turned out to be a crucial bridge: entrepreneurial hotels that also pay close attention to customer needs and competitor moves gain even more of an edge. In other words, boldness works best when it is guided by a deep understanding of the market. Knowledge sharing did have a positive direct link with competitive advantage, but it did not act as a meaningful bridge between entrepreneurial behavior and better performance in this sample.

How hotels can use these insights

These findings suggest that hotel managers should not treat creativity, customer focus, and information flow as separate concerns. Instead, they work together. Managers who encourage staff to propose new ideas and take initiative, while also building routines to track guest preferences and competitor moves, are more likely to design services that guests value. Sharing information inside the hotel still matters, because it helps turn scattered experiences into shared know-how, but on its own it does not explain how an entrepreneurial push becomes a real advantage over rivals.

What this means for guests and the industry

For everyday travelers, the study’s message is indirect but clear: the hotels that feel most in tune with your needs are often those whose leaders are both entrepreneurial and deeply market aware. For the Ethiopian hospitality industry, the results highlight that simply imitating competitors is not enough. Hotels need a culture that encourages innovation and forward looking decisions, anchored in careful attention to guests and the wider market. According to the study, this blend of entrepreneurial drive and market orientation is what most strongly supports a lasting competitive edge.

Citation: TESSEMA, D.H., YESILADA, F. & ŞEŞEN, H. Entrepreneurial orientation and competitive advantage in hospitality: mediating roles of knowledge sharing and market orientation utilizing dynamic capability theory. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 13, 723 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06927-4

Keywords: hospitality strategy, entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, competitive advantage, Ethiopian hotels