REVIEW PAPER Market orientation research: a qualitative synthesis and future research agenda Vishal K. Gupta 1 • Gizem Atav 2 • Dev K. Dutta 3 Received: 1 February 2016 / Accepted: 15 November 2017 Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2017 Abstract The prominence of market orientation as a core organizational concept, as well as recent discussions about its contributions and shortcomings, suggest that it is time to assess the large and expanding body of research surrounding the construct. Our research takes a systematic qualitative approach to assessing extant research on market orientation, identifying problems, patterns, and paradoxes in the literature. Specifically, we provide an integration of the burgeoning empirical research on market orientation, based on a thorough synthesis of articles published over more than 25 years of inquiry. Bringing together the different strands of inquiry that have guided knowledge accumulation on market orientation, we are able to identify major theoretical gaps and omissions in the literature. We also find that while market orientation research has made considerable strides over the years, much work still needs to be done as voids remain that need to be addressed in future investigations. Keywords Market orientation Á Qualitative integration Á State-of-science Mathematics Subject Classification 90B60 Marketing & Vishal K. Gupta vkgupta@cba.ua.edu Gizem Atav atavgx@jmu.edu Dev K. Dutta dev.dutta@unh.edu 1 Culverhouse College of Commerce, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA 2 James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA 3 University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA 123 Rev Manag Sci https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-017-0262-z