Volume 3 Issue 8 (June 2021) PP. 119-138 DOI 10.35631/AIJBES.38008 Copyright © GLOBAL ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE (M) SDN BHD - All rights reserved 119 ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMES (AIJBES) www.aijbes.com THE EFFECT OF MARKETING ETHICS AS A MODERATOR ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER ORIENTATION AND SMES PERFORMANCE IN SAUDI ARABIA Moad Hamod M Saleh 1* , Adi Anuar Azmin 2 , Ummi Naiemah Saraih 3 1 Faculty of Applied and Human Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia Email: moad.hamod2000@hotmail.com 2 Faculty of Applied and Human Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia Email: adianuar@unimap.edu.my 3 Faculty of Applied and Human Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia Email: ummi@unimap.edu.my * Corresponding Author Article Info: Abstract: Article history: Received date: 01.05.2021 Revised date: 11.05.2021 Accepted date: 11.06.2021 Published date: 30.06.2021 To cite this document: Saleh, M. H. M., Azmin, A. A., & Saraih, U. N. (2021). The Effect Of Marketing Ethics As A Moderator On The Relationship Between Customer Orientation And SMEs Performance In Saudi Arabia. Advanced International Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, 3 (8), 119-138. DOI: 10.35631/AIJBES.38008. This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of consumer orientation (CO) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); however, doubts persist about how CO can improve SMEs performance due to its ambiguity. We examine the marketing ethics (ME) that govern the relationship between COs and SMEs. A proposed model was empirically tested using a structural equation model (SEM) on 408 manufacturing SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The findings indicate that CO has a positive effect on the performance of SMEs and, more importantly, that this effect is indirect because ME fully moderates it. These findings indicate that CO improves performance when firms invest in marketing ethics development. While consumer orientation is critical, it may not be enough to boost performance if the firm is unable to adhere to marketing ethics practices. Keywords: Customer Orientation, Marketing Ethics, SMEs Performance, KSA