The moderating effect of environmental turbulence and the influence of critical factors for sustainable MLM business growth: an empirical study

Abstract

The objective of this research is to look into the factors that contribute to the growth of the MLM industry in Indonesia, such as Digital Adoption Capability and Perceived Product Advantage. Furthermore, this researcher employs environmental turbulence moderating variables in order to confirm the positive moderating effect on longterm MLM business growth. This study employs a quantitative descriptive-explanatory approach and data were collected through the distribution of online questionnaires to 319 population of MLM companies and only 182 respondents were eligible for further analysis. Previous research found the positive direct and indirect effect of network externalities and digital adoption on business performance in the communication and technology industry, product advantages are also widely studied in other different industries. Research on related factors in the MLM industry is still rarely done. The results of this study reveal that the role of network externalities is critical to drive long-term business growth and to be a mediating construct for perceived product advantage and digital adoption capability. At the same time, this study shows that the characteristics of network externalities have a positive influence on long-term business growth and there is no moderating effect of environmental turbulence.