Shirin Rashid
Kawar Mohammed Mousa
Dildar Haydar Ahmed2- 1Department of Business Administration, Near East University, Nicosia, Türkiye
- 2Department of Economic Science, University of Zakho, Zakho, Iraq
Marketing excellence refers to a firm’s ability to consistently create superior customer value through strong marketing capabilities and translate this into sustainable outcomes such as customer retention, market performance, and competitive positioning. In Iraq, private banks in Erbil face rising pressure to anticipate change, respond quickly, and deliver reliable service quality in a market where customer trust is central. This study examines how six marketing proactiveness strategies, trend anticipation and innovation, customer-centric approach, competitive intelligence, agile marketing practices, strategic partnerships and collaborations, and content and thought leadership, contribute to marketing excellence, and whether service quality strengthens these relationships. A quantitative design was employed using survey data from 410 bank officers across 32 private banks in Erbil. After obtaining organizational access approvals, proportional selection was applied within banks to ensure representation across top, middle, and lower management levels, with random selection used to identify participating officers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses and the moderating role of service quality. Results indicate that marketing proactiveness strategies positively influence marketing excellence, while service quality strengthens several of these relationships, with conditional effects varying across strategy dimensions. The study contributes by extending the resource-based view through a capability-bundling explanation of how proactive marketing and service quality jointly support marketing excellence in an underexplored banking context.
1 Introduction
In today’s highly competitive and rapidly evolving markets, achieving marketing excellence has become a persistent challenge for service organizations, particularly private banks. Shifts in customer expectations, globalization, and rapid technological change require banks to deliver service experiences that consistently meet or exceed expectations while sustaining customer trust and long-term competitiveness (Sharabati et al., 2024). Private banks must deliver trusted, high-quality customer services because customer loyalty remains a critical survival factor in service markets (Jameel, 2025). Organizations that fail to align service delivery standards with proactive marketing actions often face weaker customer engagement and reduced market standing (Malik et al., 2024). In banking, superior outcomes are more likely when proactive marketing efforts are supported by consistent service execution that protects credibility and customer confidence (Damayanti et al., 2024).
Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has experienced notable economic growth over the past two decades, supported by relative political stability, foreign investment, and the expansion of private sector activities, including private banking (Muhamad, 2024). With 32 private banks competing for market share among a limited customer base, competition is strong. At the same time, infrastructure and regulatory and institutional systems remain developing, creating conditions that differ from mature banking environments and increasing the importance of trust-building and service reliability for marketing excellence (Hamad et al., 2019).
Private banks in northern Iraq are non-state-owned financial institutions licensed by the Central Bank of Iraq. They primarily serve retail customers and small and medium enterprises, offering deposits, loans, remittances, and trade-finance services. Unlike public banks that dominate many government transactions, private banks operate in competitive retail markets where customer acquisition and retention depend heavily on marketing capability and service quality (Agha et al., 2025).
Banks operating in dynamic markets increasingly rely on proactive marketing actions to compete and remain relevant (Modak et al., 2024). Competitive advantages often emerge when banks anticipate market shifts, recognize evolving customer needs, and respond through innovative and adaptive marketing practices (Kumar et al., 2024). Service quality remains especially decisive in banking because reliable service performance reduces perceived risk and strengthens trust; therefore, even strong marketing plans may fail to produce marketing excellence if service delivery is inconsistent (Abdul-Aziz Ahmad and Jais, 2024). A clearer understanding is needed of how proactive marketing capability translates into marketing excellence when banks differ in their service quality conditions (Mohammed and AL-Ameri, 2024).
Existing studies frequently examine marketing strategies or service outcomes separately, and limited evidence explains how proactive marketing strategies jointly operate with service quality to shape marketing excellence in emerging banking contexts such as Erbil (Murrar et al., 2025). Addition, prior work often discusses proactive strategies without specifying whether service quality acts as a mechanism or as a boundary condition that changes the strength of strategy-performance effects (Ardhana et al., 2024). This study addresses these gaps by examining the combined influence of marketing proactiveness strategies and testing service quality as a moderating variable in private banks in Erbil. The context also makes strategic partnerships and collaborations particularly relevant because banks in developing environments often rely on alliances to strengthen capabilities and market credibility (Irshad et al., 2024).
The primary objective of this study is to analyze how marketing proactiveness strategies influence marketing excellence in private banks in Erbil, Iraq, and to test whether service quality moderates these relationships. Specifically, the study examines the effects of trend anticipation and innovation, customer-centric approach, competitive intelligence, agile marketing practices, strategic partnerships and collaborations, and content and thought leadership on marketing excellence, while assessing the moderating role of service quality (Tanbour et al., 2025).
This study provides practical implications for private banks in Erbil seeking to strengthen market standing and customer outcomes through proactive marketing capability supported by consistent service delivery. The findings also contribute theoretically by clarifying how proactive marketing and service quality can be framed as complementary capability bundles that support marketing excellence in an underexplored setting.
2 Literature review
2.1 Theoretical foundations and positioning
Several theoretical perspectives provide foundations for this study and guide hypothesis development. The resource-based view (RBV) explains that sustained competitive advantage emerges from internal resources and capabilities that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and non-substitutable (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991). In banking, many strategic resources are intangible and embedded in routines, know-how, coordination, and reputational signals. Marketing proactiveness strategies can be understood as capability bundles that enable banks to anticipate customer needs, detect market shifts, and execute adaptive actions ahead of competitors. When such capabilities become embedded in bank-specific routines, local relationship practices, and tacit coordination, they are difficult to replicate and can support superior outcomes. Dynamic capabilities logic further supports this view because proactive strategies involve sensing and responding to change through reconfiguration and adaptation (Teece et al., 1997; Teece, 2007). In the context of private banks in Erbil, these internal capabilities are especially important because competition is high, while trust and credibility are decisive in customer relationships.
Market orientation theory complements RBV by emphasizing customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination as drivers of superior performance (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). Proactive marketing behavior aligns with market orientation because it involves acting on market intelligence before customer needs become explicit. Customer experience perspectives also explain why marketing outcomes in banking depend strongly on service encounters and perceived credibility during repeated interactions (Schmitt, 1999). Together, these theories justify examining proactive marketing capability and service quality as joint drivers of marketing excellence.
2.2 Defining marketing excellence and its relevance for service firms
Marketing excellence refers to a firm’s ability to consistently create superior customer value through strong marketing capabilities and translate it into sustainable outcomes such as retention, competitive positioning, and performance over time (Kotler, 2011; Homburg et al., 2020). In service industries such as banking, marketing excellence is strongly shaped by trust, perceived reliability, and relationship continuity, which depend on both the quality of marketing capability and the credibility of service delivery. Therefore, marketing excellence is more likely when proactive marketing actions are supported by consistent service systems that protect customer confidence (Homburg et al., 2005).
2.3 Marketing proactiveness strategies as distinct capability dimensions
Marketing proactiveness in this study is represented through six strategy dimensions that reflect distinct but related capabilities. Trend anticipation and innovation reflect a market-sensing and renewal capability that detects emerging shifts and turns them into timely service or product improvements. A customer-centric approach reflects a customer-linking capability that uses customer insight and relationship design to improve relevance and satisfaction. Competitive intelligence reflects a competitor-focused sensing and interpretation capability that guides positioning and strategic responses. Agile marketing practices reflect an adaptive execution capability built on speed, experimentation, and iterative improvement. Strategic partnerships and collaborations reflect a relational leveraging capability that extends resources and co-creates value with external actors. Content and thought leadership reflect a communication authority capability that strengthens credibility and trust through expert signaling and informative engagement (Holliman and Rowley, 2014; Pulizzi, 2012).
Although these dimensions can be interdependent in practice, each has a different primary mechanism and organizational locus (sensing, linking, executing, leveraging, and communicating). Treating them as distinct predictors enables estimation of their unique contributions to marketing excellence, while empirical validity checks ensure they are not redundant.
2.4 Service quality and marketing excellence as related but distinct dimensions of performance capability
Service quality has been widely studied as a driver of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and competitive advantage in service contexts. SERVQUAL and related work conceptualize service quality through reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles, emphasizing that customers evaluate service firms through repeated encounters (Parasuraman et al., 1988). In this study, service quality is modeled as a customer-experience capability that can directly influence marketing excellence and can also condition the effectiveness of proactive marketing strategies. Because banking customers often judge marketing outcomes through service encounters, service quality and marketing excellence are expected to be strongly related. Accordingly, the measurement model recognizes this proximity and treats the constructs as closely connected dimensions rather than fully independent concepts, while acknowledging partial overlap as a measurement limitation. Accordingly, service quality is expected to strengthen the relationship between marketing proactiveness strategies and marketing excellence in private banks in Erbil by amplifying the conversion of proactive actions into credible customer value.
2.5 Contextual relevance: emerging-market banking and Erbil
Scholarly interest has increased in how context and culture shape marketing and service outcomes. Cultural dimensions such as uncertainty avoidance and relational trust can influence how customers interpret service promises and marketing credibility (Aghaz and Salmasi, 2024). In developing market settings where institutional systems are evolving, customers often rely more on interpersonal trust and service consistency, making service quality especially decisive for marketing outcomes (Mai, 2024). Erbil’s banking sector, shaped by intense competition among private banks and a trust-sensitive customer base, provides a relevant context for examining proactive marketing capability and service quality jointly as drivers of marketing excellence.
2.6 Empirical literature and hypothesis development
2.6.1 Trend anticipation, innovation, and marketing excellence
Trend anticipation and innovation are frequently identified as drivers of superior marketing outcomes in dynamic environments (Glebova, 2024). Firms that proactively detect trends can align offerings with evolving needs and protect competitive positioning (Iriani et al., 2024). Market-sensing capability supports performance by enabling earlier responses to shifts in customer preferences and competitive moves (Li et al., 2024). Trend anticipation also supports innovation by encouraging service renewal and new solution development, which can reinforce customer value and differentiation (Hussein et al., 2024).
Innovation often takes product, process, and service forms and can strengthen customer experience and acquisition (Dipendra, 2024). Banks adopting relevant innovations, including digital and personalized services, often improve customer experience and perceived competence (Gilson, 2024; Qerimi et al., 2024). In emerging markets, trend anticipation and innovation can be particularly important because customer expectations and technology adoption evolve quickly.
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H1: Trend anticipation and innovation have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.2 Customer-centric approach and marketing excellence
Marketing excellence is strongly linked with customer-centered capability because superior outcomes depend on how well firms understand and respond to customer needs. Firms that place customers at the center of strategy often improve value creation and loyalty (Basso et al., 2024). Customer-centric approaches rely on customer insight, relationship management, and service design to enhance satisfaction and long-term retention (Sheth et al., 2000). In banking, personalization and relationship continuity are central because customers assess trustworthiness through repeated interactions and service consistency.
Customer-centric capability also supports continuous improvement because feedback and insight enable better adaptation and relevance (Wasik et al., 2024). Cross-functional coordination strengthens this approach because service and marketing must align to deliver consistent experiences (Urbany and Dapena-Baron, 2024; Akbar, 2024). In private banks in Erbil, customer-centric approaches can support marketing excellence through stronger relationships, trust, and perceived value.
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H2: A customer-centric approach has a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.3 Competitive intelligence and marketing excellence
Competitive intelligence (CI) supports marketing excellence by improving strategic awareness and enabling proactive responses to competitor actions and market shifts (Maluleka et al., 2023). CI helps identify risks and opportunities and supports decision-making for positioning and service differentiation (Cekule and Veselova, 2024). Firms using CI can detect unmet needs, refine value propositions, and strengthen marketing capability (Ledi, 2024; Wright, 2024). This capability is especially relevant in banking, where competitors can quickly imitate visible marketing actions, making intelligence-driven differentiation more valuable.
Private banks operating in Erbil can use CI to respond to competition and uncertainty by aligning service offerings and marketing messages with observed market needs (Vieira et al., 2025). CI also supports agility by enabling timely adjustments to marketing actions and customer engagement (Aljaafreh et al., 2024; Waris and Din, 2024b). Over time, CI practices can support continuous improvement and cross-functional alignment (Hughes et al., 2013; Waris and Din, 2024a).
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H3: Competitive intelligence has a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.4 Agile marketing practices and marketing excellence
Agile marketing practices emphasize speed, flexibility, iterative learning, and customer feedback integration, which can improve marketing outcomes in dynamic environments (Modak et al., 2024; Amajuoyi et al., 2024). Agile approaches support experimentation and rapid adjustment of campaigns and service communications, improving relevance and effectiveness (Sukhawatthanakun and Supapon, 2024). Cross-functional collaboration is a core element that helps marketing align with service operations and customer experience delivery (Highsmith, 2009).
Agile marketing also benefits from data and analytics because iterative improvement depends on performance tracking and evidence-based adjustment (Ijomah et al., 2024; Al Barwari et al., 2025). In banking, agile practices can support personalization and responsiveness, improve customer engagement and strengthen marketing excellence through faster alignment with customer expectations. Agile marketing further supports continuous improvement and innovation cultures, helping banks stay responsive to shifts in customer behavior and competitive conditions (Aljeeran and Al Mubarak, 2024).
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H4: Agile marketing practices have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.5 Strategic partnerships, collaborations, and marketing excellence
Strategic partnerships and collaborations support marketing excellence by enabling resource pooling, access to expertise, and service extension. Partnerships can support market access and innovation, especially where banks must strengthen capabilities quickly to compete (Willie, 2025). Collaboration can generate relational value through shared resources and coordination, improving service offerings and customer outcomes (Durach et al., 2024). In banking, alliances with technology providers, payment networks, or local actors can improve service convenience and credibility, strengthening marketing performance (Bergh et al., 2025).
Partnerships also support co-creation and innovation because combining capabilities can generate new service features and customer engagement formats (Chen et al., 2025). Relationship management and trust are critical for partnership success, particularly in developing environments where uncertainty is high (Tsai and Chiu, 2024; Dreymann et al., 2024). In private banks in Erbil, partnerships can help strengthen service reach and market credibility, supporting marketing excellence (Ismail et al., 2024).
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H5: Strategic partnerships and collaborations have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.6 Content, thought leadership, and marketing excellence
Content leadership and thought leadership strengthen marketing excellence by building credibility, authority, and customer trust through informative engagement (Moharrak et al., 2024; Holliman and Rowley, 2014; Pulizzi, 2012). Thought leadership positions a bank as a trusted advisor, which can be important in financial services where customers value perceived expertise and reassurance (Wahid et al., 2023; Hussain et al., 2024). In Erbil, where trust and reputation influence customer decisions, credible content can support customer confidence and loyalty.
Content leadership also strengthens digital presence and engagement, supporting consistent communication and recall (Hollebeek and Macky, 2019; Khurdei et al., 2023). Banks can use content to educate customers on financial planning, service innovations, and market developments, supporting perceived value and relationship continuity (Bubphapant and Brandão, 2024). Over time, strong thought leadership can help shape market perceptions and strengthen competitive positioning (Harvey et al., 2021; Vargo et al., 2023).
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H6: Content and thought leadership have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
2.6.7 Service quality as moderator between marketing proactiveness and marketing excellence
Service quality is widely linked with customer satisfaction, loyalty, and competitive advantage. High-quality services can strengthen the effectiveness of marketing strategies because customers interpret marketing promises through actual service encounters (Supriyanto et al., 2021; Marcos and Coelho, 2022). Proactive marketing strategies such as anticipation, personalization, and agile response can produce stronger outcomes when service delivery is reliable and consistent (Schulze et al., 2022; Fintan and Mbura, 2024). This strengthening logic supports service quality as a moderator that changes the intensity of proactive strategy effects on marketing excellence.
Service quality can strengthen or weaken proactive strategy impact depending on how consistently customers experience the promised value (Yu et al., 2024). In service industries where intangible experience dominates customer evaluation, the moderating effect of service quality becomes more visible (Lee-Anant et al., 2023). In private banks, consistent responsiveness, reliability, and assurance may amplify proactive marketing benefits through stronger trust and relationship continuity.
Based on previous empirical and theoretical literature, this study developed the following hypothesis:
H7: Service quality moderates the relationship between proactive marketing strategies and marketing excellence.
Hypotheses:
• H1: Trend anticipation and innovation have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H2: A customer-centric approach has a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H3: Competitive intelligence has a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H4: Agile marketing practices have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H5: Strategic partnerships and collaborations have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H6: Content and thought leadership have a significant positive relationship with marketing excellence.
• H7: Service quality moderates the relationship between proactive marketing strategies and marketing excellence.
Conceptual framework showing the relationship between marketing proactiveness strategies and marketing excellence, with service quality as a moderating variable (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study.
3 Methodology
The target population of this study consisted of bank officers working in private banks in Erbil, Iraq. According to the Central Bank of Iraq Annual Report (2024), the total number of employees across 32 private banks operating in Erbil was 789. Using this as the population frame, a proportionate stratified sampling approach was employed within banks after obtaining organizational and department-level approvals, followed by random selection of eligible officers within each stratum where staff rosters were available. Employees were proportionally selected from each bank to ensure representation of top, middle, and lower management levels. In total, 410 valid responses were collected, which exceeds the recommended minimum sample size for structural equation modeling. Sample adequacy was further verified using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test (KMO = 0.84) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < 0.001), confirming the suitability of the data for factor analysis and subsequent SEM analysis.
Bank officers were selected because they are directly involved in customer service, product promotion, and operational decision-making, giving them practical insight into how marketing strategies are implemented. While they may not all have strategic oversight, their daily responsibilities provide credible knowledge of customer interactions, service quality, and competitive practices. To minimize bias, responses were collected across different hierarchical levels (top, middle, and lower management).
The study focuses on key variables aligned with the research objectives: marketing proactiveness strategies, service quality, and marketing excellence. Each variable is operationalized using established scales adopted from previous studies, ensuring reliability and validity.
Service quality reflects the ability of the bank to provide superior and consistent services that meet or exceed customer expectations. This study uses the same parameters as (Sureshchandar et al., 2001). Moreover, the five parameter questions are based on a 5-Likert scale used to measure the parameters. Marketing excellence represents the firm’s ability to deliver superior marketing outcomes by aligning resources, capabilities, and strategies. Four-parameter questions were adopted from (Makin and Kotler, 2024) and other marketing performance literature (Kotler, 2011). The items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale.
Trend anticipation and innovation refer to an organization’s ability to foresee industry changes and implement innovative solutions to stay ahead of competitors. A scale adapted from Teece (2007) and Haldar et al. (2025). A customer-centric approach focuses on creating marketing strategies that align with customer needs and preferences, ensuring a superior customer experience. A scale adapted from Cadogan and Diamantopoulos (1995). Competitive Intelligence involves gathering and analyzing information about competitors and market trends to guide strategic decision-making. A scale adapted from Yuliansyah et al. (2016). Agile marketing practices focus on flexibility, rapid iteration, and data-driven decision-making to adapt quickly to market changes. A scale adapted from Attar and Abdul-Kareem (2020). Strategic partnerships and collaborations refer to alliances between organizations to share resources, knowledge, and market access to achieve mutual benefits. A scale adapted from Kale et al. (2002) and Ado et al. (2025). Content leadership and thought leadership focuses on positioning a brand as an authority by producing insightful, engaging content and providing unique industry perspectives. A scale adapted from Holliman and Rowley (2014). All items of the selected constructs are scaled on a 5-Likert scale basis. Table 1 shows the variables and its measurement.
Table 1. Variables and its measurement items.
Survey data were collected from adult human participants (bank officers) on a voluntary basis. Before participation, respondents received a brief information sheet outlining the study purpose, estimated completion time, the anonymous nature of the survey, and their right to withdraw at any time without penalty. No names, identification numbers, or other sensitive personal identifiers were collected. Data were stored securely and are reported only in an aggregated form to protect confidentiality. The study protocol was reviewed in accordance with the authors’ institutional research ethics committee and was approved because it involved anonymous questionnaire responses and posed no more than minimal risk to participants.
4 Findings and discussions
In this section, first, the data and the construct validation are checked and then testing of the hypothesis should be done.
Table 2 reports item loadings for the study constructs. The majority of indicators exceed the commonly used 0.70 guideline, supporting indicator reliability across most constructs. Two items, Content Leadership and Thought Leadership1 (0.325) and Trend Anticipation and Innovation3 (0.623), fall below this guideline. These indicators were retained to preserve content coverage because they capture conceptually relevant facets that would be underrepresented if removed. Because weak indicators can bias estimation, robustness checks were conducted by re-estimating the model after deleting each low-loading item separately and comparing structural path significance and direction. The substantive conclusions remained unchanged across these specifications, indicating that the reported results are not driven by a single weak indicator. All subsequent analyses report the retained-item specification, and findings involving these constructs are interpreted cautiously.
Table 2. Loadings of the items.
As shown in Table 3, all Cronbach’s alpha values exceed the recommended threshold of 0.70, indicating satisfactory internal consistency reliability for each construct. This suggests that the items used to measure the constructs are sufficiently correlated and reliable. The study reflects reliability and validity characteristics through Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability (rho_c), and average variance extracted (AVE). The reliability analysis demonstrates acceptable internal consistency for all constructs, with Service Quality reporting the highest Cronbach’s alpha value (0.858). The rho_a and rho_c values meet or approach the recommended minimum threshold across constructs, supporting acceptable internal consistency reliability. Convergent validity is supported for most constructs, as their AVE values exceed 0.50. Content Leadership and Thought Leadership reports AVE below 0.50, indicating limited convergent validity in the retained-item specification. The construct was retained for content coverage, and this measurement limitation is explicitly acknowledged. Because composite reliability for this construct is close to the minimum acceptable threshold, findings involving Content Leadership and Thought Leadership are interpreted cautiously and are complemented by the robustness re-estimation results.
Table 3. Reliability and validity.
Table 4 reports the Heterotrait–Monotrait (HTMT) ratios used to assess discriminant validity. Most construct pairs meet the recommended HTMT guideline; however, the Service Quality–Marketing Excellence ratio exceeds acceptable limits (HTMT = 1.15), indicating insufficient discriminant validity between these measures. This overlap is theoretically plausible in banking contexts, where service encounters strongly shape customer evaluations of marketing outcomes. Nevertheless, this overlap is treated as a limitation, and results involving these constructs are interpreted as relationships between closely related performance capabilities rather than fully distinct concepts.
Table 4. HTMT ratio.
The variance inflation factor (VIF) was used to test for multicollinearity, and Table 5 shows the results for each construct’s items. The dataset shows no multicollinearity problems because all VIF values remain below the five thresholds. Most measurement items show VIF scores ranging between 2.136 for Agile Marketing Practices and 2.365 for Competitive Intelligence, indicating moderate predictor correlations. Researchers found low VIF metrics, like 1.148, in the Content Leadership and Thought Leadership constructs. This means that the relationships between the items are not strong. Some things with higher VIFs, like Customer-Centric Approach3 (2.793) and strategic partnerships and collaborations2 (2.939), have strong positive correlations between the variables that are linked to them. Our results verify that the structural model does not face issues with multicollinearity. Figure 2 shows the measurement model.
Table 5. VIF for multicollinearity.
Figure 2. Measurement model.
Table 6 presents model fit index statistics, which detail the values from both estimated and saturated models using standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) and squared Euclidean distance (d_ULS). The SRMR value of 0.091 for both models is slightly above the conservative 0.08 guideline but below the 0.10 threshold commonly considered acceptable in PLS-SEM, indicating an acceptable overall model fit. The d_ULS scores show that the saturated model result of 4.668 and the estimated model result of 4.663 are similar. This shows that the model works in parallel. The structural model shows good alignment with the data, which establishes its fit with the observed information. Moreover, Figure 3 shows the structural model.
Table 6. Summary of the model fit.
Figure 3. Structural model.
The hypothesis-testing analysis in Table 7 examines the direct relationships between the independent variables and Marketing Excellence, as well as the moderating role of Service Quality. The results indicate that Agile Marketing Practices have a strong and statistically significant positive relationship with Marketing Excellence (β = 0.945, p < 0.001, t = 85.909). Competitive Intelligence also shows a significant positive effect on Marketing Excellence (β = 0.811, p < 0.001, t = 57.929), highlighting its importance in enhancing marketing outcomes. All reported coefficients represent standardized path estimates derived from the PLS-SEM algorithm and should be interpreted in relative rather than absolute magnitude terms. On the other hand, it is worth noting that because PLS-SEM estimates standardized relationships using latent variable scores rather than observed variables, coefficients slightly above 1 can occur in the presence of strong predictor–criterion relationships and do not indicate estimation error.
Table 7. Testing of the hypothesis.
A significant positive relationship is observed between Content Leadership and Thought Leadership and Marketing Excellence (β = 0.028, p = 0.023, t = 2.00), indicating statistical significance with a very small effect size; practical impact is therefore limited. Customer-Centric Approach demonstrates a significant positive effect on Marketing Excellence (β = 0.521, p < 0.001, t = 30.647), confirming the role of customer-focused strategies in achieving superior marketing performance. Service Quality exhibits the strongest direct effect on Marketing Excellence (β = 1.021, p < 0.001, t = 51.05), underscoring its central role in the banking context.
Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations show a marginally significant positive relationship with Marketing Excellence (β = 0.023, p = 0.063, t = 1.533). Trend Anticipation and Innovation also demonstrate a statistically significant positive relationship with Marketing Excellence (β = 0.076, p < 0.001, t = 4.00), indicating that forward-looking and innovative practices contribute positively, although with a smaller effect size.
The moderating effects of Service Quality reveal mixed results. Significant interaction terms are observed for Competitive Intelligence, Customer-Centric Approach, Trend Anticipation and Innovation, Agile Marketing Practices, and Content Leadership and Thought Leadership, while the interaction with Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations is not significant (p = 0.216). To interpret the significant interactions, conditional effects were probed using simple slope analysis by estimating effects at −1 SD and +1 SD of Service Quality and visualizing interaction. The conditional effects indicate that the corresponding strategy–Marketing Excellence relationships are stronger at higher Service Quality, consistent with the moderation hypothesis, whereas the partnership relationship does not materially change across Service Quality levels.
5 Discussion
Research findings reveal vital aspects of the market excellence driving factors that support previous studies from different fields. According to research, agile marketing practices have a big positive impact on market excellence. This backs up earlier studies that showed how important it is to adapt to changing market and consumer preferences through agility (Noble et al., 2019), demonstrates in their study that agile marketing gives firms the capability to respond rapidly to competitive pressures to achieve superior market performance results. The findings demonstrate how businesses must maintain agility and responsiveness throughout market environments that change frequently.
Khakurel et al. (2024), demonstrated that market surveillance contributes significantly to proactive marketing practices. Our findings are consistent with this evidence, as the results from private banks in Erbil also reveal that proactive monitoring of market trends strengthens marketing excellence.
Market Excellence proved most reliant on Service Quality as the study’s findings echo existing service management literature starting with (Costa et al., 2025). Market performance mediates through high-quality services because they drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention efforts. The research confirms that service quality stands as an essential field to achieve market excellence while demonstrating how excellent service delivery leads to outstanding results within competitive markets (Kosasih et al., 2024).
Analysis reveals that Customer-Centric Approach has a moderate impact while Content Leadership and Thought Leadership, as well as Strategic Partnerships and Trend Anticipation contribute significantly to market success together with previous findings that highlight customer engagement and innovative practices as success enablers. In their work (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993), demonstrate that business models that focus on customers create enduring relationships and trust that drive consistent performance outcomes. The modest effects of innovation and collaboration practices may exist due to industry-specific conditions combined with the level of practice maturity within the studied context.
Service Quality demonstrates particular influences on different market relationships by strategically boosting Market Excellence through conditional effects. Service Quality demonstrates substantial influence on specific constructs, although its practical effectiveness remains constrained in other cases thus showing better enhancement of certain elements than others. Homburg et al. (2005), support this finding by demonstrating service quality effects depend on organizational practice integration. Market success requires organizations to identify particular segments where service quality activates as a performance accelerator.
Research findings from this study validate previous works that demonstrate how Agile Marketing Practices and Competitive Intelligence, together with Service Quality, create the necessary elements for Market Excellence. The findings add to existing research by demonstrating the weight of varied drivers along with their collective influence toward superior market success. A summary of the hypothesis testing is given in Table 8.
Table 8. Summary of hypotheses results.
6 Conclusion and recommendations
This study set out to explore how marketing proactiveness strategies and service quality work together to drive marketing excellence in private banks in Erbil, Iraq. Based on responses from 410 bank officers, the results show that all six dimensions of marketing proactiveness are positively associated with marketing excellence, although effect sizes vary across strategy dimensions. This study also found that service quality partly moderates these relationships, highlighting its importance as a cornerstone of effective marketing strategies.
The findings add to theory by enriching the RBV, showing that marketing proactiveness and service quality are not just operational practices but strategic resources that can deliver sustainable competitive advantage. They also extend the literature on marketing excellence by providing evidence from the Iraqi banking sector, a context that has received little attention in international scholarship.
For practice, the results offer clear lessons for bank managers. To strengthen marketing excellence, banks should embrace proactive strategies such as anticipating market trends, fostering innovation, and building customer-centric cultures. These efforts must go hand in hand with consistent investments in service quality, which reinforces customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term competitiveness.
Of course, the study has its limits. It focuses on private banks in Erbil, which may reduce the generalizability of the findings to other sectors or regions. Moreover, this study examined service quality as the sole moderating variable, omitting other important contextual factors, such as digital transformation, regulatory influences, and cultural differences. Future research could build on these areas to paint a fuller picture.
In sum, this study underscores the value of combining marketing proactiveness strategies with strong service quality to achieve marketing excellence. By blending theoretical insight with practical guidance, it provides a useful roadmap for both academics and practitioners seeking to enhance marketing performance in today’s dynamic and competitive service environments.
6.1 Research contribution and implications
The study adds to the body of research on Marketing Excellence by demonstrating the importance of factors such as service quality, competitive intelligence, agile marketing practices, and a customer-focused approach. This study shows that service quality is important in two ways: it directly affects outcomes and enables other factors to work more effectively, while also revealing complex details about its broader effects. The study finds that content leadership, strategic partnerships, and trend prediction each have distinct effects. This helps us learn more about how these strategies work in market supremacy. These findings close research gaps by integrating these variables into a comprehensive model that delivers actionable recommendations to businesses operating in ever-changing markets. The research expands our theoretical understanding of market-oriented strategies through practical, manager-directed guidance that helps organizations connect their operational practices to market requirements.
The research findings produce practical as well as theoretical implications. Research grounded in theory deepens our understanding of Marketing Excellence drivers by illustrating the practical connections among agile marketing practices, competitive intelligence, and service quality factors. Service quality is a factor that limits other organizational practices, yet research has shown that superior customer service can boost their effectiveness. The study adds to what is known about strategic management by examining in depth the complex relationships that shape market outcomes. It also lays the groundwork for future research. In the future, researchers should examine how these ideas interact and how they can help businesses gain long-lasting competitive advantages as markets change quickly.
The study delivers analytical conclusions that managers and organizational leaders can use to enhance their market standing. The research underscores service quality as an essential strategic organizational component because it directly affects Marketing Excellence and enhances the impact of competitive intelligence and agile marketing. Organizations need to build customer-focused methods and competitive intelligence-backed agility to maintain their leadership position in the market. The research reveals that businesses should invest strategically in innovation and partnerships as central drivers of market success, although these components have a somewhat diminished impact compared to service quality and agility. Firms that implement these strategies will adapt their operations toward market change dynamics to secure lasting success.
6.2 Limitations and future research suggestions
The findings of this research demonstrate substantial value, but researchers should consider future investigations into the identified limitations. This cross-sectional design limits the researchers’ ability to identify long-term market effects of the identified Marketing Excellence drivers. Future research should employ a longitudinal design to determine how these constructs affect market performance across different periods. The analysis focused solely on specific constructs within defined industries, which reduces the overall potential for generalizability of results. Research should continue by investigating alternative drivers, including digital transformation and organizational culture, across different industries and various geographical settings. The study shows that service quality is an important moderator. However, more research should examine other external and environmental factors that affect these connections between the main performance drivers. The study focused only on service quality as a moderating variable. While this provides meaningful insights, this study acknowledges that other external factors, such as technological readiness, regulatory environment, and competitive intensity, may also moderate the relationship between marketing proactiveness strategies and marketing excellence. These factors should be explored in future studies.
Data availability statement
The dataset contains confidential information collected from employees of private banks and cannot be shared publicly or upon request due to ethical and data protection restrictions. Only anonymized and aggregated results are reported in the article.
Ethics statement
Ethical approval was not required for the studies involving humans in accordance with institutional and national guidelines. The study involved adult participants, participation was voluntary and no identifiable personal data were collected. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
Author contributions
SR: Data curation, Visualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Validation, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Funding acquisition, Resources. KM: Software, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Formal analysis, Visualization, Resources, Project administration, Data curation, Validation. DA: Resources, Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis, Conceptualization, Investigation, Data curation. KA: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation, Software, Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Resources, Formal analysis, Project administration.
Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was not received for this work and/or its publication.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the participating private banks in Erbil for their cooperation and support during data collection. Special thanks are extended to the bank officers who generously shared their time and insights, making this research possible. The authors also acknowledge the guidance and encouragement provided by colleagues at Near East University, which contributed to the completion of this study.
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that Generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
Abdul-Aziz Ahmad, M., and Jais, J. (2024). The mediating effect of service quality on the relationship between logistics resources and sustainable competitive advantage in Iraqi Kurdistan hotels. Cogent. Bus. Manag. 11:2360597. doi: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2360597
Ado, M. A., Ali, A., and Mousa, K. M. (2025). Directing compliance realities: the determinants of compliance officer effectiveness in Cypriot organizations. J. Financ. Regul. Compliance. doi: 10.1108/JFRC-01-2025-0011
Agha, H. N. A., Eyupoglu, S. Z., and Tashtoush, L. (2025). The relationship between human resource management practices and organizational innovation: the mediated role of human capital within the banking sector in North Iraq. Sustainability 17:6330. doi: 10.3390/su17146330
Aghaz, A., and Salmasi, S. D. (2024). The impact of cultural values on students’ communication apprehension in online classrooms: the moderating role of gender. Int. J. Manag. Educ. 22:101077. doi: 10.1016/J.IJME.2024.101077
Akbar, M. A. (2024). Customer-centric strategies: navigating the dynamics of marketing management for competitive advantage. Adv. Bus. Ind. Mark. Res. 2, 96–109. doi: 10.60079/abim.v2i2.288
Al Barwari, P., Ali, K. A. A., Mousa, K. M., and Ahmed, D. H. (2025). Innovative marketing and sustainable success in SMEs with evidence from northern Iraq. Discov. Sustain. 6:610. doi: 10.1007/S43621-025-01493-2
Aljaafreh, N. A. A., De-Pablos-Heredero, C., and Orea-Giner, A. (2024). Competitive intelligence in tourism: charting future directions through bibliometric analysis. J. Tour. Futures. doi: 10.1108/JTF-01-2024-0015
Aljeeran, A., and Al Mubarak, M. (2024). Realizing power of data in agile marketing. Stud. Syst. Decis. Control 569, 885–901. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-71649-2_74
Amajuoyi, P., Benjamin, L. B., Adeus, K. B., Amajuoyi, P., Benjamin, L. B., and Adeus, K. B. (2024). Agile methodologies: adapting product management to rapidly changing market conditions. GSC Adv. Res. Rev. 19, 249–267. doi: 10.30574/GSCARR.2024.19.2.0181
Ardhana, N. A., Mariam, S., and Ramli, A. H. (2024). The role of corporate image, quality service and customer satisfaction to intention behavior and customer loyalty. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Kesatuan 12, 1715–1730. doi: 10.37641/JIMKES.V12I5.2825
Attar, M., and Abdul-Kareem, A. (2020). The role of agile leadership in organisational agility. Agile Bus. Leadersh. Methods Ind. 4.0, 171–191. doi: 10.1108/978-1-80043-380-920201011
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. J. Manage. 17, 99–120. doi: 10.1177/014920639101700108
Basso, B., Kistler, T., and Phocas, F. (2024). Genetic parameters, trends, and inbreeding in a honeybee breeding program for royal jelly production and behavioral traits. Apidologie 55, 1–15. doi: 10.1007/s13592-023-01055-3
Bergh, D. D., D’Oria, L., Crook, T. R., and Roccapriore, A. (2025). Is knowledge really the most important strategic resource? A meta-analytic review. Strateg. Manage. J. 46, 3–18. doi: 10.1002/SMJ.3645
Bubphapant, J., and Brandão, A. (2024). Content marketing research: a review and research agenda. Int. J. Consum. Stud. 48:e12984. doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12984
Cadogan, J. W., and Diamantopoulos, A. (1995). Narver and Slater, Kohli and Jaworski and the market orientation construct: integration and internationalization. J. Strateg. Mark. 3, 41–60. doi: 10.1080/09652549500000003
Cekule, L., and Veselova, A. (2024). Cognitive and psychological obstructions to information quality in competitive intelligence. J. Intell. Stud. Bus. 14, 55–65. doi: 10.37380/jisib.v14.i1.2489
Chen, J., Cai, W., Luo, J., and Mao, H. (2025). How does digital trust boost open innovation? Evidence from a mixed approach. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 212:123953. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123953
Costa, A., Antunes, J., and Fernandes, G. (2025). The quality of services as a factor in satisfaction and loyalty to a hotel. Singapore: Springer, 289–298.
Damayanti, A., Ahmad, S., Aldrin Akbar, M., and Lina, R. (2024). Service quality and trust on customer satisfaction. Advances: Jurnal Ekonomi & Bisnis 2, 255–267. doi: 10.60079/AJEB.V2I5.296
Dipendra, K. C. (2024). Determinants of perceived innovation in non-governmental organizations in Nepal. Nonprofit Manage. Leadersh. 34, 683–705. doi: 10.1002/nml.21589
Dreymann, N., Bort, S., Maurer, I., and Ebers, M. (2024). Temporal patterns of ventures’ alliance portfolio formation & innovation: a configurational approach. Acad. Manage. Proc. 2024:17306. doi: 10.5465/AMPROC.2024.214bp
Durach, C. F., Peers, Y., Wang, Y., Repasky, T., Disney, S. M., Holmstrom, J., et al. (2024). Mitigating upstream disruptions: effects of extended inventories in first- and second-tier suppliers. J. Oper. Manag. 70, 1261–1285. doi: 10.1002/JOOM.1332
Fintan, H. M., and Mbura, O. K. (2024). Entrepreneurial marketing and SME performance in Tanzania’s agro- processing industry: the roles of customer intensity, value creation, and proactiveness. ORSEA J. 14, 1–20. doi: 10.56279/orseaj.v14i2.1
Gilson, L. L. (2024). “Why be creative: a review of the practical outcomes associated with creativity at the individual, group, and organizational levels” in Handbook of organizational creativity. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing 303–322.
Hair, J., Hult, M., Ringle, M., and Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Int. J. Pharm., 1–23.
Haldar, U., Bisai, S., and Gupta, S. (2025). Out-of-pocket expenditure-led economic burden among persons with disabilities across Indian states. GeoJournal 90:234. doi: 10.1007/s10708-025-11470-x
Hamad, A. A., Tuzlukaya, Ş., and Kırkbeşoğlu, E. (2019). The effect of social capital on operational performance: research in banking sector in Erbil. Copernican J. Finance Account. 8, 103–124. doi: 10.12775/CJFA.2019.004
Harvey, W. S., Mitchell, V. W., Almeida Jones, A., and Knight, E. (2021). The tensions of defining and developing thought leadership within knowledge-intensive firms. J. Knowl. Manag. 25, 1–33. doi: 10.1108/JKM-06-2020-0431
Highsmith, A. R. (2009). Demolition means progress: urban renewal, local politics, and state-sanctioned ghetto formation in Flint, Michigan. J. Urban Hist. 35, 348–368. doi: 10.1177/0096144208330403
Hollebeek, L. D., and Macky, K. (2019). Digital content marketing’s role in fostering consumer engagement, trust, and value: framework, fundamental propositions, and implications. J. Interact. Mark. 45, 27–41. doi: 10.1016/j.intmar.2018.07.003
Holliman, G., and Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. J. Res. Interact. Mark. 8, 269–293. doi: 10.1108/JRIM-02-2014-0013
Homburg, C., Koschate, N., and Hoyer, W. D. (2005). Do satisfied customers really pay more? A study of the relationship between customer satisfaction and willingness to pay. J. Mark. 69, 84–96. doi: 10.1509/jmkg.69.2.84.60760
Homburg, C., Theel, M., and Hohenberg, S. (2020). Marketing excellence: nature, measurement, and investor valuations. J. Mark. 84, 1–22. doi: 10.1177/0022242920925517
Hughes, G., Desantis, A., and Waszak, F. (2013). Attenuation of auditory N1 results from identity-specific action-effect prediction. Eur. J. Neurosci. 37, 1152–1158. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12120,
Hussain, M., Javed, A., Khan, S. H., and Yasir, M. (2024). Pillars of customer retention in the services sector: understanding the role of relationship marketing, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. J. Knowl. Econ. 16, 2047–2067. doi: 10.1007/s13132-024-02060-2
Hussein, H., Albadry, O. M., Mathew, V., Al-Romeedy, B. S., Alsetoohy, O., Abou Kamar, M., et al. (2024). Digital leadership and sustainable competitive advantage: leveraging green absorptive capability and eco-innovation in tourism and hospitality businesses. Sustainability 16:5371. doi: 10.3390/SU16135371
Ijomah, T. I., Idemudia, C., Eyo-Udo, N. L., and Anjorin, K. F. (2024). Harnessing marketing analytics for enhanced decision-making and performance in SMEs. World J. Adv. Sci. Technol. 6, 001–012. doi: 10.53346/wjast.2024.6.1.0037
Iriani, N., Agustianti, A., Sucianti, R., M, A. R., and Putera, W. (2024). Understanding risk and uncertainty management: a qualitative inquiry into developing business strategies amidst global economic shifts, government policies, and market volatility. Golden Ratio Finance Manag. 4, 62–77. doi: 10.52970/GRFM.V4I2.444
Irshad, O., Ahmad, S., and Mahmood, S. (2024). Fostering purchase intentions through CSR and service quality: the role of customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and admiration. Sustainability 16:10584. doi: 10.3390/SU162310584
Ismail, M. D., Ahmad, S. Z., and Singh, S. K. (2024). Absorptive capacity, relational capital and export performance among SME exporters: the moderating effect of contract. J. Knowl. Manag. 28, 2120–2139. doi: 10.1108/JKM-02-2023-0144
Jameel, A. S. (2025). Service quality and customer satisfaction through AIRQUAL dimensions: an empirical investigation on Iraqi airways. Int. J. Manag. Stud. 32, 1–18. doi: 10.32890/ijms2025.32.1.1
Jaworski, B. J., and Kohli, A. K. (1993). Market orientation: antecedents and consequences. J. Mark. 57, 53–70. doi: 10.1177/002224299305700304
Kale, P., Dyer, J. H., and Singh, H. (2002). Alliance capability, stock market response, and long-term alliance success: the role of the alliance function. Strateg. Manag. J. 23, 747–767. doi: 10.1002/smj.248
Khakurel, B., Grigsby, C., Tran, T. D., Zariwala, J., Höhna, S., and Wright, A. M. (2024). The fundamental role of character coding in Bayesian morphological phylogenetics. Syst. Biol. 73, 861–871. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syae033,
Khurdei, V., Pushkar, T., Kuzmenko, H., Bessarab, A., and Tregub, A. (2023). Use of social media platforms as a key element of brand marketing strategies. Econ. Aff. (New Delhi) 68, 1665–1673. doi: 10.46852/0424-2513.3.2023.31
Kohli, A. K., and Jaworski, B. J. (1990). Market orientation: the construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. J. Mark. 54, 1–18. doi: 10.1177/002224299005400201
Kosasih, O., Hidayat, K., Hutahayan, B., and Sunarti, (2024). Achieving sustainable customer loyalty in the petrochemical industry: the effect of service innovation, product quality, and corporate image with customer satisfaction as a mediator. Sustainability (Switzerland) 16:7111. doi: 10.3390/su16167111
Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. J. Mark. 75, 132–135. doi: 10.1509/jmkg.75.4.132
Kumar, V., Ashraf, A. R., and Nadeem, W. (2024). AI-powered marketing: What, where, and how?. International journal of information management 77:102783. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2024.102783
Ledi, K. K. (2024). Surviving black swan: competitive intelligence and frugal innovation as panaceas to SME value creation during crisis. Cogent Bus. Manag. 11:2405056. doi: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2405056
Lee-Anant, C., Choibamroong, T., and Srikhwan, B. (2023). Enhancing the competitiveness of the show business industry for cultural export as a means of creative economy development and tourism promotion in the future new normal era: the case of Thailand. Soc. Sci. 12:690. doi: 10.3390/socsci12120690
Li, Y. N., Cheng, B. H., Yu, B., and Zhu, J. N. Y. (2024). Let’s get physical! A time-lagged examination of the motivation for daily physical activity and implications for next-day performance and health. Pers. Psychol. 77, 917–955. doi: 10.1111/peps.12585
Mai, T. H. (2024). Customer loyalty in the life insurance sector: a theoretical overview. Multidis. Res. Stud. 4, 1381–1384.
Makin, D. F., and Kotler, B. P. (2024). How does a bacterial infection affect an individual’s foraging and risk management over time? Isr. J. Ecol. Evol. 70, 201–210. doi: 10.1163/22244662-BJA10084
Malik, M., Zhengmeng, C., Hussain, M., and Hussain, S. (2024). Exploring customer retention dynamics: a comparative investigation of factors affecting customer retention in the banking sector using mediation-moderation approach. Heliyon 10:e36919. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36919,
Maluleka, M. L., Chummun, B. Z., and Chummun, B. (2023). Competitive intelligence and strategy implementation: critical examination of present literature review. SA J. Inf. Manag. 25:1610. doi: 10.4102/SAJIM.V25I1.1610
Marcos, A. M. B. d. F., and Coelho, A. F. d. M. (2022). Service quality, customer satisfaction and customer value: holistic determinants of loyalty and word-of-mouth in services. TQM J. 34, 957–978. doi: 10.1108/TQM-10-2020-0236
Modak, C., Ghosh, S. K., Sarkar, M. A. I., Sharif, M. K., Arif, M., Bhuiyan, M., et al. (2024). Machine learning model in digital marketing strategies for customer behavior: harnessing CNNs for enhanced customer satisfaction and strategic decision-making. J. Econ. Finance Account. Stud. 6, 178–186. doi: 10.32996/JEFAS.2024.6.3.14
Mohammed, R. H., and AL-Ameri, S. A. (2024). The impact of relationship marketing on the competitiveness of business organizations: an analytical study for a number of private Iraqi banks. J. Econ. Adm. Sci. 30, 150–162. doi: 10.33095/0DY6PF04
Moharrak, M., Nguyen, N. P., and Mogaji, E. (2024). Business environment and adoption of AI: navigation for internationalization by new ventures in emerging markets. Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 66, 355–372. doi: 10.1002/tie.22384
Muhamad, G. M. (2024). “Political economy of state formation in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: challenges and opportunities” in Perspectives on development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, part F3979. Singapore: Springer, 15–38.
Murrar, A., Paz, V., Batra, M., and Yerger, D. (2025). Perceived customer value and willingness to pay: strategies for improving and sustaining water service quality. TQM J. 37, 977–997. doi: 10.1108/TQM-07-2023-0218
Narver, J. C., and Slater, S. F. (1990). The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. J. Mark. 54, 20–35. doi: 10.1177/002224299005400403
Noble, C., Sala, G., Peter, M., Lingwood, J., Rowland, C., Gobet, F., et al. (2019). The impact of shared book reading on children’s language skills: a meta-analysis. Educ. Res. Rev. 28:100290. doi: 10.1016/J.EDUREV.2019.100290
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., and Berry, L. L. (1988). Servqual: a multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perc. J. Retail. 64:12–40. Available at: https://books.google.com.cy/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Rt96wAigg2oC&oi=fnd&pg=PA140&dq=Parasuraman,+A.,+Zeithaml,+V.+A.,+%26+Berry,+L.+L.+(1988).+Servqual:+A+Multiple-Item+Scale+For+Measuring+Consumer+Perc.+Journal+of+Retailing,+64(1).+https://www.proquest.com/openview/7d007e04d78261295e5524f15bef6837/1%3Fcbl%3D41988%26pq-origsite%3Dgscholar+&ots=pUv4byxDEK&sig=0HqGcp4a3ANhNX-JS5gzTNRDSdU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Pulizzi, J. (2012). The rise of storytelling as the new marketing. Publ. Res. Q. 28, 116–123. doi: 10.1007/s12109-012-9264-5
Qerimi, D., Demeter, K., and Losonci, D. (2024). Unravelling the definition of business process innovation: a systematic literature review. Int. J. Innov. Sci. doi: 10.1108/IJIS-02-2024-0038
Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. J. Mark. Manage. 15, 53–67. doi: 10.1362/026725799784870496
Schulze, A., Townsend, J. D., and Talay, M. B. (2022). Completing the market orientation matrix: the impact of proactive competitor orientation on innovation and firm performance. Ind. Mark. Manage. 103, 198–214. doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.03.013
Sharabati, A. A. A., Ali, A. A. A., Allahham, M. I., Hussein, A. A., Alheet, A. F., and Mohammad, A. S. (2024). The impact of digital marketing on the performance of SMEs: an analytical study in light of modern digital transformations. Sustainability 16:8667. doi: 10.3390/su16198667
Sheth, J. N., Sisodia, R. S., and Sharma, A. (2000). The antecedents and consequences of customer-centric marketing. J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 28, 55–66. doi: 10.1177/0092070300281006
Sukhawatthanakun, K., and Supapon, S. (2024). Agile marketing competency and innovation capability mediating on new product management for industrial business development guidelines. Int. J. Prod. Lifecycle Manag. 15, 259–283. doi: 10.1504/IJPLM.2024.137308
Supriyanto, A., Wiyono, B. B., and Burhanuddin, B. (2021). Effects of service quality and customer satisfaction on loyalty of bank customers. Cogent Bus. Manag. 8:1937847. doi: 10.1080/23311975.2021.1937847
Sureshchandar, G. S., Rajendran, C., and Kamalanabhan, T. J. (2001). Customer perceptions of service quality: a critique. Total Qual. Manag. 12, 111–124. doi: 10.1080/09544120020010138
Tanbour, K. M., Ben Saada, M., Nour, A. I., and Elnaas, N. K. (2025). Integrating artificial intelligence into risk management frameworks: a mixed-methods analysis of the Palestinian banking sector. J. Finan. Rep. Account., 1–42. doi: 10.1108/JFRA-06-2025-0458
Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strateg. Manag. J. 28, 1319–1350. doi: 10.1002/smj.640
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., and Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strateg. Manag. J. 18, 509–533. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199708)18:7<509::AID-SMJ882>3.0.CO;2-Z
Tsai, C.-H., and Chiu, C.-F. (2024). Contractual learning to bridge the gap between contractual needs and capabilities. J. Bus. Manag. Stud. 6, 265–273. doi: 10.32996/JBMS.2024.6.6.12
Urbany, J. E., and Dapena-Baron, M. (2024). The pursuit of customer centricity. AMS Rev 14, 298–307. doi: 10.1007/s13162-024-00288-4
Vargo, S. L., Wieland, H., and O’Brien, M. (2023). Service-dominant logic as a unifying theoretical framework for the re-institutionalization of the marketing discipline. J. Bus. Res. 164:113965. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113965
Vieira, V., Agnihotri, R., and Dugan, R. (2025). Research note: the impact of CI diversity and organizational tenure on the relationship between competitive intelligence and sales performance: a meta-analytic review. J. Pers. Sell. Sales Manag. 45, 122–134. doi: 10.1080/08853134.2024.2373076
Wahid, R., Mero, J., and Ritala, P. (2023). Editorial: written by ChatGPT, illustrated by Midjourney: generative AI for content marketing. Asia Pac. J. Mark. Logist. 35, 1813–1822. doi: 10.1108/APJML-10-2023-994
Waris, M., and Din, B. H. (2024a). Nexus of the CSR disclosures and corporate financial performance: evidence from Asian countries climate policy uncertainty. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 31, 1995–2008. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-31307-9,
Waris, M., and Din, B. H. (2024b). Role of the government towards stock markets and carbon emissions: evidence from wavelet approach. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 31, 11285–11306. doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-31843-y,
Wasik, Z., Orientasi, D., Dalam, P., Perusahaan, S., Pengembangan, T., and Baru, P. (2024). The impact of market orientation in corporate strategy on the development of new products. J. Manag. Sci. Stud. 2, 1–27. doi: 10.61160/jomss.v2i1.34
Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strateg. Manage. J. 5, 171–180. doi: 10.1002/smj.4250050207
Willie, M. M. (2025). Leveraging digital resources: a resource-based view perspective. Golden Ratio Hum. Resour. Manag. 5, 01–14. doi: 10.52970/grhrm.v5i1.415
Wright, P. (2024). Replication and media effects research. Sex Cult. 28, 1311–1325. doi: 10.1007/s12119-023-10164-1
Yu, Y., Su, W., and Liu, G. (2024). Case study on the construction path of olfactory space in Jiangsu University library. Digit. Transf. Soc. 3, 164–178. doi: 10.1108/DTS-03-2023-0017
Keywords: agile marketing practices, customer-centric approach, Erbil, marketing proactiveness strategies, private banks, strategic partnerships
Citation: Rashid S, Mousa KM, Ahmed DH and Ali KAA (2026) Marketing proactiveness strategies and service quality synergy: a pathway to marketing excellence in private banks in Iraq. Front. Commun. 10:1719507. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1719507
Edited by:
Tereza Semerádová, Technical University of Liberec, CzechiaReviewed by:
Mohammed Habes, Yarmouk University, JordanOswin Aganda Anaba, Bolgatanga Technical University, Ghana
Copyright © 2026 Rashid, Mousa, Ahmed and Ali. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Kawar Mohammed Mousa, a2F3YXJtb2hhbW1lZC5tb3VzYUBuZXUuZWR1LnRy