Managers' perceptions of strategic orientation in the face of environmental turbulence: The case of tour operators

The primary objective of this thesis is to examine managers' perceptions of strategic orientations adopted under varying conditions of environmental turbulence through the case of tour operators. In this context, the study explores how strategic orientations are associated with managers' performance perceptions and seeks to understand the influence of environmental variables on strategic thinking patterns. The research conceptualizes the environment–strategy–performance interaction within the field of strategic management and specifically focuses on interpreting the impact of environmental turbulence on managerial cognition through strategic orientation perceptions. Within the scope of the study, managers' perceptions of the strategic orientations developed by tour operators operating under dynamic and uncertain conditions are examined in the tourism sector, where the effects of environmental factors on strategy and performance are most prominently observed. Tour operators were selected as the focal business type due to their exposure to intense competition, rapid technological change, and volatile customer demands, which collectively make environmental turbulence highly pronounced. Methodologically, a mixed‐methods research design was adopted. In the quantitative phase, the relative importance levels of environmental turbulence factors and strategic orientation criteria were determined using the SWARA method. In the qualitative phase, managers' strategic preferences and the performance-related rationales underlying these preferences were examined through thematic analysis based on semi-structured interviews. The participants consisted of middle- and senior-level managers employed in national and international tour operators operating in Turkey, and the sample was determined through purposive sampling. The findings indicate that seven main criteria (customer, competitor, innovation, cost/internal orientation; technological, market, and competitive turbulence) and nineteen sub-criteria play a decisive role in shaping strategic orientation perceptions. Overall, the results reveal that managers perceive environmental turbulence as a fundamental determinant of their strategic orientation preferences; innovation- and customer-oriented strategies become prominent under technological and market turbulence, while competitor- and cost-based strategies prevail under conditions of intense competitive pressure. In terms of performance, managers' perceptions suggest that organizational success is largely shaped by the balanced integration of strategic orientations such as customer satisfaction, innovation capability, and cost efficiency. Keywords: Strategic Orientation, Environmental Turbulence, Performance, Tour Operators