IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ijrema/v41y2024i4p703-723.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The contingent effects of innovative digital sales technologies on B2B firms’ financial performance

Author

Listed:
  • Friess, Maximilian
  • Haumann, Till
  • Alavi, Sascha
  • Ionut Oproiescu, Alexandru
  • Schmitz, Christian
  • Wieseke, Jan

Abstract

Business-to-business (B2B) firms make large investments to implement innovative digital sales technology (IDST) in the hope of increasing firm performance. While marketing research generally indicates that these investments should pay off, recent experiences from managerial practice suggest that such beneficial payoffs may not necessarily arise. To examine the effects of implementing IDSTs on B2B firm performance, we differentiate between customer-sensing and customer-linking IDSTs: while customer-sensing IDST has the primary purpose of identifying new sales opportunities (e.g., predictive analytics) early within the B2B sales funnel, the purpose of customer-linking IDST (e.g., augmented reality application) is to close sales opportunities. The results of a multi-data study involving 314 B2B firms confirm that implementing customer-sensing and customer-linking IDST can exhibit a complementary, positive effect on firm profit, but this effect strongly varies with the sales task environment in terms of firms’ offering and demand complexity. In unfavorable conditions, extensive digitalization in B2B sales can even harm firm profit. These findings contribute to sales technology research and the literature on marketing capabilities and guide managers on how to ensure successful sales digitalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Friess, Maximilian & Haumann, Till & Alavi, Sascha & Ionut Oproiescu, Alexandru & Schmitz, Christian & Wieseke, Jan, 2024. "The contingent effects of innovative digital sales technologies on B2B firms’ financial performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 703-723.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:41:y:2024:i:4:p:703-723
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.05.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811624000429
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.05.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ford, George S., 2018. "Is faster better? Quantifying the relationship between broadband speed and economic growth," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 766-777.
    2. Arun Rai & Xinlin Tang, 2010. "Leveraging IT Capabilities and Competitive Process Capabilities for the Management of Interorganizational Relationship Portfolios," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 516-542, September.
    3. Reinartz, Werner & Wiegand, Nico & Imschloss, Monika, 2019. "The impact of digital transformation on the retailing value chain," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 350-366.
    4. Ron Berman & Ayelet Israeli, 2022. "The Value of Descriptive Analytics: Evidence from Online Retailers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 1074-1096, November.
    5. Paul A. Pavlou & Omar A. El Sawy, 2006. "From IT Leveraging Competence to Competitive Advantage in Turbulent Environments: The Case of New Product Development," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 198-227, September.
    6. Andrew Petersen, J. & Paulich, Brianna JeeWon & Khodakarami, Farnoosh & Spyropoulou, Stavroula & Kumar, V., 2022. "Customer-based execution strategy in a global digital economy," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 566-582.
    7. Ming-Hui Huang & Roland T. Rust, 2017. "Technology-driven service strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 906-924, November.
    8. Roelen-Blasberg, Tobias & Habel, Johannes & Klarmann, Martin, 2023. "Automated inference of product attributes and their importance from user-generated content: Can we replace traditional market research?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 164-188.
    9. Rapp, Adam & Trainor, Kevin J. & Agnihotri, Raj, 2010. "Performance implications of customer-linking capabilities: Examining the complementary role of customer orientation and CRM technology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 1229-1236, November.
    10. Trainor, Kevin J. & Andzulis, James (Mick) & Rapp, Adam & Agnihotri, Raj, 2014. "Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1201-1208.
    11. Krämer, Martin & Desernot, Christina & Alavi, Sascha & Schmitz, Christian & Brüggemann, Felix & Wieseke, Jan, 2022. "The role of salespeople in industrial servitization: How to manage diminishing profit returns from salespeople’s increasing industrial service shares," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 1235-1252.
    12. Verhoef, Peter C. & Broekhuizen, Thijs & Bart, Yakov & Bhattacharya, Abhi & Qi Dong, John & Fabian, Nicolai & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 889-901.
    13. Johannes Habel & Sascha Alavi & Nicolas Heinitz, 2023. "A theory of predictive sales analytics adoption," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 13(1), pages 34-54, June.
    14. Sungho Park & Sachin Gupta, 2012. "Handling Endogenous Regressors by Joint Estimation Using Copulas," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 567-586, July.
    15. Hunter, Gary K., 2019. "On conceptualizing, measuring, and managing augmented technology use in business-to-business sales contexts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 201-213.
    16. Stephanie A. Fernhaber & Pankaj C. Patel, 2012. "How do young firms manage product portfolio complexity? The role of absorptive capacity and ambidexterity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(13), pages 1516-1539, December.
    17. Christoph Zott & Raphael Amit, 2007. "Business Model Design and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 181-199, April.
    18. Wamba, Samuel Fosso & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Akter, Shahriar & Ren, Steven Ji-fan & Dubey, Rameshwar & Childe, Stephen J., 2017. "Big data analytics and firm performance: Effects of dynamic capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 356-365.
    19. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    20. Ming-Hui Huang & Roland T. Rust, 2021. "A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 30-50, January.
    21. Mark C. Anderson & Rajiv D. Banker & Sury Ravindran, 2006. "Value Implications of Investments in Information Technology," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(9), pages 1359-1376, September.
    22. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    23. Thomas Ritter, 2020. "Reclaiming or rebranding marketing: implications beyond digital," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 10(3), pages 311-314, December.
    24. Germann, Frank & Lilien, Gary L. & Fiedler, Lars & Kraus, Matthias, 2014. "Do Retailers Benefit from Deploying Customer Analytics?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(4), pages 587-593.
    25. Barbara L. Marcolin & Deborah R. Compeau & Malcolm C. Munro & Sid L. Huff, 2000. "Assessing User Competence: Conceptualization and Measurement," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 37-60, March.
    26. Germann, Frank & Lilien, Gary L. & Rangaswamy, Arvind, 2013. "Performance implications of deploying marketing analytics," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 114-128.
    27. Boyd, D. Eric & Koles, Bernadett, 2019. "Virtual reality and its impact on B2B marketing: A value-in-use perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 590-598.
    28. D. Eric Boyd & Bernadett Koles, 2019. "Virtual reality and its impact on B2B marketing: A value-in-use perspective," Post-Print hal-02160880, HAL.
    29. Michael Ahearne & Eli Jones & Adam Rapp & John Mathieu, 2008. "High Touch Through High Tech: The Impact of Salesperson Technology Usage on Sales Performance via Mediating Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 671-685, April.
    30. Christian Homburg & Dominik M. Wielgos, 2022. "The value relevance of digital marketing capabilities to firm performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 666-688, July.
    31. Neeraj Arora & Xavier Dreze & Anindya Ghose & James Hess & Raghuram Iyengar & Bing Jing & Yogesh Joshi & V. Kumar & Nicholas Lurie & Scott Neslin & S. Sajeesh & Meng Su & Niladri Syam & Jacquelyn Thom, 2008. "Putting one-to-one marketing to work: Personalization, customization, and choice," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 305-321, December.
    32. Dhruv Grewal & John Hulland & Praveen K. Kopalle & Elena Karahanna, 2020. "The future of technology and marketing: a multidisciplinary perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 1-8, January.
    33. Alex R. Zablah & Danny N. Bellenger & Detmar W. Straub & Wesley J. Johnston, 2012. "Performance Implications of CRM Technology Use: A Multilevel Field Study of Business Customers and Their Providers in the Telecommunications Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 418-435, June.
    34. Becker, Jan U. & Greve, Goetz & Albers, Sönke, 2009. "The impact of technological and organizational implementation of CRM on customer acquisition, maintenance, and retention," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 207-215.
    35. Wolfgang Ulaga & Werner Reinartz, 2011. "Hybrid Offerings: How Manufacturing Firms Combine Goods and Services Successfully," Post-Print hal-00642039, HAL.
    36. He, Yong, 2018. "On the sustainability of maximizing GDP Growth," MPRA Paper 88549, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    37. Xueming Luo & Siliang Tong & Zheng Fang & Zhe Qu, 2019. "Frontiers: Machines vs. Humans: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Disclosure on Customer Purchases," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 937-947, November.
    38. Stefan Worm & Sundar G. Bharadwaj & Wolfgang Ulaga & Werner J. Reinartz, 2017. "When and why do customer solutions pay off in business markets?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 490-512, July.
    39. Morgan, Neil A. & Slotegraaf, Rebecca J. & Vorhies, Douglas W., 2009. "Linking marketing capabilities with profit growth," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 284-293.
    40. Gil Appel & Lauren Grewal & Rhonda Hadi & Andrew T. Stephen, 2020. "The future of social media in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 79-95, January.
    41. Thomas Davenport & Abhijit Guha & Dhruv Grewal & Timna Bressgott, 2020. "How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 24-42, January.
    42. Anna S. Cui & Fang Wu, 2016. "Utilizing customer knowledge in innovation: antecedents and impact of customer involvement on new product performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 516-538, July.
    43. David Godes, 2003. "In the Eye of the Beholder: An Analysis of the Relative Value of a Top Sales Rep Across Firms and Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 161-187, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bamberger, Boas & Reinartz, Werner & Ulaga, Wolfgang, 2025. "Navigating the future of B2B marketing: The transformative impact of the industrial metaverse," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Hossain, Md Afnan & Akter, Shahriar & Yanamandram, Venkata, 2021. "Why doesn't our value creation payoff: Unpacking customer analytics-driven value creation capability to sustain competitive advantage," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 287-296.
    3. Manjunath Padigar & Ljubomir Pupovac & Ashish Sinha & Rajendra Srivastava, 2022. "The effect of marketing department power on investor responses to announcements of AI-embedded new product innovations," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1277-1298, November.
    4. Christian Homburg & Dominik M. Wielgos, 2022. "The value relevance of digital marketing capabilities to firm performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 666-688, July.
    5. Muhammad Nur Firdaus Nasir & Iqbal Jaapar & Walid Muhmmad Syafrien Effendi & Fadly Mohamed Sharif & Khairulwafi Mamat & Nurul Farhana Nasir, 2024. "Exploring the Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Design Industry: Client Satisfaction through Enhancing Quality while Preserving Human Creativity," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3s), pages 4538-4543, October.
    6. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    7. Christian Homburg & Moritz Tischer, 2023. "Customer journey management capability in business-to-business markets: Its bright and dark sides and overall impact on firm performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1046-1074, September.
    8. Sullivan, Yulia & Fosso Wamba, Samuel, 2024. "Artificial intelligence and adaptive response to market changes: A strategy to enhance firm performance and innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. Hunter, Gary K., 2019. "On conceptualizing, measuring, and managing augmented technology use in business-to-business sales contexts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 201-213.
    10. Foltean, Florin Sabin & Trif, Simona Mihaela & Tuleu, Daniela Liliana, 2019. "Customer relationship management capabilities and social media technology use: Consequences on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 563-575.
    11. Dawn Iacobucci & Maria Petrescu & Anjala Krishen & Michael Bendixen, 2019. "The state of marketing analytics in research and practice," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(3), pages 152-181, September.
    12. Herhausen, Dennis & Bernritter, Stefan F. & Ngai, Eric W.T. & Kumar, Ajay & Delen, Dursun, 2024. "Machine learning in marketing: Recent progress and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    13. Erik Hermann, 2022. "Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Marketing for Social Good—An Ethical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 43-61, August.
    14. Pyper, Keith & Marie Doherty, Anne & Gounaris, Spiros & Wilson, Alan, 2022. "A contingency-based approach to the nexus between international strategic brand management and export performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 472-488.
    15. Huang, Ming-Hui & Rust, Roland T., 2022. "A Framework for Collaborative Artificial Intelligence in Marketing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 209-223.
    16. Darima Fotheringham & Michael A. Wiles, 2023. "The effect of implementing chatbot customer service on stock returns: an event study analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 802-822, July.
    17. Leah Warfield Smith & Randall Lee Rose & Alex R. Zablah & Heath McCullough & Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, 2023. "Examining post-purchase consumer responses to product automation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 530-550, May.
    18. Brewis, Claire & Dibb, Sally & Meadows, Maureen, 2023. "Leveraging big data for strategic marketing: A dynamic capabilities model for incumbent firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    19. Ancillai, Chiara & Sabatini, Andrea & Gatti, Marco & Perna, Andrea, 2023. "Digital technology and business model innovation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    20. Piepponen, Amanda & Ritala, Paavo & Keränen, Joona & Maijanen, Päivi, 2022. "Digital transformation of the value proposition: A single case study in the media industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 311-325.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:41:y:2024:i:4:p:703-723. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-research-in-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.