Keegan, Brendan and Canhoto, Ana Isabel and Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan
(2022)
Power negotiation on the tango dancefloor: The adoption of AI in B2B marketing.
Industrial Marketing Management, 100.
pp. 36-48.
ISSN 0019-8501
Abstract
Acknowledging the lack of empirical research on the adoption of AI in B2B marketing and the research gap in
studying power from a network perspective, this paper explores how the drivers of AI adoption as marketing
solutions affect network actors’ power dynamics. Using data collected through 20 semi-structured interviews
with business managers and engineers involved in AI adoption for B2B marketing activities, as well as academic
experts in the field of AI, this paper discusses how AI adoption priorities and motives shape the power dynamics
amongst the various network actors, including focal firms, AI suppliers and tech giant companies. The findings
show that, in the context of AI adoption in B2B, both technology and expertise are key sources of power, and that
data creates and perpetuates power negotiations and renegotiations in the network. We envisage this process as
the movements on a busy dancefloor where groups of actors are engaged in what we refer to as the Power Tango.
This paper contributes to the power dependence theory by showing that, through the adoption process, network
actors’ power is exchanged, exercised, counter-balanced and perpetuated, creating fluid network dynamics.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Artificial intelligence
Third-party suppliers
Power
Service network
Power dependence
Network dynamics |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business |
| Item ID: |
18069 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.11.001 |
| Depositing User: |
Brendan Keegan
|
| Date Deposited: |
24 Jan 2024 16:22 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Industrial Marketing Management |
| Publisher: |
Elsevier |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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