Call for Papers (Special Section) Theme:

When Information Technology Meets Marketing: Value-creation Along The Customer Journey

Short Title SI: Technology Meets Marketing

Definitive information on this call can be found here.

Information technology advancements continue to fuel much excitement among marketers. There are many value creation opportunities from changes in both the technology and consumer behaviour landscapes, and they are arising and evolving rapidly. However, as new technology (e.g., artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things-based applications, cryptocurrencies) complements and replaces established technology (e.g., online retailers, websites, digital advertising tactics) excitement often turns into confusion. Confusion often stems—for even the most seasoned managers—out of a sense of uncertainty and imbalance about the question of when to adopt what information technology to maximize value creation opportunities along the customer journey (Gartner Research 2019). The explosion in potential customer touch points along the customer journey and the reduced control over the customer experience create a need to develop a stronger understanding of information technology changes, and to wholly embrace technological transformation across the business, to create and deliver customer value (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). In this hyper-connected business landscape, companies need to move away from traditional methods of value creation and embrace a more customer-centric and solution-oriented approach (Johannessen & Olsen, 2010). Importantly, an interplay of technological, human and relational aspects underpins this value creation process (Bo?ic & Dimovski, 2019). Such a rapidly changing business landscape coupled with the accelerated development of new technologies is altering the very nature of interactions between consumers, technologies and companies (Larivière et al., 2017). These changes have created a need for more research that fosters an understanding of customer needs across touchpoints with the firm. Similar research efforts have significant potential implications for increased customer retention, higher levels of customer engagement and higher firm profitability (Gursoy et al., 2019; Voorhees et al., 2017).

Against this backdrop, this IJIM Special Issue calls for papers that help make sense of an evolving marketplace and unlock value-creating opportunities along the customer journey.

Papers considered for the Special Issue should focus on topics and questions including, but not limited to, the following:

• What (novel) theory and conceptual models can help managers adopt mindsets and practices that embrace perpetual technology-driven change to enhance customer value across different customer touch points?
• What theoretical models can aid organizations in deciding what technology to adopt and what to ignore along the customer journey, and to what extent are these decisions in customers’, rather than firms’, hands?
• What technological capabilities best serve the creation of frictionless, simple (and often personalized) customer journeys, and what role do different contingencies play?
• When does technology create (rather than combat) operational complexity, and how do these relationships affect value creation along the customer journey?
• What factors determine when recent technological innovations (e.g., automation, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency) complement or replace existing digital as well traditional marketing strategies along the customer journey?
• In what ways can organizations render an increasingly technology-driven customer journey more linear or predictable?
• How can organizations best capture, and react to, (real-time) market insight at pivotal moments in the customer experience journey?
• With the proliferation of customer data along their journey from pre- to post-purchase, how can data create value and how should companies measure data’s value?
• When does value creation starts giving way to value destruction?
• How do different technology-based platforms interact synergistically (or in a value-destroying manner) with one another along the customer journey?
• What are the intended (vs. unintended) consequences of adopting technology across customer touchpoints?
• What ethical dilemmas does technology-facilitated value creation along the customer journey pose, and how can these be overcome?
• How can marketers’ best use technology across the customer journey that is beneficial to stakeholder groups beyond firms and customers, including our society and environments.

We welcome conceptual, methodological, qualitative or quantitative contributions grounded in a range of perspectives that offer insights into the central thesis of this special issue. We also welcome systematic literature reviews on topics relevant to the special issue.

Important Dates:

• Online submission open date: December 30th, 2019
• Initial paper submission deadline: January 31st, 2020
• First round authors notification: March 30th, 2020
• Invited revisions deadline: June 15th, 2020
• Second round authors notification: August 15th, 2020
• Final revision deadline: October 30th, 2020
• Final authors’ notification: November 30th, 2020
• Projected publication: January 2021

Submission Guidelines

All submissions have to be prepared according to the Guide for Authors as published in the Journal website at:

https://www.elsevier.com/journals/international-journal-of-information-management/0268-4012/guide-for-authors

Authors should select “Technology Meets Marketing”, from the “Choose Article Type”pull- down menu during the submission process. All contributions must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Link for submission of manuscript is https://www.evise.com/evise/jrnl/IJIM

A submission based on one or more papers that appeared elsewhere has to comprise major value-added extensions over what appeared previously (at least 50% new material). Authors are requested to attach to the submitted paper their relevant, previously published articles and a summary document explaining the enhancements made in the journal version.

All submitted papers will undergo a rigorous peer-review process that will consider programmatic relevance, scientific quality, significance, originality, style and clarity.

Guest Editors

Dr Sanjit K Roy, Department of Marketing, UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, Australia, email: sanjit.roy@uwa.edu.au

Dr Richard L. Gruner, Department of Marketing, UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, Australia, email: richard.gruner@uwa.edu.au

Dr Eleonora Pantano, Department of Management, University of Bristol, UK, email: e.pantano@bristol.ac.uk

References

Bo?ic, K. & Dimovski, V. (2019). Business intelligence and analytics for value creation: The role of absorptive capacity. International Journal of Information Management, 46, 93-103.

Gartner Research (2019). Hidden Forces That Will Shape Marketing in 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2019, from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/4-hidden-forces-that-will-shape-marketing-in-2019/

Gursoy, D., Chi, H. O., Lu, L., and Nunkoo, R., (2019). Consumers acceptance of artificially intelligent (AI) device use in service delivery, International Journal of Information Management, 49 (December), 157-169.

Johannessen, J. A. & Olsen, B. (2010). The future of value creation and innovations: Aspects of a theory of value creation and innovation in a global knowledge economy. International Journal of Information Management, 30(6), 502-511.

Lemon, K. N. & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96.

Voorhees, C. M., Fombelle, P. W., Gregoire, Y., Bone, S., Gustafsson, A., Sousa, R. & Walkowiak, T. (2017). Service encounters, experiences and the customer journey: Defining the field and a call to expand our lens. Journal of Business Research, 79, 269-280.

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