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Putting knowledge to work: the combined role of marketing and sales employees’ knowledge and motivation to produce superior customer experiences

Carmela Peñalba-Aguirrezabalaga (Deusto Business School, University of Deusto, San Sebastian, Spain and School of Business and Management, LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland)
Josune Sáenz (Deusto Business School, University of Deusto, San Sebastian, Spain)
Paavo Ritala (School of Business and Management, LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland)
Mika Vanhala (School of Business and Management, LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland)

Journal of Knowledge Management

ISSN: 1367-3270

Article publication date: 18 May 2021

Issue publication date: 7 December 2021

1222

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to adopt a contextual approach to the knowledge-performance linkage by deepening into the role of marketing and sales employees’ knowledge resources in the generation and delivery of superior customer experiences (CEs) and into the motivational antecedents of knowledge acquisition and development.

Design/methodology/approach

To gather information about the variables studied in this research, a survey was conducted among Spanish firms with at least 100 employees, resulting in a representative sample of 346 companies. Structural equation modeling based on partial least squares was then applied to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The results show that employees’ motivation (and especially intrinsic motivation) affects CE both directly and indirectly through its influence on marketing-specific human capital. More precisely, customer knowledge and different types of marketing-related skills (creativity, targeting, problem-solving, social media management and communication skills) are the only constituents of marketing-specific human capital that significantly affect relative CE performance (i.e. performance vis-à-vis competitors), while product/service and market knowledge do not play a relevant role.

Originality/value

The results contribute both to the knowledge management and intellectual capital literatures by highlighting the motivational levers of human capital in the context of the marketing and sales function and the specific types of employee knowledge resources that induce superior CEs. Consequently, marketing and sales managers are provided with useful guidance to shape their human resource management policies and to establish their knowledge priorities.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: This work was supported by the Hezkuntza Saila, Eusko Jaurlaritza – Department of Education, Basque Government [grant number PRE_2019_1_0292].

Citation

Peñalba-Aguirrezabalaga, C., Sáenz, J., Ritala, P. and Vanhala, M. (2021), "Putting knowledge to work: the combined role of marketing and sales employees’ knowledge and motivation to produce superior customer experiences", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 25 No. 10, pp. 2484-2505. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-09-2020-0727

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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