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Integrating marketing and information services functions: a complementarity and competence perspective

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Abstract

Integrating two disparate functions in organizations—marketing and information services (IS)—has become a critical business concern due to the increasing use of information technology (IT) to find and open new markets, deliver improved services to customers, and streamline internal marketing processes. This study appears to be the first to empirically examine the dynamics of bringing these distinct groups of specialists together. We investigate potential antecedents, consequences, and contingencies of IS-marketing integration, drawing on theories of complementarity and competence. Through a survey of IS and marketing executives, we learn that integration is facilitated by trust between the two functions and the interaction between IT strategic intent and customer orientation; it is impeded by a gap in top management knowledge of IT versus marketing. We also find that integration fosters the much-coveted capabilities of developing and introducing innovations (innovativeness) as well as responding flexibly, swiftly, and adroitly to opportunities (strategic responsiveness). Additionally, we determine integration is bounded by market dynamism. In sum, integration between marketing and IS can be enhanced via managerial efforts, and the relationship is profoundly beneficial to businesses.

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Notes

  1. In the methods section, we theorize and test additional interaction effects as rival models, including customer orientation as a potential moderator of functional integration onto innovativeness and strategic responsiveness.

  2. In the methods section, we theorize and test additional interaction effects as rival models, including market dynamism as a potential moderator of IT strategic intent, trust, and top management knowledge gap onto functional integration.

  3. As noted earlier, Marketing-IS Trust has three formative first-order indicators, each having reflective measures.

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Acknowledgment

The Center for Research on Information Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago is gratefully acknowledged for a grant to conduct this research awarded to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 S. Morgan, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Cheryl Nakata

  2. Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, 8 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA, 02108, USA

    Zhen Zhu

  3. College of Business, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Fairlane Center South, 19000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn, MI, 48126, USA

    Elif Izberk-Bilgin

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  1. Cheryl Nakata
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Correspondence to Cheryl Nakata.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Table 4 Measurements and Item Loadings (N = 100)
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Nakata, C., Zhu, Z. & Izberk-Bilgin, E. Integrating marketing and information services functions: a complementarity and competence perspective. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 39, 700–716 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0236-z

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