This study aims to understand why established salespeople lack success in selling digital innovations and to identify whether uncovered phenomena are expandable beyond the digital innovation context and if distinct measures can be developed in that regard. Finally, this research intends to offer managerial levers and insights to academia on how to alleviate potential issues in terms of selling digital innovations.
To this end, the study begins with a literature review on the research fields of digital innovation and innovation selling. Examining key results of extant research in these fields reveals the foundational research void of a large disconnect between these two streams. In addition, the second part of the literature review explains this study’s key construct and its origin from a general conceptual standpoint. Three empirical studies are subsequently conducted.
First, Zeithaml et al.’s (2020) theory developing theories-in-use (TIU) approach is employed for an initial exploratory study. Drawing on 59 interviews with experts from two international manufacturers, this study identifies a mechanism that extant literature has not explored. That is, established industrial salespeople often refrain from digital innovation selling because they are afraid to lose their face when interacting with customers.
Second, drawing on 10 in-depth interviews with salespeople and managers from another global manufacturer, the subsequent empirical study provides an in-depth understanding of salespeople’s fear of losing face and its development process. The study indicates that the mechanism of fear of losing face is not only limited to the context of digital innovations but also appears in the broader context of innovation selling.
Third, an additional study examines whether salespeople’s fear of losing face can be distinctly measured and if the conceptual propositions are confirmable on quantitative bases. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with data from 204 participants, the findings indicate that fear of losing face can be measured with strong construct validity by a scale of 10 items. In addition, the results of a structural equation modeling analysis offer nomological validity conveying that the conceptual propositions regarding the emergence of salespeople’s fear of losing face are mainly confirmed.
Based on these empirical studies, this study offers several contributions to academia. Additionally, the study provides concrete guidance for manufacturers that are troubled by digital innovation selling and innovation selling in general. Finally, the present study offers several impulses for further research and possesses certain limitations.
