Drivers of salespeople’s AI acceptance: what do managers think?

This research is among the first to examine salespeople’s acceptance of AI (artificial intelligence) and we investigate the drivers of their AI acceptance from the perspective of the managers. In this study, we propose and empirically demonstrate that perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, perceived management support, and digitalization are positively related to salespeople’s acceptance of AI. Moreover, we show that digitalization mediates the relationship between salespeople’s prospecting/adaptive selling capabilities and their AI acceptance. The results suggest that in order to incentivize AI acceptance, managers need to build adequate digital infrastructure, cultivate organizational support to encourage AI adoption and usage, provide professional training to educate salespeople on the proper usage of AI, and reduce salespeople’s perceived risk of AI usage. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed subsequently.