How Managers Perceive the Impacts of Information Technologies on Contemporary Marketing Practices

Information technologies (ITs) are increasingly seen by proponents as ways to not just improve current marketing practices, but to enhance or even transform them, thereby creating new avenues for relationship building. However, research in this area tends to show a cautious approach to the adoption of new ITs, such as IT-enabled interactivity, where the emphasis is on ITs that reinforce the current marketing situation and practices. This paper describes an empirical study into the combined cognitive-affective perceptions of mid-level managers toward the roles that IT-enabled interactivity, in particular, have on their organizational and marketing practices, including relationship building. The findings have important managerial and theoretical implications for developments in internal and external relationship marketing, and change management.