Understanding AI-enabled transformations in sales processes: A socio-technical perspective on the generative mechanisms underlying tensions

IF 7.3 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Industrial Marketing Management Pub Date : 2026-08-01 Epub Date: 2026-07-28 DOI:10.1016/j.indmarman.2026.07.008

Nirosha Nilmini Sathiskumar, Poul Houman Andersen, Deva Rangarajan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into business-to-business (B2B) sales processes reshapes sales tasks and the governance of sales work. While existing sales research provides a thorough understanding of task-level outcomes and the performance benefits of AI in sales, less is known about the broader organizational dynamics of AI-enabled transformations in sales processes. Drawing on socio-technical systems (STS) theory, this study presents a process-oriented understanding of AI-enabled transformations in sales by examining how AI reshapes sales task execution and managerial governance within B2B sales processes.

Based on 31 expert interviews with B2B sales practitioners and sales academics, we identify six interrelated socio-technical tensions that unfold across the pre-sales, sales, and post-sales phases of the sales process. Moving beyond a descriptive categorization of tensions, we theorize six socio-technical mechanisms: data institutionalization, recursive sensemaking, standardization of customer interactions, sensemaking asymmetries, role reclassification, and legitimation of expertise that explain how these tensions emerge and reshape sales tasks and governance.

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理解销售过程中人工智能的转变：从社会技术角度看紧张关系背后的生成机制

将人工智能（AI）集成到企业对企业（B2B）销售流程中，重塑了销售任务和销售工作的治理。虽然现有的销售研究提供了对任务级结果和人工智能在销售中的绩效优势的透彻理解，但对人工智能在销售流程中实现转型的更广泛的组织动态知之甚少。利用社会技术系统（STS）理论，本研究通过研究人工智能如何重塑B2B销售流程中的销售任务执行和管理治理，提出了对人工智能在销售中的转型的过程导向理解。基于对31位B2B销售从业者和销售学者的专家访谈，我们确定了六个相互关联的社会技术紧张关系，这些紧张关系在销售过程的售前、销售和售后阶段展开。超越对紧张关系的描述性分类，我们将六种社会技术机制理论化：数据制度化、递归语义构建、客户交互标准化、语义构建不对称、角色重新分类以及解释这些紧张关系如何出现并重塑销售任务和治理的专业知识合法化。

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来源期刊

Industrial Marketing Management Multiple-

CiteScore

17.30

自引率

20.40%

发文量

255

期刊介绍： Industrial Marketing Management delivers theoretical, empirical, and case-based research tailored to the requirements of marketing scholars and practitioners engaged in industrial and business-to-business markets. With an editorial review board comprising prominent international scholars and practitioners, the journal ensures a harmonious blend of theory and practical applications in all articles. Scholars from North America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, and various global regions contribute the latest findings to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of industrial markets. This holistic approach keeps readers informed with the most timely data and contemporary insights essential for informed marketing decisions and strategies in global industrial and business-to-business markets.