Abstract

In a hyperconnected world, direct customer engagement is becoming a significant competitive advantage. Technologies like database marketing, social media, personalization, and artificial intelligence are widely available to create and support direct relationships with customers at scale; yet, as evidenced by the unabated rise in marketing and paid media costs, firms continue to use third parties to engage their audiences. At the same time, organizational purpose has been shown to drive firm value, but majority of research has focused on internal dynamics of purpose rather than its effect on external stakeholders and customers in particular. Very little has been empirically studied about how the perception of organizational purpose can provide a competitive advantage to organizations through an enhanced ability to build a direct, continuous relationships with their customers and customer trust. In this research, I explore the relationship between perceived organizational purpose and customer engagement, as well as willingness to provide personal data and engage with artificial intelligence. I delve into the role of a customer’s trust and the personal relevance of the perceived organizational purpose and hypothesize a model linking all these variables. Then, with three quantitative online survey-based studies, I test each hypothesis. The findings suggest that organizational purpose, and the perception of that purpose, can be leveraged to enhance direct customer engagement, customer trust, the ability to gather personal data and engage customers using artificial intelligence. This should encourage both scholars and practitioners to leverage a natural symbiosis between an organization, its purpose, and the customers it serves.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Consumers; Consumer behavior; Artificial intelligence

Date of Award

2024

School Affiliation

Graziadio Business School

Department/Program

Business

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate

Faculty Advisor

Cristel A. Russell

Download

Included in

Business Commons

Share

COinS