Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2020) 48:132–136
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00712-3
COMMENTARY
Technology-enabled interactions in digital environments:
a conceptual foundation for current and future research
Manjit S. Yadav 1 & Paul A. Pavlou 2
Published online: 17 December 2019
# Academy of Marketing Science 2019
The expansive scope of articles featured in this Special
Issue on “The Future of Technology in Marketing” is
impressive. The range of topics examined illustrates, in
a very compelling manner, how technology is reshaping
wide swaths of markets in digital environments—and
the rapidly evolving role of marketing in these markets.
These changes raise a number of new challenging ques-
tions, but also represent a significant opportunity for
scholars in marketing and information sciences. In this
commentary we share our perspective on topics
discussed in this Special Issue and also share ideas for
advancing current and future research in this area.
Our research interest in digital technologies came into
sharp focus many years ago at a 2001 conference held in
Boca Raton, Florida, that was jointly sponsored by the
Marketing Science Institute and the Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science. The theme of the conference focused on
the then-emerging topic of Internet’s impact on marketing.
Our serendipitous meeting at this conference spurred a long-
term research collaboration that eventually led to the develop-
ment of Yadav and Pavlou (2014) in the Journal of Marketing.
In this paper, our overarching goal was to advance a frame-
work that would serve two important purposes: (1) facilitate
an integrative organization of research in marketing; and (2)
provide guideposts for envisioning future research trajectories
(both in marketing and IS).
* Manjit S. Yadav
yadav@tamu.edu
Paul A. Pavlou
pavlou@bauer.uh.edu
1
Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX 77843-4112, USA
2
C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston,
Houston, TX 77019, USA
At the heart of the proposed framework in Yadav and
Pavlou (2014) is technology—construed broadly as com-
prised of internet technologies, devices, and infrastructure re-
lated to computer-mediated environments. Although we made
technology a central feature of our framework, we noted that it
was not technology per se that served as the conceptual un-
derpinnings of changes occurring in the digital marketplace.
What was really driving changes in the marketplace was not
just technology, but how technology-enabled interactions be-
tween the key marketplace entities—consumers and firms—
were being transformed by technology. We conceptualized
interactions to include, not only communication between mar-
ketplace entities, but also exchange-related activities.
Specifically, as proposed in that paper, four distinct interac-
tions drive transformation in digital marketplaces: (1)
consumer-firm interactions; (2) firm-consumer interactions;
(3) consumer-consumer interactions; and (4) firm-firm inter-
actions. These four interactions serve as anchors of the con-
ceptual analysis that we presented in our paper. As discussed
in the next section, we found these interactions to be embed-
ded deeply in the overall narrative of the Special Issue articles.
Technology-enabled interactions reflected
in the special issue articles
Table 1 provides an overview of how four specific types of
technology-enabled interactions are reflected in the seven arti-
cles included in this Special Issue of JAMS. Although our nar-
rative connects with key ideas and issues noted in all articles,
we provide a more extended discussion of selected articles
where our focal four interactions are reflected more directly.
Changing interactions in healthcare
The article by Agarwal, Dugas, Gao, and Kannan highlights
the complexity of the healthcare sector by describing how
various entities (e.g., employers, pharmacists, insurers,
Table 1 Technology–enabled interactions: Thematic coverage in the special issue

Articles in the Special Issue Technology-Enabled Interactions

(Yadav and Pavlou 2014)

Consumer-Firm Interactions Firm-Consumer- Interactions Consumer-Consumer Interactions Firm-Firm Interactions

Agarwal, Dugas, Gao, and Kannan Consumers will communicate their health Firms will provide personalized healthcare Virtual support groups focusing on Digital coordination between various
Substantive focus: Healthcare preferences with greater specificity, a key services that match consumers’ healthcare needs can lead to process entities in the healthcare ecosystem
factor in implementing value-centered preferences with significantly increased enhancements in the delivery of (e.g., hospitals, insurers, pharmacists,
marketing. precision. healthcare services. etc.) can improve the outcomes of
value-centered marketing.
Davenport, Guha, Grewal, Consumers will interact with embodied and New ways will emerge for firms to AI-assisted analysis of large-scale textual There are opportunities for automated
and Bressgott communicate with consumers and data in social media platforms can yield
J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2020) 48:132–136

disembodied “data robots” in shopping collection of information by “data

Substantive focus: Artificial environments.
Intelligence
Thomaz, Salge, Karahanna, Consumers will frequently interact with
and Hulland “conversational agents” (CA) that are de-
Substantive focus: Conversational signed to perform a number of functions,
Agents including the collection of information
that allows firms to create accurate profiles
of consumers.
Tong, Luo, and Xu Consumers’ usage of mobile devices and
Substantive focus: Mobile services is determined by motivational,
Marketing attitudinal, social, and resource-related in-
fluences. Technological and content fea-
tures are also influential.
Grewal, Noble, Roggeveen, The next generation of in-store technologies In-store technologies will allow retailers to New technologies for leveraging social
and Nordfält will facilitate new ways for consumers to
Substantive focus: In-store communicate and transact with retailers.
Technology
Appel, Grewal, Hadi, and Stephen Consumers’ interactions with firms may shift Firms will provide integrated customer
Substantive focus: Social Media significantly due to rising privacy
concerns.
Kopalle, Kumar, and Subramaniam During the consumption experience,
Substantive focus: Digital consumers generate a significant amount
Customer orientation of in-use information that can be dissemi-
nated to firms in real time.
provide personalized services
In an era of increasing privacy,
information collected by CAs is likely
to become a source of competitive
advantage. Thus, designing effective
CAs is likely to emerge as an important
organizational capability.
Firms can leverage tracking capabilities of Social media usage on mobile devices can Mobile services offered on a platform
mobile devices to implement highly
personalized marketing mix strategies
that can enhance performance
outcomes related to consumers’
omnichannel behaviors.
make real-time changes in the product-
and pricing-related information that
consumers see while shopping.
care across multiple devices by
harnessing extensive data on
consumers.
Firms can leverage in-use information to Real-time information generated during
develop real-time insights to serve
consumers more effectively—both in
the context of a current transaction, but
also over the long term.
valuable new insights.
As CAs are designed for automated
communication, they are likely to be
deployed in social media contexts
where consumers congregate.
provide valuable insights at each phase
of consumers’ decision journey—from
initial product consideration to post--
purchase.
media in the store environment will
facilitate and enhance consumers’
shopping activities.
Information available in social media
platforms can be harnessed for
combating loneliness and isolation.
the consumption experience—both ob-
jective and subjective—can be shared
with other consumers.
robots” in physical environments,
followed by dissemination (if needed)
between firms.
In business-to-business digital contexts,
specialized CAs may emerge to facili-
tate coordination and share relevant in-
formation.
provide opportunities for firms to
interact with one another and develop
personalized offers to enhance
consumers’ experience.
Information that a retailer collects in its
stores can be shared with selected
upstream partner firms to further
enhance consumers’ shopping
experience.
Social media insights can be used to
enhance coordination in the value
chain.
In the digitally-enabled “production” and
“consumption” ecosystems, firms can
connect with one another to improve
coordination and to create new platform
services.

The table presents an overview of illustrative issues discussed, or implied by, articles included in the Special Issue. The issues were selected to discuss technology-enabled consumer-firm, firm-consumer,
consumer-consumer, and firm-firm interactions (see Yadav and Pavlou 2014)
133
134
primary care providers, regulators, consumers, etc.) are inex-
tricably linked with one another in the complex healthcare
ecosystem. Using this ecosystem as a backdrop, Table 1
shows four technology-enabled interactions among these en-
tities that are noted in the article.
Consumers can interact with firms (e.g., primary care pro-
viders or pharmacists) using various technologies, such as
desktop portals and specialized apps on mobile devices.
These interactions can focus on a range of activities, starting
with the specification of individual preferences. By effectively
capturing and understanding heterogeneity at the individual
patient level, healthcare providers can use technology-
enabled interactions to deliver healthcare services with in-
creased precision. Consumer-consumer interactions (among
patients) in social media environments can be harnessed in a
variety of ways (e.g., understanding emerging epidemiologi-
cal trends). In the realm of firm-firm interactions, technolog-
ical facilitation of such interactions can go a long way in
managing the substantial complexity that exists in the
healthcare ecosystem. Overall, technology-enabled interac-
tions can significantly impact all three elements of value-
centered marketing of healthcare: preference, precision, and
process.
Changing interactions in AI-enabled environments
Current and future developments related to artificial intelli-
gence (AI), according to Davenport, Guha, Grewal, and
Bressgott, will significantly reshape the contours of marketing
(see also Thomaz, Salge, Karahanna, and Hulland for a dis-
cussion of AI applications pertaining specifically to “conver-
sational agents”). Davenport et al. contend that over time, AI
technologies will evolve from their traditional focus on ana-
lyzing numerical data to analyzing textual and other contex-
tual data (e.g., online posts, images, and location information).
As a result of these enhanced capabilities, AI technologies—
whether in a disembodied form (e.g., software) or an embod-
ied form (e.g., robots)—will increasingly shape interactions
among consumers and firms in the marketplace. As firms ac-
quire enhanced AI capabilities, they will strive to develop new
ways to serve customers (e.g., sophisticated personalization
strategies). AI technologies also have many promising appli-
cations in the realm of consumer-consumer interactions. For
instance, AI technologies can be deployed for large-scale tex-
tual and/or image analyses. Such analyses can be useful for
monitoring social media environments so that corrective ac-
tion, if needed, can be taken in a proactive manner (see, e.g.,
Facebook’s recent anti-bullying initiative that is powered by
AI technologies). Finally, Davenport et al.’s analysis suggests
that AI technologies are likely to impact numerous firm-firm
interactions. AI-powered software may automate many rou-
tine firm-firm interactions (e.g., reordering of regularly-used
supplies). Also, as the presence of embodied AI systems
J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2020) 48:132–136
become more ubiquitous in physical commercial settings
(e.g., security robots such as K5 from Knightscope), there will
be many more opportunities for firms to share information
with one another and take action (if needed) based on this
information.
Changing interactions in social media
Appel, Grewal, Hadi, and Stephen discuss the future trajectory
of current developments in the area of social media (see also
Tong, Luo, and Xu in this Special Issue for a discussion spe-
cific to social media applications on mobile devices). As
technology-enabled interactions between and among con-
sumers and firms continue to increase, a host of privacy con-
cerns have taken center stage in discussions pertaining to so-
cial media. In particular, as consumer-consumer interactions
fuel social media platforms, Appel et al.’s narrative devotes
substantial attention to how such interactions are likely to keep
evolving as a result of advances in new technologies. For
instance, in the article’s far-future scenarios, the authors spec-
ulate that technological advances (e.g., augmented reality, vir-
tual reality, and haptic feedback) will significantly increase the
sensory richness of social media. Finally, in the context of
firm-firm interactions, Appel et al. see an important role of
social media in spurring online/offline integration. As con-
sumers enter and exit digital (e.g., a firm’s online store) and
non-digital environments (e.g., a physical store), information
collected on social media platforms can serve as a connecting
thread to facilitate what Appel et al. refer to as “complete
convergence”—that is, a seamless integration of transaction-
related activities delivered by firms across traditional physical
and emerging digital environments.
Changing interactions in retailing
To envision the rapidly-evolving in-store technological land-
scape, Grewal, Noble, Roggeveen, and Nordfält present a
useful four-cell typology based on two underlying dimen-
sions: convenience (low/high) and social presence (low/
high). As we show in Table 1, in-store technologies can
impact all four types of interactions. In the case of
consumer-firm interactions, in-store kiosks allow customers
to complete many check-out activities themselves. Radical
new systems (e.g., Amazon’s Go stores) take this one step
further and completely automate the checkout process—
consumers simply select products and then walk out of the
store when done. In-store technologies are also providing
firms an array of enhanced capabilities to interact with con-
sumers in new ways. These capabilities can take a variety of
forms that allow firms to be more efficient (e.g., digital price
tags) or to interact with customers in a personalized, more
engaging manner (e.g., Clas Ohlson’s “click-and-flick”
Smart Windows). Although the analysis presented by
J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2020) 48:132–136
Grewal et al. is focused primarily on the end-consumer ex-
perience, one can also envision scenarios in which informa-
tion collected by in-store technologies can be shared (as
needed) with other upstream business partners in the value
chain. For instance, in a grocery store, shopping patterns and
interactions gathered by in-store technologies may have con-
siderable strategic and/or tactical value for consumer pack-
aged goods (CPG) firms.
Changing interactions in digital ecosystems
The article by Kopalle, Kumar, and Subramaniam takes a
broad look at digital ecosystems with a focus on the concept
of “digital customer orientation”. A hallmark of this concept is
the emphasis placed on the collection of real-time collection of
information during the consumption process and then using
this information to optimize value delivery to customers. The
real-time collection of information is facilitated by the digital
ecosystem in which value delivery occurs. A close examina-
tion of Kopalle et al.’s discussion of in-use information—how
it is collected and used—reveals the four technology-enabled
interactions that operate in digital ecosystems (see Table 1).
The generation of in-use information is predicated, at least to
some extent, on technology-enabled consumer-firm interac-
tions. For instance, in the case on an Uber ride in progress,
some information (e.g., starting time and place of an itinerary)
can be collected automatically. However, the collection of
other types of information (e.g., a customer’s subjective per-
ception of how a ride is progressing) depends on a customer’s
willingness to share such information. In a digital ecosystem,
the collection of in-use information allows firms to develop
real-time insights about a specific transaction in process and
then leverage these insights to enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the value delivery process. This can be ac-
complished by modifying the content and structure of firm-
consumer interactions—both in the context of a specific trans-
action and other transactions that may follow. Kopalle et al.’s
also discuss a number of new initiatives in which such real-
time sharing can facilitate interactions between firms and cre-
ate innovative opportunities for the proactive management of
key processes.
In summary, the discussion presented in this section under-
scores a key point that we wish to make in this commentary—
that the four technology-enabled interactions developed in
Yadav and Pavlou (2014) continue to serve as useful concep-
tual anchors across a broad spectrum of substantive contexts
discussed in this Special Issue. In each of these contexts (see
Table 1), we find that consumer-firm interactions, firm-
consumer interactions, consumer-consumer interactions, and
firm-firm interactions are changing rapidly. Understanding the
nature of these changes provides a useful conceptual founda-
tion to guide future research efforts.
135
Looking ahead: Towards a new generation
of technology-technology interactions
Moving beyond technology-enabled interactions between
consumers and firms, what type of new interactions are likely
to emerge? What will be the nature of these interactions, and
how will they impact consumers and firms? A few articles in
this Special Issue have hinted at the emergence of technology-
technology interactions (e.g., Kopalle et al.’s discussion of
potentially automated information sharing in production eco-
systems and Appel et al.’s discussion of how ordinary house-
hold devices may communicate with other connected de-
vices). However, the primary focus of most articles is not on
such interactions. As discussed earlier (see overview in
Table 1), the narratives mostly involve interactions between
consumers and firms. To facilitate future research, we would
like to conclude our commentary by sharing some thoughts on
the emergence of direct technology-technology interactions
(versus technology merely mediating interactions among
consumers and firms, as discussed in Yadav and Pavlou
2014). Looking ahead, we believe that although consumers
and firms will continue to rely on technology-enabled interac-
tions, we will increasingly see a shift toward more direct
technology-technology interactions.
Recent developments related to the Internet of Things (IoT)
provide initial clues about the nature, scope, and likely impact
of technology-technology interactions in the marketplace
(Pavlou 2018). Technological advancements in sensors and
networking technologies have led to a significant growth in
IoT devices. Direct interactions among IoT devices are based
on AI technologies fuelled by machine learning, computer
vision, natural language processing, and advanced analytics.
These advances have led to the development of autonomous
IoT systems, such as smart homes, smart cities, interconnected
cars, and the smart energy grid.
The potential of IoT stems from autonomous AI systems,
powered by advanced analytics of data collected from inter-
connected IoT devices. Indeed, the potential of IoT is based on
the ability to collect, aggregate, and analyze large-scale data
created by IoT devices communicating with each other.
By leveraging such data, IoT applications can commu-
nicate and perform effectively using the power of AI,
without human intervention. Indeed, commercial IoT
platforms (e.g., Amazon AWS, IBM Watson, and Microsoft
Azure) are evolving fast, and these systems are constantly
expanding their scope and reach by adding new AI
technologies. For example, a prominent IoT platform is
IBM Watson, which offers “cognitive computing” as a
form of AI-based automated human interface tool for
language, speech, vision, and decision-making. Overall,
IoT powered by AI provides a novel approach to direct
technology-technology interactions with minimal human-
centric design or human input.
136
The direct technology-technology interactions, fueled by
powerful AI technologies, are distinct from the four interac-
tions between consumers and firms that serve as conceptual
anchors in Yadav and Pavlou (2014). However, technology-
technology interactions are complementary with this broader
set of four interactions. The rationale for this complementarity
is that technology-technology interactions are shaped, at least
in terms of initial design, by consumers and firms who seek to
automate (human) interactions with AI tools. Accordingly, the
technology-technology interactions can be viewed as the next-
generation automation—to varying degrees—of all types of
existing dyadic interactions.
In the not-so-distant future, depending on progress in the
evolution of AI technologies, direct technology-technology in-
teractions may substitute for (or even replace) interactions that
now occur among consumers and firms. The next immediate
step in this evolutionary path is likely to be the augmentation of
human intelligence (as reflected in the respective interactions
among consumers and firms) with AI technologies. This ap-
proach has been termed “augmented intelligence” as it involves
the augmentation of human intelligence by AI to take advan-
tage of the best of both worlds (Jain et al. 2018; see also Pavlou
2018). In our context, augmented intelligence can be viewed as
a means to enrich existing consumer and firm interactions with
technology mediating or even replacing consumer and firm
interactions. We believe that augmented intelligence can be a
valuable complement to both traditional consumer and firm
interactions and also direct technology-technology interactions.
In terms of opportunities for future research that arise from
expanding the direct technology-technology interactions to
complement and augment existing firm-consumer interac-
tions, some key research questions involve: In which task
contexts will direct technology-technology interactions likely
replace human-driven interactions (among firms and con-
sumers)? In which task contexts is this type of replacement
likely to remain partial? Why? In addition to such task char-
acteristics, what is the role of individual characteristics in
explaining such contingencies? Over the long term, as direct
technology-technology interactions replace traditional human
interactions, what is the impact on relationships between hu-
man communicating entities?
As AI and IoT may increasingly facilitate many technology-
technology interactions without human intervention, legitimate
concerns could arise as to whether technology-technology in-
teractions can be trusted to fully circumvent human interactions
(and intent). Consumers and firms face multiple potential risks
from technology dominating or even taking over their interac-
tions, such as mechanistic decision-making and loss of human
control. Therefore, firms and consumers need to consider care-
fully when AI and IoT applications can be deployed most ef-
fectively to automate existing interactions.
J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2020) 48:132–136
Many consumers and firms may embrace an expanded set
of automated technology-technology interactions, but they
must make such decisions based on the expected quality of
interaction, cost, and risk stemming from autonomous inter-
actions that operate without human oversight. Even in highly
automated environments, human-oriented interactions (e.g., a
salespeople interacting with consumers during a store visit)
could play a valuable role. For instance, beacon technology
and eye-tracking devices can optimize the placement of mer-
chandise and facilitate the automatic replenishment of prod-
ucts in a retail store, but salespeople could leverage personal-
ized information from IoT devices to sell products and serve
customers in a distinctive personal manner. A key challenge
for technology designers is to configure technology-
technology interactions and interfaces to make the resulting
interactions more efficient and effective to enable appropriate
human control. Consumers and firms should strive to effec-
tively integrate the cognitive and emotional abilities of
humans with AI’s computational power to design interactions
that enable human-computer symbiosis.
In the future, the reach of technology-technology interac-
tions in digital environments may expand significantly.
However, both in the interim period and in the future, there
will always be contexts where technology, consumers, and
firms work jointly in accomplishing various tasks. Moving
forward, all marketplace entities will have to adapt to the
societal, legal, economic, policy, and ethical implications of
increasingly automated firm-consumer interactions driven by
technology. In this period of transition, characterized by range
of emerging phenomena (see Yadav 2018), designers of
technology-technology interactions should maintain an appro-
priate level of human control and oversight and afford con-
sumers and firms the opportunity to get acquainted with del-
egating control to technology in their interactions.
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