ABSTRACTTHE ROLE OF EMERGENT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES INMARKETING RESEARCH AND STRATEGYEmergent digital technologies (EDTs), such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and robotic and mechanical automation, are of increasing strategic value to practitioners and marketing academics. Collectively, these technologies are expected to contribute more than $17 trillion to global GDP by 2030, up 760% from 2019 (PwC 2019a; PwC 2019b). This rapid growth presents significant challenges for marketing researchers and practitioners. Specifically, despite the movement towards EDT-oriented topics, marketing scholars assert that academic research has been outpaced by industry in the understanding and implementation of EDT. Additionally, firms face critical challenges such as when and how to integrate EDTs into their product offerings to provide a competitive advantage. Consequently, my two-essay dissertation seeks to: (1) fill a gap in EDT understanding by offering a macro-level perspective of EDT-oriented research in marketing and related business disciplines to advance marketing research (Essay One) and (2) fill a gap in brand-level understanding of EDTs by empirically examining theoretically driven factors that influence a firm's marketing performance (Essay Two). In Essay One, I employ multidimensional scaling (MDS) to examine the intellectual structure of EDT research in marketing (and, for comparison, across six related business disciplines) by evaluating 280,961 citations drawn from 6,099 articles in a sample of 221 journals. To advance EDT-oriented research within marketing, I develop a cross-disciplinary and integrative research framework supported by three distinct theoretical perspectives: the resource-based view (RBV), the technology acceptance model (TAM), and the theory of reasoned action (TRA). In Essay Two, I draw upon the three theories (i.e., RBV, TAM, and TRA) in conjunction with the economic theory of additive utility to develop a theoretical framework to examine the marketing performance of a firm's digital technology capabilities. Specifically, I address two research questions in Essay Two: 1) To what extent should a firm establish its digital technology capability? 2) Under what conditions does a firm's digital technology capability lead to a competitive advantage? I compiled a unique and knowledge-rich panel data set comprising 20 automotive brands, 304 vehicle models, and 8,692 observations from 2010 - 2019. The data set integrates variables from nine separate data sources. Broadly, the results show a nuanced picture, which suggests that while digital technology capabilities lead to short-term gains (e.g., brand sales), the long-term effect (e.g., customer satisfaction) may be detrimental for extremely advanced firms. Essay Two captures the full details of these digital technology results and provides actionable, practical implications.
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