The Configurational Impact of Top Management Team Characteristics on Marketing Analytics Use in SME: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Top management team might make primary usage decisions related to marketing analytics. To date, extant research has mostly focused on investigating the impact of marketing analytics on firm performance; limited research exists to examine the conditions of utilizing marketing analytics. Furthermore, little is known about how the combinations of conditions affect marketing analytics use. Drawing on upper echelons and configuration theories, this study proposes that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have alternative pathways to utilizing marketing analytics. Based on a sample of 187 managers from UK SMEs and employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study confirms that (1) configurations of antecedents exist to provide alternative pathways to utilizing marketing analytics, and (2) configurations for small firms are distinctively different from those for medium-sized firms. This study contributes to upper echelon theory and configuration theory by highlighting different pathways to marketing analytics use. This study also helps a firm to improve its analytics practice by choosing the configuration that fits best with its organizational context.

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