Exploring how to develop data-driven innovation capability of marketing within B2B firms: Toward a capability model and process-oriented approach

The increasing digitalization of innovation activities is reshaping how marketing organizations practice innovation, and, to date, little research has studied the data-driven innovation capability of marketing. Given the essential role played by B2B marketing departments in new product and service development, this paper takes an abductive approach to elucidate how the data-driven innovation capability of marketing can be constructed by identifying its constituent elements and underlying processes. It draws upon the existing literature on digital marketing capabilities applied to innovation and 17 in-depth interviews with B2B managers. The paper proposes a capability model for the data-driven innovation capability of marketing that articulates building blocks according to three major phases: (1) ideation, (2) analysis, and (3) deployment. It reveals the resources and competencies for operationalizing three successive routines to: (1) generate a knowledge ecosystem, (2) disseminate data-driven insights, and ( 3) design an answer. Each routine is facilitated by three distinct learning mechanisms that (1) capture, (2) articulate, and (3) codify, throughout the innovation phases. Furthermore, potential enablers and consequences are identified to offer an overall process-oriented framework. This study provides valuable guidance to marketing managers by determining the critical resources, routines, and learning mechanisms for engaging in data-driven innovation.