The role of emotions in the adoption and use of programmatic advertising by organizations

Identifier:  imarina:9597539

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9597539

Authors:  Fuentes-Santos, Paloma; Papaoikonomou, Eleni; Diaz, Javier Bustos

Abstract:
This paper focuses on the role of emotions in innovation adoption within organizations. Rather than adopting the traditionally individualistic lens through which emotions have often been examined, this study explores emotions as part of the organizational context in which they emerge. Programmatic advertising is used as a specific case of marketing innovation to examine the underlying process of its adoption or non-adoption by digital marketing experts. Based on fifteen in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with digital marketing managers, we aim to understand how emotions may influence the adoption or rejection of innovations such as programmatic advertising within organizations. Prior to the fieldwork, a literature review was conducted on both programmatic advertising and the relationship between emotions and innovation adoption. Our findings reveal a range of discrete emotions, both positive and predominantly negative, directed towards different targets. Some results confirm previous research on the functional and psychological factors that affect the adoption or rejection of innovations. However, one of the main contributions of this paper is that, unlike previous studies that adopt an individualistic lens to examine emotions, we explore them as the outcome of collective dynamics related to organizational culture, cultural norms concerning innovation adoption, risk-taking, and implicit career consequences. The study also provides further empirical insights into how cultural perceptions of certain controversial innovations affect the activation and expression of emotions. Managerial implications and future research avenues are also discussed.