Enhancing organizational sensemaking: An examination of the interactive effects of sales capabilities and marketing dashboards

Current marketing research highlights the direct effects of marketing resources on firm performance. Few studies, however, examine how such resources interact with one another and contribute to the strategic actions, such as sensemaking. In this study, we investigate how sales capabilities and performance monitoring via marketing dashboards influence a firm's sensemaking. The results from our study suggest that sales capability and the use of marketing dashboards not only contribute directly, but also have an interactive effect, highlighting the importance of integrating both sales and marketing operations. Further, we find evidence that sensemaking influences cost control and enhances customer relationship performance, suggesting that sensemaking has the potential to simultaneously impact both cost efficiency and growth. ► The effects of marketing dashboards and sales capability to forms of the firm's performance are examined. ► We find a complementary effect between marketing dashboards (i.e. an asset) and sales capability (i.e. a capability). ► Sensemaking acts as mediating link between two resources (i.e. marketing dashboards and sale capability) to performance. ► Results reinforce the value of marketing dashboards, an asset with relatively spartan empirical attention devoted to it. ► Results reflect value of sensemaking as a key organizational activity that impacts customer performance and cost control.