Interactive digital media, especially social media and mobile media, have facilitated access to rich user-generated content. However, firms often fail to tap the full information potential. Valuable consumer information is not recognized, ignored, or seeps away within the firm. To identify possible managerial and organizational levers, the present study has raised the main research question: How can firms develop their capabilities to best tap digital consumer interactions for valuable information? Prior research, particularly on absorptive capacity, market orientation, interaction orientation, value co-creation, and open innovation, has largely neglected the role of organizational capabilities in information processing and accepted the available information as a given, although firms can influence the information value to certain degrees by soliciting user-generated content.
To determine possible managerial and organizational levers for a firm's capabilities to tap digital interactions, the present study had to, figuratively, look inside the "black box" of firms. The in-depth analysis of relevant strategic, organizational, and process-related aspects builds on case studies with six diverse firms that are highly interactive in digital media (BMW, EMP, McDonald's Switzerland, Migros, SWISS, and SBB).
A core finding from the case analyses is that a strong customer focus and open culture promote the strategic relevance of digital interactions in firms. The extent to which firms realize competitive advantages from digital interactions however depends on their organizational model, as it determines the know-how of responsible employees and shapes the internal learning processes. Notably, the case findings identify three dominant organizational models for digital interactions (centralized, collaborative, and integrated), tactics to stimulate valuable digital interactions, specific learning processes, and relevant organizational capabilities. Consolidated with prior research, the empirical findings culminate in a comprehensive conceptual framework and 22 propositions for future research.
Overall, the present study emphasizes the various ways in which firms can use digital interactions as a source of information as well as key levers for adoption. To best tap digital interactions, a firm can try to enhance the information value by soliciting user-generated content. In addition, it has to gradually adapt its organizational model and learning processes.
