Trust in marketing’s use of information from sales: the moderating role of power

Purpose This paper aims to improve marketing managers’ use of information from sales. The authors propose and empirically test the link between cross-functional trust and marketing’s use of information from sales, and whether this effect is contingent on marketing’s power within the firm. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 338 large-scale Hungarian firms. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap procedures were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The effect of cross-functional trust on marketing managers’ use of sales information is fully mediated by sales–marketing integration and marketing’s perception of information quality. However, the power of marketing within the firm moderates this mediating relationship. Research limitations/implications This paper provides empirical evidence concerning the mediating mechanisms of transferring cross-functional trust to marketing’s successful use of information from sales. The findings imply that cross-functional trust can improve marketing managers’ use of sales information of firms with powerful marketing units by facilitating integration, whereas it can improve the use of sales information of firms with low marketing power by improving marketing managers’ perception of information quality from sales. Originality/value This is the first study that models and empirically investigates marketing managers’ use of information collected by sales. The current study conceptually links and advances extant knowledge on the literatures on the sales–marketing interface and utilization of market information at the individual level and increases the understanding of how cross-functional trust contributes to information use under different contingencies of marketing power.