Mobile Salesforce Automation: A Study of the Acceptance and Use by Grocery Retailers

This study aims to understand grocery retailers’ acceptance and use of mobile salesforce automation (SFA). SFA deployment in a sales organization is time-consuming, costly, and does not necessarily improve salespeople’s performance. Recent disruptions caused by the pandemic and the fast escalation of sales costs have prompted organizations to extend SFA deployment to grocery retailers through mobile SFA. There are limited SFA studies on understanding SFA acceptance and use in grocery retailers, as the focus was on the salespeople. A model is developed by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) and the Innovation Resistant Theory (IRT) with modifications to study mobile SFA technology acceptance and use by grocery retailers. The model also captures the flow experience of grocery retailers when using the mobile SFA. A case study was used in this study by involving Coca-Cola and their mobile SFA deployment to grocery retailers in Malaysia. It is a quantitative cross-sectional survey targeting grocery retailers from urban and sub-urban/rural regions. Data collected will be analyzed using partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings from this study allow organizations to validate and predict mobile SFA technology acceptance and use by grocery retailers and to re-think their mobile SFA technology investment and deployment strategies.