Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Personal Selling: A Profession in Danger?

This study investigates the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Personal Selling through a multivocal literature review. AI is transforming the sales profession, creating new opportunities and challenges for salespeople and managers as well as for customers in both B2B and B2C relationships. In the context of a multivocal approach, we include both academic and non-peer-reviewed sources of information (gray literature). This allows us to capture the perspectives and insights of both academics and practitioners, and to identify the current state of knowledge, the existing gaps, and the directions for future research. Results indicate the promising role of AI in Personal Selling under critical prerequisites and highlight the challenges and opportunities reflected to the optimum blending of digital technologies with human skills. However, the need for empirical research attempts on this highly evolving topic is evident. To this end, multidisciplinary research approaches could contribute to an integrated investigation of this rapidly developing phenomenon.