Pepperdine's Clark Johnson and Doreen Shanahan Examine Net Promoter Score and B2B Technology Adoption
Pepperdine Graziadio Business School faculty members Clark Johnson and Doreen Shanahan have published a new article in the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing that offers an integrated perspective on how Net Promoter Score, technology adoption, and organizational change management intersect in business-to-business environments, particularly within SaaS and other technology-enabled services.
As organizations continue to invest in enterprise collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom, the authors address a persistent challenge in B2B technology implementation. While companies may purchase and deploy new platforms, employee adoption and long-term value creation often fall short of expectations.
The article bridges marketing analytics, innovation adoption, and change management, areas often studied separately but closely connected in practice. Drawing on the widely used ADKAR change management framework, Johnson and Shanahan examine how structured change efforts influence individual users’ likelihood to recommend a technology to colleagues, a behavior measured through Net Promoter Score. In networked enterprise environments, peer advocacy plays a critical role in driving adoption and sustained use.
Their research provides empirical evidence that both current usage and future use intentions significantly shape an employee’s propensity to recommend enterprise technologies within their organizational network. The findings suggest that Net Promoter Score can serve not only as a customer satisfaction metric but also as a strategic objective and diagnostic tool within change management initiatives, supporting brand equity and long-term sustainability for technology providers.
By positioning Net Promoter Score as an outcome of change management rather than solely a predictor of business performance, the study offers valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners seeking to better align technology implementation, internal advocacy, and organizational change.
Read the full article here.