An example of conducting literature review tasks on customer engagement strategies: for MBA students

An example of conducting literature review tasks on customer engagement strategies: for MBA students

A review of the academic article of: Lisa Lundin (2025) “Customer engagement strategies for digital offerings: An empirical study of
B2B suppliers” Industrial Marketing Management  131: 46-57

What are the main research objectives and research questions of this article?

The main research objectives of the article "Customer engagement strategies for digital offerings: An empirical study of B2B suppliers" are to explore and identify customer engagement strategies specifically for B2B suppliers of digital offerings, and to extend the current understanding of how these suppliers can increase customer engagement in digital contexts.

Specifically, the article aims to:

·        Address gaps in existing literature by focusing on digital offerings themselves as engagement objects, rather than just firms or brands.

·        Investigate how suppliers can stimulate customer engagement both directly and indirectly in digital B2B settings.

·        Provide a process-based understanding of customer engagement, incorporating both customer dispositions (willingness to engage) and engagement activities (resource contributions).

·        Develop practical guidance for suppliers on how to combine different engagement strategies considering firm-related and contextual factors.

The research questions implied by these objectives are:

1.    How can B2B suppliers of digital offerings increase customer engagement?

2.    What distinct customer engagement strategies do suppliers use to stimulate customer engagement dispositions and activities directly and indirectly?

3.    How does the nature of digital offerings as new engagement objects influence the customer engagement process?

4.    How can suppliers manage customer engagement in digital contexts, particularly post-purchase and through interactions with the offering itself?

These objectives and questions are reflected throughout the article's introduction and theoretical background sections, which emphasize the need to explore supplier-initiated activities that affect customer engagement in digital B2B markets

 

Does the literature review of the article involve the following review tasks:

1.    Defining, evaluating and extending the relevant academic ideas.

2.    Updating the readers on the latest academic development as related to the article's research theme.

3.    Examining the research issues as related to: (1) the relevant theories, perspectives and concepts and (2) the relevant research methods employed to study the related research topics and themes.

4.    Synthesize the relevant academic ideas to come up with a more comprehensive research framework or theories.

5.    Discuss how some of the relevant theories and concepts can be employed to inform the research methodology (and research methods) for this study.

Based on the content in the article's theoretical background and introduction sections, the literature review performs the following review tasks:

1.    Defining, evaluating and extending relevant academic ideas: Yes. The article defines digital offerings and customer engagement concepts clearly, including dispositions and activities as dimensions of engagement. It critically evaluates existing customer engagement literature, highlighting gaps such as the under-theorization of digital offerings as engagement objects and limited focus on process-based views. It extends these ideas by introducing new customer engagement strategies specific to digital B2B suppliers.

2.    Updating the readers on the latest academic developments related to the research theme: Yes. The article references recent studies (e.g., works from 2019 to 2024), showing awareness of current research on digital offerings, customer engagement in digital contexts, and supplier-initiated engagement strategies. It situates its contribution in the context of emerging academic interest in digital B2B marketing and engagement processes.

3.    Examining research issues related to theories, perspectives, concepts and research methods: Partially. The article primarily examines relevant theories and concepts including customer engagement dimensions (dispositions vs. activities), engagement objects, and supplier-initiated strategies. While it discusses these well, the discussion of research methods in the literature review is limited. The paper does mention different perspectives on customer engagement and highlights the need for process-based understandings, but less focus is placed on reviewing research methods from previous studies explicitly.

4.    Synthesizing relevant academic ideas into a more comprehensive research framework or theories: Yes. The literature review synthesizes existing concepts into a conceptual framing based on two dimensions (customer engagement dispositions vs. activities) and modes of stimulating engagement (direct vs. indirect). This synthesis leads to the identification of four distinct customer engagement strategies, thus providing a more comprehensive framework for understanding engagement in digital B2B contexts.

5.    Discussing how theories and concepts inform the research methodology and methods for this study: Not explicitly in the literature review. While the article’s broader methodology section references theoretical framing guiding data collection and analysis (e.g., abductive approach based on engagement theory), the literature review itself does not explicitly discuss how the reviewed theories inform the research methodology or methods. Instead, this is covered later in the methodology section.

In summary, the literature review fulfills tasks 1, 2, and 4 prominently, partially addresses task 3 regarding theoretical perspectives but less on methods, and does not explicitly fulfill task 5 within the literature review itself.

Overall, is the literature review of the study clearly research objectives-driven?

Yes, overall the literature review of the study is clearly research objectives-driven.

The review systematically identifies key gaps and limitations in the current customer engagement literature—such as the under-theorization of digital offerings as engagement objects, the limited focus on purely digital B2B contexts, and the need for a process-based understanding of engagement rather than just outcomes. These identified gaps directly motivate the study’s objective to explore customer engagement strategies for suppliers of digital offerings.

Moreover, the literature review frames key theoretical concepts (e.g., engagement dispositions vs. activities, direct vs. indirect stimulation) that underpin the study’s conceptual framework and guide the empirical investigation. This alignment demonstrates that the review is not merely descriptive but purposefully structured to inform and advance the specific research aims.

Therefore, the literature review effectively supports and drives the research objectives by defining the problem space, highlighting existing research shortcomings, and synthesizing concepts that lead to the study’s exploration of distinct engagement strategies in digital B2B settings.

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