Unpacking the exchange dynamics between strategic frontline employees and the internal business team
基于对12家B2B和B2C企业47次访谈，研究将内部业务团队重新概念化为流动的、任务权变的生态系统，并构建了战略一线员工与内部业务团队交换的输入-中介-输出-输入过程模型，识别了影响交换效率的个体与制度因素。
Strategic frontline employees (SFLEs) rely heavily on the internal business team (IBT) in co-creating customer value, yet the mechanisms and conditions that shape internal service exchanges between these groups remain underexplored. What limited research exists on the IBT tends to treat it as a “monolithic” group, offering few specifics on how diverse actors influence customer and performance outcomes given the critical internal tasks and roles they perform. Drawing on 47 interviews across 12 firms in B2B and B2C contexts, this study makes three contributions. First, the IBT is reconceptualized as a fluid, task-contingent ecosystem in which membership and SFLE involvement are determined by specific customer tasks across the buying journey. Second, we develop an SFLE-IBT exchange framework based on a recurring input-mediator-output-input process model, activated by reactive and proactive stimuli. Third, we identify drivers and constraints of SFLE-IBT exchange efficiency that span individual and institutional conditions. This advances our understanding of SFLE-IBT exchanges while offering actionable guidance on managing the firm's complex intraorganizational environment.