Virtual Training: Its Value Potential for Management and Marketing
(A2026-134216)

AUTHORS

Hanna Pott, University of M�nster; Konstantin Mueller, University of Muenster; Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, University of M�nster

ABSTRACT

The importance of training employees and customers to improve the value customers derive from products has long been acknowledged in marketing research. Despite the rise of service-dominant logic, which stresses customers’ value contributions in product usage, scholarly research in marketing on training has remained limited. This paper builds on existing training research in management and marketing and discusses how virtual training that uses computer-simulated environments and lets trainees access those environments through 2D screens or immersive media such as headsets can add value for marketing. We conduct a systematic literature review that integrates management training research with marketing work on training frontline employees and educating customers and use this synthesis to propose a medium-centered framework that identifies and discusses the potential value contributions of virtual training, as well as its limitations.