From Fragmentation to Integration: Finding the Psychological and Instrumental Common Ground for Algorithmic Management and Marketing

Algorithmic systems shape both organizational management and marketing, yet their effects on employees and consumers are rarely studied together. This fragmentation obscures a critical insight: these stakeholders are interconnected, with employee experiences cascading to consumers and consumer feedback looping back to employees. Drawing on stakeholder theory and value-sensitive design, we develop an integrated framework explaining how algorithmic management and marketing jointly affect stakeholder well-being. We theorize bidirectional spillover mechanisms that produce either negative spirals—where controlling algorithms reduce employee engagement, degrade service quality, and frustrate consumers—or positive synergies—where supportive algorithms enhance well-being across both groups. Sustainable value creation, therefore, requires multi-stakeholder algorithmic governance that optimizes joint employee-consumer outcomes rather than single-stakeholder maximization. We propose a multi-level governance architecture integrating ethics boards, value-sensitive development teams, and stakeholder voice mechanisms to guide organizations in designing algorithms that serve multiple stakeholders simultaneously.