Exploring antecedents of social media usage in B2B: a systematic review

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 629-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Pascucci ◽  
Chiara Ancillai ◽  
Silvio Cardinali

PurposeThis paper aims to review the state-of-the-art literature on social media adoption in business-to-business (B2B) contexts to propose an inclusive and theoretical viewpoint to understand the antecedents of this phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the results of a systematic literature review. For this purpose, 29 studies published in academic journals, books and conference papers in the field of marketing and management from 2001 to 2017 were analysed.FindingsThe results show that the number of studies has increased in the past five years. Three different groups of antecedents are identified by considering the nature of these factors (personal, organisational and external) and analysed at two different levels of adoption: individual and firm/function. Managerial implications and future research insights are provided.Research limitations/implicationsThis research area deserves much more attention, both theoretical and empirical, to analyse the existing classifications and develop new categories of antecedents of social media adoption in B2B. Further studies are needed on the individual level of adoption, on new skills and capabilities required to use social media as well as on the social factors influencing usage.Practical implicationsThe literature review allows to understand the role of personal, organisational and social antecedents and suggest ways to improve the level and quality of adoption.Originality/valueDespite a considerable interest in research on social media, this paper provides the first complete framework in the new field of study concerning social media adoption in B2B.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Nuseir ◽  
Amer Qasim

Purpose This paper aims to systematically review how corporations are increasingly using social media to strategically disseminate information to investors, including different research tracks, then identify the gaps to propose future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach The authors searched for relevant scholarly work on Scopus and Google Scholar databases published during the period 2000–2020 in English. Both quantitative and qualitative papers were reviewed. Articles were filtered based on their relevance to the study's goal, resulting in the selection of 84 articles. A total of 16 articles were selected for inclusion in the systematic review. Findings In light of the existing studies’ limitations, this paper derives and summarizes 16 leading future research tracks. Results indicated that corporations could use social media to reduce information asymmetry between managers and investors. Nevertheless, social media for information disclosure purposes is used in a strategic way, whereby only positive news and voluntary information are disseminated. Research limitations/implications The implications for investors are that they can make better decisions by engaging in the process of “the wisdom of crowd,” which is facilitated by reciprocal communication. The implications for corporations are that sharing earning information through social networking platforms presents them with an opportunity to effectively manage their investors by reducing negative perceptions and increasing market response. Originality/value As far as we know, this is the first paper that uses a systematic literature review over the social media research field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 812-830
Author(s):  
Anson Au

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the study of social capital focused on the level at which it is embodied, cross-comparing two prominent camps that have emerged in the social capital literature: a communal level and an individual level. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the intersections and departures between communal level and individual level conceptualizations of social capital according to the social dynamics of action within social exchanges that they stimulate, the processes by which social capital is activated/mobilized and the rewards they yield, and their linkages to inequality through network diversity. Findings This paper articulates new directions for future research in social capital: more analytical precision for studying returns to social capital; more efforts to transcend the individual-communal divide; the depreciation of social capital or tie decay; and recognizing the importance of ties whose value does not come from the ability to provide instrumental gain, but just from their very existence. Originality/value Social capital has informed many influential agendas in the social sciences, but the sheer volume of which has largely gone unscoped. This paper reviews this literature to provide an accessible introduction to social capital, organized by social processes foundational to sociology and a novel contribution to the literature by articulating new directions for future research in the area.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamrul Ahsan ◽  
Shams Rahman

PurposeThis study conducts a systematic literature review of e-tail product returns research. E-tail product returns are essentially acquisition of products that have been sold through purely online or brick-and-click channels and then returned by consumer to business.Design/methodology/approachUsing a systematic literature review protocol, we identified 75 peer-reviewed articles on e-tail product returns, conducted bibliometric analysis and content analysis of the articles and summarised our findings.FindingsThe findings reveal that the subject of e-tail returns is a new research area; academics have started to investigate several aspects of e-tail returns through different research methodologies and theoretical foundations. Further research is required in leading e-commerce countries and on key areas such as omni-channel returns management, customer satisfaction and service, the impact of resources such as people skills, the benefits of technology and IT systems in managing e-tail returns.Practical implicationsThe study offers a summative account of current e-tail knowledge areas, which can serve as a reference guide for e-tailers to develop strategies for more efficient and competitive product returns.Originality/valueThis study contributes theoretically by developing clusters of key themes or knowledge areas about e-tail returns. It also provides a conceptual framework for e-tail returns management, which can be used as a springboard for further empirical research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Elson Anderson

Purpose This paper aims to provide information and promote discussion around the social media platform TikTok. Design/methodology/approach Research, literature review. Findings Libraries and library and information professionals should be aware of the potential of TikTok for engagement and information sharing. Originality/value Adds to the research on the social media platform TikTok.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Awais Ahmad Tipu

Purpose This paper aims to review the academic literature on business plan competitions in developed and emerging economies to assess the contribution to the knowledge so far and identify research gaps. Design/methodology/approach A variety of databases (such as ABI/Inform Global, Academic Search Complete, Business Source Premier and Emerald Full Text) were used to find peer-reviewed journal articles. Regardless of time, different search terms were used to find relevant journal articles such as business plan competitions, business plan contests, business plan teams, business plan judges, business plan development and business plan scores. After a careful review of the identified articles, a total of 22 articles were included in the final review. The articles in the final set were manually coded using the thematic codes. Findings Despite the popularity of business plan competitions, limited academic literature exists, particularly in the context of emerging economies. A total of 16 out of 22 studies are conducted in developed economies. The findings suggest that the literature on business plan competitions is largely centered on the structure of business plan competitions, the characteristics of the participating teams and the benefits of business plan competitions. The individual level benefits of business plan competitions include the development of entrepreneurial skills, opportunity for networking and access to mentors. Business plan competitions can be better aligned with public policy, particularly in case of emerging economies. Therefore, a more focused and integrated approach among industry, academia and government in encouraging business plan competitions could potentially make a far-reaching impact in establishing an enterprising society. While much is known about the structure and the benefits of business plan competitions, there are various research gaps which need to be addressed. Originality/value The current paper is the first identifiable review of the literature on business plan competitions. The proposed questions for future research will potentially help in addressing the identified research gaps.


Author(s):  
Alexandra Lagorio ◽  
Roberto Pinto ◽  
Ruggero Golini

Purpose The last decades have witnessed an increased interest in urban logistics originating from both the research and the practitioners’ communities. Sustainable freight transports today are on the political, social and technological agenda of many actors operating in urban contexts. Due to the extent of the covered areas and the continuous progress in many fields, the resulting body of research on urban logistics appears quite fragmented. From an engineering management perspective, the purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review (SLR) that aims to consolidate the knowledge on urban logistics, analyse the development of the discipline, and provide future research directions. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses the main evidence emerging from a SLR on urban logistics. The corpus resulting from the SLR has been used to perform a citation network analysis and a main path analysis that together underpin the identification of the most investigated topics and methodologies in the field. Findings Through the analysis of a corpus of 104 articles, the most important research contributions on urban logistics that represent the structural backbone in the development of the research over time in the field are detected. Based on these findings, this work identifies and discusses three areas of potential interest for future research. Originality/value This paper presents an SLR related to a research area in which the literature is extremely fragmented. The results provide insights about the research path, current trends and future research directions in the field of urban logistics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-601
Author(s):  
Helen Cripps ◽  
Abhay Singh ◽  
Thomas Mejtoft ◽  
Jari Salo

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance business relationships in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combination of methodologies for gathering data in 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries and the downloaded posts from each of the interviewees' Twitter accounts. The tweets were analysed using structural topic modelling (STM), and then compared to the interview data. This method enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent's actual tweets.FindingsThe research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas, promotion and innovation within their industry. Twitter facilitates building relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high-quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and with their suppliers, customers and also their peers.Research limitations/implicationsAs this study covered five countries, further comparative research on the use of Twitter in the B2B context is called for. Further investigation of the formalisation of social media strategies and return on investment for social media marketing efforts is also warranted.Practical implicationsThis research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables customer and peer conversations that eventually support the development of product and service innovations. Twitter has the capacity for marketers to inform and engage customers and peers in their networks on wider topics thereby building the brand of the individual users and their companies simultaneously.Originality/valueThis study focuses on interactions at the individual level illustrating that Twitter is used for both customer and peer interactions that can lead to the sourcing of ideas, knowledge and ultimately innovation. The study is novel in its methodological approach of combining structured interviews and text mining that found the topics of the interviewees' tweets aligned with their interview responses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 2005-2027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Yi Yong ◽  
M.-Y. Yusliza ◽  
Olawole Olanre Fawehinmi

Purpose Green or environmental human resource management (HRM) has in recent years attracted much attention from academia and practitioners all over the world. However, a thorough analysis of green or environmental HRM has not been made so far. To address this gap, the present study provides a systematic and comprehensive literature review. The purpose of this paper is threefold: to review Green HRM literature of various scopes, approaches and contexts; to identify different focus areas in the Green HRM literature; and to propose areas for future research. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows a systematic literature review approach. The selected journal articles are categorized on the basis of five focus areas in the Green HRM derived from the extant literature. Findings Research has grown significantly over the past 12 years that has focused on Green HRM. A total of 70 articles were reviewed and most of these articles employed quantitative method and were carried out in developing countries. Based on the five focus areas identified in this literature review, the performance outcome of Green HRM at both the organizational level and individual level received the greatest attention from the researchers. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to a review of academic articles obtainable from online databases, containing the words “Green human resource management”, “Green HRM”, “Green human resource”, “Environmental HRM”, “Green training” and “Environmental training” in the title. Additionally, only papers from high quality, peer-reviewed journals were evaluated. Other academic sources such as books and conference papers were not included in this study. Originality/value The paper presents a structural overview of 70 peer-reviewed articles published in leading academic journals from 2007 until early 2019. This review provides an increased understanding of the existing state of current research, trends and future research directions in the Green HRM discipline.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Lo ◽  
Richard D. Waters ◽  
Nicklas Christensen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions are reflected on the official corporate Facebook pages from 259 organizations on Fortune magazine’s Global 500 list. This is the first attempt to create a conceptualization of Hofstede’s dimensions for organizational social media use. Design/methodology/approach To determine how Facebook is used by the Global 500 corporations, a content analysis was carried out based on the 2013 listing of the highest revenue corporations throughout the world. As a research method, content analysis allows researchers to examine the actual practices of communication by focusing on the information provided through textual and visual messages. Findings The results paint a mixed picture indicating that the global nature of these corporations is echoed in a somewhat similar overall presence on Facebook; but when the individual elements (About Us, updates, and media) are examined, statistical differences emerge in relation to the reflection of the cultural dimensions. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work to match Facebook behaviors with Hofstede’s dimensions. This work needs to be replicated with other organizations to determine its staying power. In addition, future research might tap into agency and any consciousness on the part of social media managers in a specific direction. Depending on those findings, they might make important statements on the emergence of a global social media culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 75-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Rezaei ◽  
Michael Beyerlein

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify and examine findings from empirical research regarding organizations’ talent development (TD) strategies, taking into consideration the countries in which the studies were conducted and the TD-approach organizations adopted, and recognize the positive outcomes of TD implementation, as well as potential issues and challenges. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review used Garrard’s matrix method to organize the review of publications. It identified 31 empirical articles from the total of 551 publications. Findings The findings indicate that a majority of the studies were conducted in countries other than the USA and that they were all published recently, after 2007. The results show that organizations have mostly applied organizational development interventions at the individual level for developing talented employees, followed by formal training and development. Additionally, managerial issues were identified as the most common issue on the way of implementing TD interventions. Research limitations/implications Trying to define TD as a discrete concept from HRD could be considered as both differentiating the current literature review and a limitation. Originality/value This article is among the first to identify TD interventions through a systematic literature review and provides a model of TD’s intervention antecedents and outcomes for the follow-up empirical works.


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