The development of B2B social networking capabilities

Carwright, Severina and Davies, Iain A. (2022) The development of B2B social networking capabilities. Industrial Marketing Management, 106. pp. 139-151. ISSN 0019-8501 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.08.004)

[thumbnail of Cartwright-Davies-IMM-2022-The-development-of-B2B-social-networking-capabilities]
Preview
Text. Filename: Cartwright_Davies_IMM_2022_The_development_of_B2B_social_networking_capabilities.pdf
Final Published Version
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 logo

Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

The adoption of social media (SM) as a marketing platform in B2B markets has been growing, but there is a lack of research exploring the development of the social networking capabilities organizations need to build and maintain relationships via SM. By applying a qualitative, in-depth, case study research design in 12 organizations, this paper identifies a four-stage journey of social networking capability development. The stage-model captures the types of capabilities organizations engage or develop to be effective in creating actor engagement, network development and network management on SM. Through this, we demonstrate how the capabilities build over time and integrate with each other to improve the organizations’ perceived competitive performance on SM. We highlight the operational, dynamic and adaptive capabilities needed to build capacity for seizing the opportunities available through SM.