Chiara Ancillai, Sara Bartoloni and Federica Pascucci
The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the B2B customers’ perspective regarding salespeople’s social media use.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the B2B customers’ perspective regarding salespeople’s social media use.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with 26 key informants performing their job in customer role in various industries.
Findings
The authors inductively identify five themes regarding the B2B customers’ perspective of social media use in B2B selling. These themes allow for valuable implications for social selling activities and expected outcomes.
Originality/value
Against a growing body of literature on drivers, best practices and outcomes of social media use by B2B salespeople, less attention has been paid to the customer’s side. The authors extend current research by providing a more complete picture of social selling activities and expected outcomes.
Details
Keywords
Chiara Ancillai, Sara Bartoloni, Jelena Filipovic and Valerio Temperini
The study’s purpose is to understand how online communities, thanks to their knowledge-sharing potential, can help to achieve the principles of a human-centered society. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The study’s purpose is to understand how online communities, thanks to their knowledge-sharing potential, can help to achieve the principles of a human-centered society. The social capital theory is applied to understand knowledge contribution and knowledge sharing in online communities.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach based on a single case study of an international online community is adopted.
Findings
The case study highlights how each social capital facet unfolds within the online community to model efficient knowledge exchange among members. The developed social capital generates benefits at three interconnected system levels: micro (individuals), meso (companies), and macro (society).
Originality/value
The paper makes several contributions to the literature on Society 5.0, social capital theory, and knowledge management by bringing the needed empirical evidence on how to exploit online digital technologies to generate the benefits associated with Society 5.0. It also demonstrates that social capital theory is a valuable theoretical lens through which to explain how knowledge-sharing and exchange mechanisms in online communities contribute to shaping a human-centered society.
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Keywords
Kaisa Pekkala, Tommi Auvinen, Pasi Sajasalo and Chiara Valentini
This study focuses on managers' perceptions of employees' communicative role in social media, and explores the changes in the contractual nature of employment relations in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study focuses on managers' perceptions of employees' communicative role in social media, and explores the changes in the contractual nature of employment relations in mediatized workplaces in which the boundaries of professional and private life are becoming more fluid.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was employed to explore this relatively new phenomenon. The data, comprising 24 interviews with managers responsible for corporate communication and human resources in knowledge-intensive organizations, was thematically analysed.
Findings
The analysis shows that employees' work-related social media use creates new types of exchanges and dependencies between an organization and individual employees, which relate to employees' representation, knowledge and networks.
Originality/value
The study is among the first to examine the exchanges and dependencies in an employment relationship that emerge from increased use of social media for professional purposes.