Exporting B2B Solutions: The Impact and Contribution of Using Social Media

Abstract

Empirical insights on the effect of the use of social media, particularly for small and medium sized B2B firms for which such research is limited, could significantly improve on these firms’ results. It is suggested that the implementation of social media will affect: the scope of their international contacts (Hamill et al. 2011), the awareness of these businesses (Weinberg 2009), the understanding of their customers’ views (Constantinides et al. 2008), the understanding of their international competition (Governatori and Iannella 2011), and exporting performance (Rapp et al 2013). It is argued that global cultural differences will moderate the relationship between the implementation of social media and its internationalization effect, customer engagement will mediate the same relationship. This research contributes theoretically to the body of knowledge by developing a framework for evaluating the benefits of social media on the exporting efforts, which to the knowledge of the researcher has never been tested before. The moderator and mediating effects of some factors between the use of social media and its implications for exporting context has never been tested.