Sharing is the name of the game: exploring the role of social media communication practices on B2B customer relationships in the life sciences industry

Rose, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1212-8314, Fandel, D., Saraeva, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2223-4310 and Dibley, A. (2021) Sharing is the name of the game: exploring the role of social media communication practices on B2B customer relationships in the life sciences industry. Industrial Marketing Management, 93. pp. 52-62. ISSN 0019-8501 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.12.013

Abstract/Summary

The inclusion of social media as a communication channel in a vendor’s B2B digital marketing strategy is growing in importance. Understanding the effect of such practices upon customer relationships is crucial for firms as they increasingly engage in this way. This paper presents and tests a model that explores the effect of vendor social media communication practices upon trust and loyalty in B2B customer relationships. A study using quantitative data from 196 business customers of a United States life sciences firm is reported. The model indicates that trust and loyalty are influenced by a) the social media shared beliefs between the vendor and the customer; b) the nature of the vendor’s social media communication with the customer; and c) the extent to which the vendor’s social media communication practices enable effective customer-to-customer communication. Trust is found to have a mediating role between these indicators and loyalty. Managerial implications are discussed.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/95458
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.12.013
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Digitalisation, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Henley Business School > Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation
Publisher	Elsevier
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