EXPRESS: An Inquiry into Effective Salesperson Social Media Use in Multinational vs. Local Firms

Abstract

Salespeople are increasingly required to navigate an international environment - having international customers or international peers. However, much remains to be learned about how salespeople are utilizing social media in an international context. This multi-method, multi-study design contributes to international sales research by showing how business-to-business (B2B) salespeople use social media whether they are in a multinational or local firm. With a social capital lens, the authors explore the importance of social media in regards to strengthening salespeople’s internal and external connections in an international context. In Study 1, with 131 B2B salespeople, salespeople use social media to develop customer relations (i.e., external connections) to engage in positive publicity and social media advocacy, ultimately leading to sales performance. Specifically, social media advocacy enhances sales performance only for salespeople in multinationals. In Study 2, with twenty-three qualitative interviews, the authors contextualize the findings of Study 1 by comparing social media use amongst salespeople in MNEs and local firms. The basis of the exploration involves internal and external connections with the three dimensions of social capital: structural, relational, and cognitive. The authors demonstrate that internal connections with peers on social media allows for increased knowledge transfer and other benefits.