Exploring antecedents of social media usage in B2B: a systematic review

This paper aims to review the state‐of‐the‐art literature on social media adoption in B2B contexts in order to propose an inclusive and theoretical viewpoint to understand the antecedents of this phenomenon. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review. For this purpose 29 studies published in academic journals, books and conference papers, in the field of marketing and management from 2001 to 2017 were analysed. The results show that the number of studies has increased in the last 5 years. Three different groups of antecedents are identified by considering the nature of these factors (personal, organizational and external) and analysed at two different levels of adoption: individual and firm/function levels. Managerial implications and future research insights are provided. This research area deserves much more attention, both theoretical and empirical, in order to analyse the existing classifications and develop new categories of antecedents of social media adoption in B2B. Further studies are needed on the individual level of adoption, on new skills and capabilities required to use social media as well as on the social factors influencing usage. The literature review provides a means of understanding the role of personal, organizational and social antecedents and suggesting ways to work properly in these different dimensions to improve the level and quality of adoption. Despite a considerable interest in research on social media, this paper provides the first complete framework in the new field of study concerning social media adoption in B2B.