Studying the Influence of Social Media Use on Sales Performance: The Role of Relational Mediators

• Published in: Social Computing and Social Media: Applications in Marketing, Learning, and Health Vol. 12775; pp. 86 - 97
• Main Authors: Franck, Romain, Dampérat, Maud
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2021; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Adaptive selling behavior; B2B sales; Relationship marketing; Relationship quality; Sales performance; Social media use
• ISBN: 3030776840; 9783030776848
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-77685-5_7

Based on a relationship marketing approach, this paper studies the impact of social media use on sales performance and its underlying mechanisms. A conceptual model is proposed and empirically tested from the perspective of salespeople in B2B settings. The proposed model includes both the direct influence of social media use on sales performance, and its indirect influence through relational mediators (i.e., adaptive selling behavior and relationship quality). To test the proposed model, we use structural equation modeling with a sample of 199 French B2B salespeople. The proposed model is validated, allowing us to confirm the direct and indirect role of social media use on sales performance and to better understand the underlying mechanisms associated with relational mediators.