Social media research in the industrial marketing field: Review of literature and future research directions

• Published in: Industrial marketing management 2017-10, Vol.66, p.115-129
• Main Author: Salo, Jari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business-to-business marketing; Industrial marketing; Literature review; Social media; Web 2.0
• ISSN: 0019-8501; 1873-2062
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.07.013

Since the emergence of social media, industrial marketing academics and marketers have also been intrigued by the influence of such media on the discipline. As, social media research in the field of industrial marketing has been of increasing interest, this research attempts to review and assess the advances in social media research in the industrial marketing field. From the literature review conducted, it can be identified that some of the research areas have witnessed steady theory development increases, e.g., sales and marketing communications, while others are clearly lagging behind, e.g., pricing and ethics. Also methodological pluralism is called for instead of more traditional methods (conceptual analysis, qualitative and survey) to establish and solve more nuanced research problems. This research provides a review of the current state of research in the field and suggests directions for future development. •Provides a review of the current state of research on social media research in the industrial marketing field.•Identifies the research avoids in the research area.•Presents future research and application areas for academics and managers.