The Impact of Social Media Technologies on Supplier and Customer Relationship Management: An Empirical Analysis in the U.S.

Abstract

Social media has received considerable research attention in various academic disciplines but is still in its infancy in operations management. In particular, the existing literature does not provide sufficient empirical evidence on how social media technologies affect a company's supply chain relationships. Thus, this study conceptualized the role of social media in forming supply chain networks between a focal company, suppliers, and customers, based on social network theory. This study also empirically investigated the impact of social media technologies on supplier and customer relationship management using sample data from U.S. industrial organizations. Hypotheses were verified through the structural equation modeling analysis. Sample analysis has proven that social media has a significant positive impact on the operational efficiency of supplier and customer relationship management. In addition, the evidence from this study suggests that social media networks built into supply chain relationships function as a source of knowledge resources that can create a competitive advantage, especially for focal companies. This study also contributes to research methodology by introducing alternative mitigation methods for common method biases that often occur in survey-based data collection. Finally, we discussed the implications of the study findings for practice and research, along with limitations and future research directions.

Keywords

• Customer relationship management
• empirical research
• social media
• social network theory
• structural equation modeling
• supplier relationship management