Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks

From virtual observations to business insights: A bibliometric review of netnography in business research

Netnography is a special kind of qualitative social media research. It applies ethnographic techniques to comprehend social interaction in settings of modern digital communications. This article aims to highlight the key contributors and knowledge structure of this research domain. Utilizing bibliographic data of 722 articles retrieved from the Scopus database, researchers used performance analysis to have insights into the most prolific authors, institutions, countries and journals. Keywords co-occurrence analysis was done to map the knowledge structure. The thematic map tool was used to recognize basic themes, motor themes, niche themes, and emerging themes in order to suggest future research directions. The results indicate that, in terms of research publications, the most productive nation is the United Kingdom. The most lucrative organization has been acknowledged as Griffith University. The most influential author is stated to be Mkono M. The most resourceful source is Journal of Business Research. In addition, three significant knowledge clusters important to study utilizing netnography were identified as a result of co-occurrence of keywords analysis namely, consumer behaviour, co-creation in online brand communities and authenticity. Further, niche and emerging themes include-sustainable tourism, customer engagement and sharing economy. When taken as a whole, this review is a useful tool for quickly understanding the most recent research findings and potential directions for further investigation. An assessment of the state of netnography in business and management research has not been systematically investigated. Hence, the present study aims to thorough a grasp of the state-of-the-art in Netnography research field over the past decades along with the future research directions. Studying the state of the art in the field adds to academic knowledge and provides updated information on the procedure.

Creating civic and public engagement by a proper balance between emotional, rational, and spiritual knowledge

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the generation of civic and public (C&P) engagement as an integrative outcome of a proper balance between emotional, rational and spiritual knowledge, via the mediation of interpersonal competencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis relies on a questionnaire-based survey conducted with 294 respondents from two knowledge-intensive organizations. Structural equation modeling, using Smart PLS 4, is used to analyze the data.

Findings

Individual knowledge can be considered as the refined outcome of the underlying transformations of various knowledge sources and resources, which is apposite for the next level of knowledge workers’ acumen. Individual knowledge – which relies on a good balance of rational, emotional and spiritual knowledge – exerts a positive effect on interpersonal competencies, wherein the latter positively influences the C&P engagement of knowledge workers.

Research limitations/implications

Policymakers should capitalize on the development of strong interpersonal competencies; they should be able to understand the social mechanisms of motivating people, of stimulating, harnessing and channeling individual knowledge toward higher C&P as a prerequisite of value creation.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first argumentative undertaking intended to explore the conversion of the three knowledge types into individual knowledge as a premise of interpersonal competencies development and as a relevant antecedent of C&P engagement. The results of this paper support that achieving balance in one's life is essential for increasing interpersonal competencies and C&P engagement. This study not only represents the first contribution to this debate but also helps managers and organizations to recognize that a good balance requires emotional, rational and spiritual knowledge.

What do experts say about the conditions affecting customer knowledge management in academic libraries? An integrated perspective

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to design an axial coding pattern for customer knowledge management (CKM) to identify the conditions affecting it from the perspective of experts in public university libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study used a qualitative approach. To collect and analyze data, the grounded theory method with a three-stage strategy of open, axial and selective coding was employed. The research instrument was a semi-structured in-depth interview and the data were categorized using MAXQDA 10 software. The sample of the study consisted of 26 experts from Iranian public universities who were selected through a combined targeted non-random sampling procedure (targeted and snowball). The necessary data were obtained through specialized interviews with 9 faculty members and 17 managers of public university libraries.

Findings

In the present study, 106 open coding, 35 axial concepts, and 16 selective general categories were identified as the conditions affecting CKM development in academic libraries in the form of causal conditions, intervening conditions, strategies conditions, context conditions, and consequences conditions around the core layer of CKM development. The identification of these conditions led to the development of a paradigmatic pattern for the research.

Originality/value

There is no record of research on developing empirical studies in libraries using an analysis of the conditions affecting CKM development in the form of an axial coding pattern. The present research contributed to closing this research gap. The axial coding pattern proposed in this study can serve as a guide for implementing CKM in academic libraries as well as increasing customer loyalty.

Modelling the effect of perceived organisational policies on knowledge management in libraries: Focus on the moderating role of transformational leadership and professional commitment

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of perceived organisational policies (POPs) on knowledge management (KM) with regard to the moderating role of transformational leadership (TL) and librarians’ professional commitment. The study was conducted in three stages. First, the research moderating variables were chosen through an explorative study and surveying the librarians. Following the design of the theoretical model, the Delphi method was employed to validate it. Finally, the model was tested with a sample of 205 librarians working at Iranian state universities. To examine the causal relationships between the research instrument variables, the structural equation modelling technique and Smart PLS software were used. The results of the study revealed that POP was moderated through TL and the librarians’ professional commitment and affected the processes of knowledge acquisition and identification, knowledge generation and sharing, and knowledge application. The results, further, confirmed the strong effect of POP on professional commitment and the effect of TL on KM. The findings indicate that moderating the negative effects of POP in academic libraries could pave the way for the improvement of librarians’ job performance. To date, no empirical investigations have examined the effect of POP on KM in libraries with regard to the moderating role of TL and the librarians’ professional commitment. This study is assumed to fill this gap.

Citizen behaviors, enterprise social media and firm performance

Purpose

The goal of this study is twofold: first, it seeks to investigate how enterprise social media (ESM) usage contributes to firm performance, especially through operational performance metrics; second, to identify the ESM users’ behaviors that help to improve firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretive case study of a medium-sized manufacturing company in the food industry. After developing a theoretical framework, an exploratory research was undertaken about the use of an ESM. Qualitative methods were adopted for data collection and analytic induction for data analysis, using structural and descriptive coding. A series of semi-structured interviews with senior managers and middle-managers were conducted. Operations performance metrics were also assessed through documentary analysis before and after the implementation of the ESM.

Findings

The study integrates concepts and theories from across three main fields of research, namely organizational behaviors, management and information systems. It complements the extant research on ESM by providing a new theoretical framework that connects ESM use with firm performance. Empirical findings suggest that ESM contributes to firm performance through social capital development fostered by organizational citizenship behaviors. The emergence of leadership development has been also observed.

Research limitations/implications

The exploratory nature of the study combined with the fact that it has been conducted within a single organization greatly limits the generalization of the findings.

Practical implications

Managers can use the findings of this study as a support of a successful ESM implementation. Besides, it provides references for practitioners aiming to use and evaluate ESM and their corresponding citizenship behaviors within a manufacturing milieu.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to bring a multi-disciplinary perspective of the contribution of ESM usage on firm performance-based in a social capital enacted by organizational citizenship behaviors. These understandings add new insights to the literature and establish new theoretical connections between organizational citizenship behaviors, ESM use and social capital that also allowed to emerge leadership development.

Using Machine Learning to Compare the Information Needs and Interactions of Facebook: Taking Six Retail Brands as an Example

This study explores the interactive characteristics of the public, referencing existing data mining methods. This research attempts to develop a community data mining and integration technology to investigate the trends of global retail chain brands. Using social media mining and ensemble learning, it examines key image cues to highlight the various reasons motivating participation by fans. Further, it expands the discussion on image and marketing cues to explore how various social brands induce public participation and the evaluation of information efficiency. This study integrates random decision forests, extreme gradient boost, and adaboost for statistical verification. From 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2019, the studied brands published a total of 25,538 posts. The study combines community information and participation in its research framework. The samples are divided into three categories: retail food brand, retail home improvement brand, and retail warehouse club brand. This research draws on brand image and information cue theory to design the theoretical framework, and then uses behavior response factors for the theoretical integration. This study contributes a model that classifies brand community posts and mines related data to analyze public needs and preferences. More specifically, it proposes a framework with supervised and ensemble learning to classify information users′ behavioral characteristics.

Defining customer experiential knowledge and its dimensions: a conceptualization starting from a netnographic study of specialty coffee blogs

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for the conceptualization of customer experiential knowledge (CEK) by logically combining its different dimensions into one coherent explanatory concept. Drawing on the integration of the literature on customer experience, customer knowledge management and customer insights acquisition, supported by adequate empirical evidence, the framework provides a systematic, comprehensive and accurate understanding of CEK which, could contribute to the identification of relevant customer experience insights useful for customer knowledge management.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis follows an inductive/deductive interpretative approach and it is based on a netnography of specialty coffee bloggers’ narratives in relation to their sustainability practices.

Findings

The paper identifies the following six types of CEK: normative, subcultural, epicurean, transcendental, subcultural and symbolic. Accordingly, CEK is defined as the knowledge tacitly possessed by customers in relation to how they live their consumption experiences according to a body of heterogeneous socio-cultural contextual factors (ethos, norms and symbols) and subjective influences (emotions, ingenuity, instincts and senses) deeply embedded into the narrative of a consumption experience.

Originality/value

While CEK has been largely observed and acknowledged, it has not been yet adequately addressed by existing research. The provision of a conceptual definition of CEK which emphasizes its different dimensions will be of use to both academics and practitioners to better identify and categorize the different manifestations of CEK when undertaking empirical observations or managerial decisions.

How Social Media Facilitates the Knowledge Management Process: A Systematic Review

The aim of this review is to present the social media roles that facilitate knowledge management processes. This paper used a systematic literature review method based on PRISMA guidelines. The literature search was conducted using the following five electronic scientific databases: Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, Emerald, PubMed and Scopus. The search identified 82 selected works and the findings showed that social media facilitates knowledge acquisition by being used as a source of knowledge, facilitating knowledge accessibility and influencing knowledge creation and creating an interactive environment. Social media has created a new dimension of knowledge organisation by evolving knowledge storage, retrieval and classification activities. Social media has developed into a new flexible form of user’s communication by removing knowledge-sharing barriers, and accelerated knowledge sharing, in particular collaborative sharing. Finally, social media facilitates knowledge application activities such as knowledge translation, decision-making, education, problem-solving, team work and research process. The knowledge activities in social media need to be monitored for quality and reliability, and endangerment of ethics, users’ privacy, fake news, false information and negative comments need to be maintained.

Serial Multiple Mediation of the Impact of Customer Knowledge Management on Sustainable Product Innovation by Innovative Work Behavior

Customer knowledge management (CKM) is a relatively new research domain, aiming at exploring the potential of customer knowledge for the open innovation process of companies. The present paper aims at performing a complex analysis of the serial mediation phenomenon of the impact of CKM on sustainable product innovation (SPI) by innovative work behavior (IWB). The dimensions considered for IWB in the present research are the following: idea exploration, idea generation, idea championing, and idea implementation. In the first phase of our research, we performed a semantic analysis of the main concepts, ideas, and theories, based on a critical literature review. Thus, we reached a deeper understanding of the complexity of the concept of knowledge by learning the theory of knowledge fields and knowledge dynamics. As a result of this conceptual phase, we designed the research model and a questionnaire to be addressed to managers from the business environment. In the quantitative phase of the present research, we used the statistical software packages, SPSS version 26.0, and the PROCESS macro for SPSS, version 3.5. We used well-known criteria for reliability, validation, and interpretation of the numerical results. The final results demonstrate a significant serial mediation phenomenon regarding the impact of CKM on SPI by the IWB. These results are important in developing the co-creation process of new products by using customer knowledge. The present research reveals some original ideas concerning the impact of CKM on SPI by using a serial mediation process performed by basic innovative work dimensions. The implications of the present research are significant for both academics and practitioners in designing open innovation in knowledge ecosystems.

Process innovation in the digital age of business: the role of digital business intensity and knowledge management

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the dynamic relationship between digital business intensity (DBI) and process innovation through knowledge management. More specifically, the paper investigates the mechanism through which DBI and knowledge management jointly influence process innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a single informant approach of data collection and consistent with prior research, and a random sample of CIOs was selected and invited to participate in the survey resulting in a total 193 usable responses. The analysis and empirical validation of the research model used partial least square.

Findings

The results reveal a positive link between DBI and process innovation. This finding presents empirical support for hitherto anecdotal evidence regarding the impact of DBI on process innovation. In particular, the study notes the impactful role of DBI as an input repertoire that facilitates knowledge management with subsequent positive effects on process innovation. Results further surface an accentuating interplay between DBI and knowledge management on process innovation.

Originality/value

The current study advances our understanding of how DBI, a pre-condition to attaining digital business strategy, influences process innovation. Moreover, investigating the consequences of DBI should help offer an initial insight to managers and top management facing the challenge of implementing a successful digital footprint in an increasingly digital business landscape. Furthermore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate how digitization efforts and knowledge management practices jointly affect process innovation.

Social media analytics for end-users' expectation management in information systems development projects

Purpose

This study, an exploratory research, aims to investigate social media users' expectations of information systems (IS) products that are conceived but not yet launched. It specifically analyses social media data from Twitter about forthcoming smartphones and smartwatches from Apple and Samsung, two firms known for their innovative gadgets.

Design/methodology/approach

Tweets related to the following four forthcoming IS products were retrieved from 1st January 2020 to 30th September 2020: (1) Apple iPhone 12 (6,125 tweets), (2) Apple Watch 6 (553 tweets), (3) Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 2 (923 tweets) and (4) Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 3 (207 tweets). These 7,808 tweets were analysed using a combination of the Natural Language Processing Toolkit (NLTK) and sentiment analysis (SentiWordNet).

Findings

The online community was quite vocal about topics such as design, camera and hardware specifications. For all the forthcoming gadgets, the proportion of positive tweets exceeded that of negative tweets. The most prevalent sentiment expressed in Apple-related tweets was neutral, but in Samsung-related tweets was positive. Additionally, it was found that the proportion of tweets echoing negative sentiment was lower for Apple compared with Samsung.

Originality/value

This paper is the earliest empirical work to examine the degree to which social media chatter can be used by project managers for IS development projects, specifically for the purpose of end-users' expectation management.

The evaluation of the relationship between customers’ knowledge management and their loyalty to academic libraries

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the relationship between customers’ knowledge management and their loyalty to academic libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted by the descriptive-survey method. After determining the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire, 400 questionnaires were distributed among the undergraduate students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM) by stratified sampling method. Finally, 373 questionnaires were considered as the basis for data analysis. Structural equation method was used for data analysis.

Findings

In this study, nine hypotheses were examined and tested. The results of the path analysis indicated that factors such as perceived value, knowledge about customer, satisfaction, perceived quality, knowledge for customer and knowledge about customer had the most to least impact on customer loyalty to academic libraries. In addition, this study highlighted the role of perceived value. Data analysis showed the important role of perceived value as an interface between customers’ knowledge management and its direct and indirect relationship with them.

Practical implications

Based on the findings of this study, it seems that the managers and the librarians of academic libraries need to consider the relationship between customers’ knowledge management and perceived quality, as well as the satisfaction of their customers to use the customer knowledge management capacities for developing their loyalty.

Originality/value

In this case, an effective step can be taken toward developing the knowledge management of users and ultimately encouraging them to show their loyalty to academic libraries and satisfying their information needs and providing the justification for the survival of these types of libraries.

A Social Media Mining and Ensemble Learning Model: Application to Luxury and Fast Fashion Brands

This research proposes a framework for the fashion brand community to explore public participation behaviors triggered by brand information and to understand the importance of key image cues and brand positioning. In addition, it reviews different participation responses (likes, comments, and shares) to build systematic image and theme modules that detail planning requirements for community information. The sample includes luxury fashion brands (Chanel, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton) and fast fashion brands (Adidas, Nike, and Zara). Using a web crawler, a total of 21,670 posts made from 2011 to 2019 are obtained. A fashion brand image model is constructed to determine key image cues in posts by each brand. Drawing on the findings of the ensemble analysis, this research divides cues used by the six major fashion brands into two modules, image cue module and image and theme cue module, to understand participation responses in the form of likes, comments, and shares. The results of the systematic image and theme module serve as a critical reference for admins exploring the characteristics of public participation for each brand and the main factors motivating public participation.

Linking Social Media Marketing Activities to Revisit Intention through Brand Trust and Brand Loyalty on the Coffee Shop Facebook Pages: Exploring Sequential Mediation Mechanism

Social media marketing (SMM) is a new field that involves the marketing of goods, services, information, and ideas via online networks and social media. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study aims to examine how social-media-marketing activities (SMMA) affect brand loyalty, brand trust, and revisit intention (returning to the same place in the future) for coffee shops in Northern Cyprus. Empirical evidence was collected from 415 undergraduate students who follow specific coffee shops on Facebook, and a structural equation modeling approach was applied. The results showed a significant positive influence of SMMA on brand loyalty, brand trust, and revisit intention. The findings show that SMMA are a stronger predictor of revisit intention than brand loyalty and brand trust. Furthermore, brand loyalty and brand trust are significant mediators in the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention. Additionally, the sequential mediation effects of brand loyalty and brand trust in the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention are supported. Overall, with effective SMMA from coffee shops on Facebook, the customer grows confidence in the brand, which increases the level of brand loyalty. This, in turn, encourages revisit intention of the customer. As a result, brand executives on social media platforms (in this case, Facebook) should promote specific SMMA for their brands and engage in such activities to creates brand trust and brand loyalty. These findings contribute to the literature by examining the relationship between SMMA and revisit intention and exploring how SMMA affect revisit intention by adding brand loyalty and brand trust as mediators.

Enhancing supply chain sensing capability through social media: an environmental scanning perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between social media and sensing capability for supply chain management (SCM) from an environmental scanning perspective. The authors consider upstream supply and downstream customer markets as two aspects of social media-enabled environmental scanning (SMES). The moderating effects of three uncertainties are explored.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 178 supply chain professionals through a survey. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to analyze the data.

Findings

SMES in both supply and customer markets enhance sensing capability. Interestingly, the results reveal an accelerating effect on sensing by the incremental effort of SMES-supply. However, that of SMES-customer leads to a decelerating outcome for sensing. Also, uncertainties, especially the demand- and technology-related, play a series of interacting effects according to SMES levels.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to the literature of operations and supply chains regarding social media strategies and dynamic capabilities. It opens the black box of environmental scanning behavior on social media and adds new knowledge on the dynamic influence of such behavior toward organizational sensing capability for SCM. In addition, further understanding on supply chain uncertainty as a moderator is also strengthened through this research.

Originality/value

This research is the first to empirically uncover the effect of social media on sensing capability for SCM through the lens of environmental scanning. The results support the employment of social networking for improving supply and demand sensing.

Investigation of customer churn insights and intelligence from social media: a netnographic research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the distinct reasons and more common reasons that reduce customer satisfaction and are antecedents to customer churn behavior in the telecommunication industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted the netnography approach to investigate churn behavior by utilizing online user-generated content in qualified social media communities.

Findings

The investigation revealed that “data speed issue”, “ineffective relationship building”, “service area coverage issues” and “billing issues” are some of the most important attributes that influence a consumers' decision to churn. Further, the churn consequence influencers model summarizes the attributes that contribute to overall dissatisfaction and finally results in churn behavior. The study found out the application of the netnography approach in a quantitatively dominant research area and stands out with its insights from a rich qualitative data.

Practical implications

Proper clarification of customer expectations and pain points can help reduce customer churn. The study will serve as the basis for developing future churn prediction models that will contribute to the informed decision-making process.

Originality/value

Contributing to research on customer churn behavior, the study offers a novel attempt to study customer satisfaction and customer churn behavior jointly. The paper is the first attempt that contributes to the extant literature by adopting the unique qualitative approach to understand the reasons for telecommunication churn behavior in the emerging Indian market. Another contribution of this research is that the paper shifts the focus of the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature to the telecommunications industry, thus adding another block to ongoing research in eWOM communication.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ OIR-02-2020-0048

The interaction between social media, knowledge management and service quality: A decision tree analysis

The existing literature fails to identify to which extent the utilization of social media could be relevant for increasing the effectiveness of knowledge management, in respect to overall business operations. In order to shed some light on this area we define three goals. Firstly, we investigate to what extent the different activities of clients on social media (SM), are important to the processes of knowledge management (KM) in companies. Secondly, we examine to what extent KM functions can be relevant in attaining the quality of IT services. Thirdly, we analyze to what extent KM mediates between SM and the quality of IT services, that is, which client activities on SM should be formalised in the form of KM processes so as to influence the quality of IT services. In order to asses these goals, the decision tree method was used at the sample of B2B companies, more specifically at the sample of those companies offering Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). The study has shown that: (i) SM client activities have the largest importance for building efficient KM; (ii) KM functions are relevante to the overall quality of IT services, and (iii) those SM options and activities have been identified, whose importance for the assessment of the quality of IT services is indirectly transmitted through KM. This paper offers new empirical evidence which can lead to a better understanding of the role of KM in KIBS. Thanks to the obtained findings, managers will be able to define the goals of their companies in relation to the utilization of SM, more specifically: their presentation on SM, monitoring the outcomes of the SM, usage improving their KM practices and, thus, define strategies to increase the quality of the IT services they offer.

The dance of knowledge management strategies in libraries: The case of the libraries of the Iranian universities of medical science

The success of any organization is highly dependent on choosing the right strategic orientation. The main objectives of the present study were to identify appropriate knowledge management strategies and their subsystems in the libraries of Iranian universities of medical science, and to examine their level of strategic alignment. The study population consisted of 55 managers and 225 librarians working at 33 central libraries in Iranian universities of medical science. In order to carry out the research, two questionnaires were initially designed to collect information about the dominant system strategies and knowledge management subsystems. Then, the means of the sum of the items that were planned for each strategy were calculated, the highest means in each group were considered as the basis for determining the dominant strategy, and the levels of alignment between the different strategies were assessed. The results showed that, with regard to the degree of dynamism, maintaining the status quo was the dominant strategy of the knowledge management system in the selected academic libraries, and with regard to the knowledge acquisition and identification subsystem, passive was the dominant strategy. Externalization was the dominant strategy related to the knowledge creation and transfer subsystem, and static was the dominant strategy related to the knowledge application subsystem. As for the level of alignment between the strategies, the results revealed that the strategic alignment is at an average level. Based on the findings, improving the existing conditions in these libraries requires a transition from traditional knowledge management approaches towards more modern approaches, as well as the selection of optimal implementation strategies for the knowledge management system and subsystems.

Utilising Enterprise Social Media for Product Innovation: The Role of Market Orientation

The literature on the role of enterprise social media (ESM) utilisation in driving the innovation profiles of organisations has not provided an understanding of the mechanisms of this positive relationship. By conceptualising ESM as including internal and external social media use, this study examined the mediating role of market orientation strategies in the link between ESM use and product innovation. The results of structural equation modeling, among a sample of organisations based in South Africa, show that ESM use positively affects the market orientation strategies of companies and these have a positive effect on product innovation. While inter-functional coordination does not mediate the external social media–product innovation link, it does so in the internal social media–product innovation link. These results imply that organisations that wish to pursue product innovation (and perhaps strategies of differentiation) should use ESM, leveraging their value in knowledge generation and assimilation.

Customer Knowledge Management in SMEs Facing Digital Transformation

This paper provided a novel definition of customer knowledge management (CKM) as the logical intersection of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM). The main aim was to investigate the digital technologies supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in creative industries in their customer knowledge management strategies. To achieve this aim, a survey involving 73 handicraft and/or retail SMEs operating in luxury jewelry industry was conducted. The survey results pointed out that in a few years the scenario has changed and that surveyed SMEs make more intensive use of traditional technologies supporting customer knowledge management processes rather than more innovative digital technologies, which are also cheap and easy to use. This finding showed the difficulties of SMEs operating in creative industries to be responsive to the rapid technological changes that are affecting CKM, as well as the lack of support from information technology vendors in the decision-making process for choosing adequate digital systems.

Detecting customers knowledge from social media big data: toward an integrated methodological framework based on netnography and business analytics

Purpose

This paper aims to demonstrate how the integration of netnography and business analytics can support companies in the process of value creation from social big data by leveraging on customer relationship management and customer knowledge management (CKM).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts the methodology of a single case study by using desk analysis, netnography and business analytics. The context of analysis has been identified into the case of Aurora Company, a well-known producer of fountain pens.

Findings

The case demonstrates how the integration of big data analytics and netnography is relevant for the development of a customer relationship management strategy. The results obtained have been categorized according to the three main categories of customer knowledge, such as knowledge for, from and about customer.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents implications for the advancement of the theory on CKM by demonstrating, as the acquisition, storage and management of data generated by customers on social media require the adoption of a cross-disciplinary approach resulting from the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The framework is structured as methodological tool to detect knowledge in virtual community.

Practical implications

Practical implications arise for managers and entrepreneurs in terms of value creation from knowledge assets generated on social big data through the management of the customers’ relationship and data-driven innovation patterns.

Originality/value

This paper offers an original contribution of integration of well-established research streams. The focus on the knowledge under the perspectives of information assets for, from and about customers in the debate on value creation and management of big data is an element of value offered by this study in addition to the comprehension of strategies of social customer relationship management as actual initiative embraced by a company in the leveraging of innovation and tradition.

Tracing the evolution of the literature on knowledge management in inter-organizational contexts: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose

Based on the growing interest devoted to knowledge management (KM) in inter-organizational contexts, the purpose of this paper is to systematize existing literature and understand how it developed over time, thus tracing its roots and evolution to unveil gaps and suggest new promising areas for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used bibliographic techniques to analyze a sample of 85 studies along three main periods (1998-2010, 2011-2014 and 2015-2019). In particular, this study focused on co-occurrences of keywords to identify the most dominant themes, as well as connections among these themes.

Findings

Overall, the review shows the main outlets that have published papers on the topic of KM in inter-organizational contexts, as well as the theoretical background this research builds on. The temporal analysis exhibits the core topics that have persisted and grown consistently over time as the links between KM, innovation and networks. In addition, the review highlights new emerging themes, such as the human and social side of KM, and new interesting contexts of study (e.g. coopetition and open/user innovation), which opens exciting avenues for new research opportunities.

Originality/value

This study illustrates the conceptual structure of the field in three distinct periods and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the key topics and their interrelatedness within the area of KM in inter-organizational contexts. Both researchers and practitioners can profit from the study because it reveals consolidated topics while identifying areas that still need to be investigated to foster KM in inter-organizational settings.

Exchange characteristics, capability upgrading and innovation performance: evidence from Latin America

Purpose

This paper aims to attempt to examine the effect of firm-customer exchange characteristics, frequency and specificity, on the likelihood of the firm to generate customer-driven innovation. The authors draw from social capital theory and argue that repetitive and customer-specific exchange improves the trusts between firm and customers, which in turn ease the flows of tacit knowledge from customers to the firm. From the perspective of customer knowledge management, the authors contribute by examining the mechanism by which a firm can acquire knowledge from and about customers. The authors further argue that a firm’s ability to absorb knowledge from customers and turn them into innovation also depends on its internal capability. A firm that consistently upgrades its capacity is more likely to generate customer-driven innovation than those that do not. Also, the authors argue that the joint effect of exchange characteristics and internal capability upgrading can further increase the likelihood of customer-driven innovation. Such a joint force implies the positive moderating effect of internal capability upgrading to the relationship between exchange characteristics and customer-driven innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors test the hypotheses on 3,000 firms from six countries in Latin America. They take advantage of the 2017 World Bank Enterprises Survey. This most recent of the survey asks questions on various types of innovation and firm-customers exchange characteristics and other firm-level variables.

Findings

The authors find support for our hypotheses that repeated exchange and exchanges tailored to specific customers have a positive effect on customer-driven innovation. Also, they find the support that internal capability upgrading, in the form of investment in product design, marketing and organizational development has a positive effect on customer-driven innovation. The authors also find that investment in product design positively moderates the impact of exchange characteristics on the likelihood of customer-driven innovation.

Originality/value

While past studies focus on strategies to acquire and manage customers’ knowledge, little has been said about how exchange attributes can encourage or discourage innovation? This question is important because various theoretical perspectives may have a different prediction on the effect of firm-customer relationship and innovation. This study attempts to bridge such theoretical tension.

Identifying customer knowledge on social media through data analytics

Purpose

Customer knowledge from social media can become an important organizational asset. The purpose of this paper is to identify useful customer knowledge including knowledge for customer, knowledge about customers and knowledge from customers from social media data and facilitate social media-based customer knowledge management.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a case study to analyze people’s online discussion on Twitter regarding laptop brands and manufacturers. After collecting relevant tweets using Twitter search APIs, the authors applied statistical analysis, text mining and sentiment analysis techniques to analyze the social media data set and visualize relevant insights and patterns in order to identify customer knowledge.

Findings

The paper identifies useful insights and knowledge from customers and knowledge about customers from social media data. Furthermore, the paper shows how the authors can use knowledge from customers and knowledge about customers to help companies develop knowledge for customers.

Originality/value

This is an original social media analytics study that discusses how to transform large-scale social media data into useful customer knowledge including knowledge for customer, knowledge about customers and knowledge from customers.

Mapping Methodological Issues in Knowledge Management Research, 2009–2014

By drawing on the nuances in methodological research literature, this qualitative content analysis study investigated the research procedures employed in knowledge management (KM) research between 2009 and 2014, to gain an understanding of the methodological choices made by KM researchers. In total, 989 articles published in five leading KM-centric journals were reviewed. The results revealed that KM research utilised a variety of research procedures. The predominance of positivist epistemologies varied across the five journals, but mixed methods research was not prevalent. True to the interpretivist presuppositions of this study, these results are not definitive. Deploying multi-methods may result in a deeper understanding of the use of research procedures in the field. The value of this study lies in the fact that it will lead to greater knowledge of research methodologies in the subject field and provide a baseline for future studies that have an interest in reflecting on context-specific methodological practices.

EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER ORIENTATION ON INNOVATION CAPACITY AND MARKETING RESULTS IN SMEs: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF INNOVATION ORIENTATION

Managing customer knowledge is a key of source for SMEs. The principal aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the direct effects of two specific strategic resources: customer orientation and customer knowledge management (CKM), on innovation capacity and marketing results in SMEs. The study also examines the role of innovation orientation as a mediator between customer orientation and CKM. For this purpose, a structural model was proposed and tested through an empirical investigation with variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS) using a sample made up of 210 Spanish SMEs. The findings highlight the relevance of CKM and customer orientation as important strategic resources for developing innovation capacity and marketing results, and they confirm the mediation effect of innovation orientation. Empirical evidence supports the importance of customer orientation and CKM in boosting innovation and performance. These findings have important implications for performance in SMEs.

Social media marketing in luxury brands

Purpose

Digital technologies and social media have improved the connectivity and collaboration between firms and customers in all sectors. However, in the luxury sector, the approach to social media and digital technologies has been slower than in other industries. The purpose of this paper is to review the academic literature on social media marketing in luxury brands to highlight the current state of the art, the addressed key research themes and the implications for management research and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review of academic research on social media marketing has been conducted to gather, examine and synthetize studies related to luxury brands. By following a review protocol based on both automatic and manual search on the Scopus database, all relevant studies on luxury brands were identified and analyzed.

Findings

A critical conceptualization of social media marketing in luxury brands has been provided and the emerging key research themes have been categorized into four main areas.

Originality/value

Academic literature about social media marketing activities in luxury firms is very limited and existing studies focus only on certain aspects, contexts or single cases. In contrast, the value of this study, for both academics and practitioners, lies in providing, for the first time, a comprehensive and critical systematization of social media marketing academic literature in the field of luxury brands.

Managing knowledge through social media

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise social media usage (SMU) as a contributory, knowledge management (KM) tool towards entrepreneurial behaviour amongst small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although an underdeveloped concept in entrepreneurship, the conceptual analysis of KM presents evidence which links SMU as complementary to changing KM conventions.

Design/methodology/approach

The pertinent KM and SMU literatures of the SME context were reviewed to form an understanding of this context. Employing a mixed-methods approach, a pragmatic, thematic investigation of SMU-enhanced KM was facilitated.

Findings

Substantial benefits of innovative SMU, as a management tool towards SME entrepreneurialism, were witnessed. SMU enhances the administration of real-time knowledge, encouraging creativity. However, longer-term costs of employing requisite personnel, and anticipated organisational restructuring, present challenges. The paper identifies the potentials of social media technologies in overcoming KM issues. The authors propose a reasoned process model towards entrepreneurial exploitation by acknowledging systematic phases of research, concept, institutionalise, develop, target and assess, referred to as the RCIDTA model.

Practical implications

The authors argue that KM, through social media, facilitates interactions to execute innovative processes within SMEs ever-changing infrastructures. It also informs nascent entrepreneurs, in considering the benefits of systematic KM, and novel SMU, opportunities. The RCIDTA model for SMEs can be utilised in improving knowledge ecosystems of entrepreneurial SMEs, promoting innovation towards sustained organisation growth.

Originality/value

This paper embraces the growing approach of SMEs applying SMU. SMU and its cost efficiency support the start-up activity. This paper highlights central issues concerning the exploitation of sector-specific KM, including organisational strategy, structure, brand formation, fiscal and personnel resource allocation and market share.

Social media as tool for facilitating knowledge creation and innovation in small and medium enterprises

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of social media usage on four knowledge creation processes, namely socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation, and innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 96 SMEs has been used to gather data through a standardised questionnaire and test the hypotheses through OLS regression models.

Findings

The results indicate that social media influence positively three out of four knowledge creation processes and that they help to foster the innovation process.

Originality/value

From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to literature considering a specific digital tool and its effect on knowledge creation and innovation. In fact, a few studies have considered the impact of social media usage on other variables, such as ROI and productivity, but never on knowledge creation and innovation through a quantitative study. From a managerial perspective, the research suggests managers to implement and involve social media within business and innovation processes.

Knowledge from customer, for customer or about customer: which triggers innovation capability the most?

Purpose

This paper examines the influence of three dimensions of customer knowledge management – knowledge from customer, knowledge for customer and knowledge about customer – on innovation capabilities (speed and quality) and new service market performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The model links three dimensions of customer knowledge management to two dimensions of innovation capabilities. Further, the model links two dimensions of innovation capabilities to new service market performance. Analysis was conducted through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS software, using data from 253 managers representing 26 banks in Bangladesh.

Findings

The findings of this study show that knowledge from customer and knowledge for customer are the most influential predictors of new service market performance. Of the three dimensions of customer knowledge management, knowledge from customer turns out to be the strongest predictor of innovation quality and speed. Innovation quality has a greater impact on new service market performance than innovation speed. Innovation capability (quality and speed) plays a mediating role in this study.

Practical implications

Managing knowledge from, for and about customer should be systematically considered as a synergy approach to firms’ processes and activities to co-create value with customers. In particular, managers should put more emphasis on knowledge from and for customer to enhance innovation capacity and achieve success in the development of a new service.

Originality/value

This paper empirically supports the significant influence of knowledge from, for and about customer on innovation capabilities (quality and speed) and new service market performance. While the results provide guidance for researchers and practitioners, it also adds value to innovation-related research.

Social-Media-Based Knowledge Sharing

Social media continues to proliferate. This article presents a qualitative analysis of twelve cases of social-media-based knowledge sharing. The analysis reveals six categories of knowledge sharing in the social context. The analysis indicates that personalization of the organization entities and socialization of the participation on social media for knowledge sharing are two key success factors. The findings suggest that the social dimension, which has been absent from the traditional knowledge management models, broadens the scope of sustainable knowledge sharing practices in the digital society.

How platforms are transforming customer information management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain how ecosystems and platforms have evolved to manage customer information and to identify the management, research and teaching implications of this evolution.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on research and industrial experience of two of the co-authors in customer relationship management, further developed with other co-authors in the field of business models, the research and teaching experience of the university authors and cross-functional literature reviews in the areas of strategy, marketing, economics, organizational behaviour and information management.

Findings

This paper shows that digitalization, cloud computing and new information-based platforms are beginning to change how customer information is being managed, creating new opportunities for improving marketing, customer relationship management and business strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The impact of platforms on the management of customer information needs to be confirmed by primary empirical research.

Practical implications

This paper identifies the need for senior marketing management to examine closely how internal and external/public customer information platforms may enhance their capability for managing customers and setting new strategic directions.

Social implications

The emergence of giant multi-sided platforms has clear implications for data protection and privacy, which need to be explored more in research.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the move to customer information platforms and identifies how senior managers should consider them as an option for better customer information management and as a basis for new business strategies.

Successful customer knowledge management implementation through social media capabilities

Purpose

Nowadays, the recent advances in information and communications technology and the advent of Web 2.0 technology have resulted in the increasing popularity of social media and provided enterprises and companies with new horizons in establishing an effective significant relationship with clients. Despite the recognized importance of social media in knowledge management (KM) and customer relationships, there is not any research to identify social media capabilities related to customer knowledge management (CKM). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to recognize the social media capabilities related to CKM effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

To obtain research objectives, literature review, focus group method and expert interview were applied to identify and categorize social media capabilities. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) also used to prioritize capabilities important.

Findings

The results indicate social media capabilities such as conversation capability, sharing capability, groups/community capability, relationship capability, speed and ease of access for the public are the main capabilities related to exploit customer knowledge and manage it successfully.

Research limitations/implications

The results highlight the different social media capabilities for CKM approach which will enhance customer insight and personalized services. Because of the newness of CKM and social media implementation in Iranian firms, empirical study was not conducted for a better understanding of their business value.

Originality/value

The main innovation of this study is identifying the social media capabilities related to CKM and prioritizing them which allow managers to select the most appropriate social media tools based on these results.

Non-profit organizations’ use of tools and technologies for knowledge management: a comparative study

Purpose

This paper aims to present findings from a study conducted with non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada and Australia, focusing on the use of tools and technologies for knowledge management (KM). NPOs of different sizes and operating in different sectors were studied in two large-scale national surveys. The paper is useful to both practitioners in NPOs for understanding tool use for KM activities and to scholars to further develop the KM-NPO domain.

Design/methodology/approach

Two nation-wide surveys were conducted with Canadian and Australian NPOs of different sizes (i.e. very small to large-sized organizations) and operating in different sectors (e.g. animal welfare, education and research, culture and arts). An analysis of responses explores the use of tools and technologies by NPOs. Respondents identified the tools and technologies they used from nine pre-determined themes (quantitative data) plus an additional category of “other tools” (qualitative data), which allowed for free text responses. The quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and the qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

Findings

Quantitative data analysis provides key findings including the popularity of physical, print documents across all NPO sizes and sectors. Statistical tests revealed, for example, there is no significant difference for the same-sized organizations in Canadian and Australian NPOs in the use of tools and technologies for KM activities. However, there were differences in the use of tools and technologies across different sizes of NPOs. The qualitative analysis revealed a number of additional tools and technologies and also provided contextual details about the nature of tool use. The paper provides specific examples of the types of tools and technologies NPOs use.

Originality/value

The paper has both practical and academic contributions, including areas for future research. The findings on the use of KM tools and technologies by NPOs contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain in general and also build the literature base for the understudied KM-NPO domain. NPOs will also find the paper useful in better understanding tools and technological implementation for KM activities. The study is unique not only in the content focus on KM for NPOs but also for the comparative study of activities in two countries.

Effective Factors of Social Customer Knowledge Management (SCKM) in Organisations: Study of Electronic Service Providers in Iran

Nowadays, appropriate management strategies and competitive advantage for most organisations need developing an integrative architecture based on customers’ knowledge. One of the most important parts of this architecture is the process of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) through social media. This study, shows these four interactions, including ECRM systems, types of customer knowledge, Knowledge Creation Processes and Social Media. In other words, this research examines the effective factors on SCKM framework due to concepts of KM, Knowledge (for/from/about) customer, Customer Knowledge Management (CKM), ECRM and Social Media. This research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, the conceptual framework has been developed based on the grounded theory method. Then, the extracted model has been examined and confirmed by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. So, effective factors of Social Customer Knowledge Management (SCKM) among Iranian electronic service providers have been presented. They include effective parameters for determining the level of SCKM acceptance in six main dimensions: Causal Conditions (five effective factors), Phenomenon (one effective factor), Strategies (seven effective factors), Context (three effective factors), Concequences (two effective factors) and Intervening Conditions (four effective factors). The developed model can be used as a scientific, theoretical and fundamental framework for maturity assessment of organisations with the aim of establishing SCKM systems.