Previous studies have addressed social media adoption in business-to-business (B2B) contexts, but limited research has focused on understanding social media marketing assimilation in the B2B context. Using an integrative model, this study examines how top management participation influences the assimilation of social media in the key marketing areas of product development, pricing decision-making, channel management, and promotion. Furthermore, it examines the resulting impact of these assimilations on B2B firms' performance, particularly in respect of sales performance and relationship development. The study also examines the moderating impact of absorptive capacity on top management participation in the assimilation processes. The findings reveal that top management participation strongly influences social media assimilation into marketing functions. However, the impact of social media assimilation on B2B firms' performance is varied. While assimilation for channel management positively impacts both sales performance and relationship development, assimilation for product development is only positively related to relationship development. Conversely, assimilation into the functions of pricing decisions and promotion activities shows no significant impact on either sales performance or relationship development. Finally, absorptive capacity positively moderates top management participation in social media assimilation into all key marketing functions except one. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

中文翻译：

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B2B 公司的社交媒体营销同化：前因后果的综合框架

先前的研究已经讨论了企业对企业 (B2B) 环境中社交媒体的采用，但有限的研究集中在了解 B2B 环境中社交媒体营销同化。本研究采用综合模型，探讨了高层管理人员的参与如何影响社交媒体在产品开发、定价决策、渠道管理和促销等关键营销领域的同化。此外，它还研究了这些同化对 B2B 公司绩效的影响，特别是在销售绩效和关系发展方面。该研究还考察了吸收能力对高层管理人员参与同化过程的调节影响。研究结果表明，高层管理人员的参与强烈影响社交媒体融入营销职能。然而，社交媒体同化对 B2B 公司绩效的影响是多种多样的。虽然渠道管理同化对销售业绩和关系发展都有积极影响，但产品开发同化仅与关系发展正相关。相反，同化定价决策和促销活动的功能对销售业绩或关系发展没有显着影响。最后，吸收能力积极调节高层管理人员对社交媒体同化到除一项之外的所有关键营销职能的参与。讨论了这些发现的理论和管理意义。