Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Industrial Marketing Management

The use of social media in sales: Individual and organizational

antecedents, and the role of customer engagement in social media
Rodrigo Guesalaga
School of Management, Cranfield University, Building 32, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom
School of Management, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: There is recognition that social media can benefit personal selling and sales management, especially in the B2B
Received 22 March 2015 context. This research draws on interactional psychology theory to propose and test a model of usage of social
Received in revised form 21 November 2015 media in sales, analyzing individual, organizational, and customer-related factors. We find that organizational
Accepted 10 December 2015
competence and commitment with social media are key determinants of social media usage in sales, as well as
Available online 18 December 2015
individual commitment. Customer engagement with social media also predicts social media usage in sales,
Keywords:
both directly and (mostly) through the individual and organizational factors analyzed, especially organizational
Social media competence and commitment. Finally, we find evidence of synergistic effects between individual competence
Sales management and commitment, which is not found at the organizational level. We conduct multiple regression analysis of
Business-to-business marketing data obtained by surveying 220 sales executives in the United States.
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The use of social media (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter)
has grown significantly among consumers. According to the Nielsen
Company (2012), people spend more time on social media than any
other category of sites, with an average of 121.18 min per day in 2012,
which represents an increase of 37% with respect to the previous year.
This trend has motivated researchers to understand how to use social
media to influence consumer preferences, purchase decisions, and
worth of mouth (Michaelidou, Siamagka, & Christodoulides, 2011;
Kumar & Mirchandani, 2012). Moreover, scholars have also studied
the use of social media to communicate with customers and improve
their experience (Wilson, Guinan, Parise, & Weinberg, 2011), and the
functional building blocks of a social media strategy to reach consumers
(Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011).
However, more research on the use of social media in business-to-
business (B2B) marketing, and selling in particular, is needed. There is
recognition that modern selling requires the use of technology capabil-
ities – such as social media tools – as it affects buyer-seller relationships,
the salesperson role, and the sales organization (Christ & Anderson,
2011; Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd, & Lee, 2012). In practice, though, B2B
firms are only starting to explore the use social media and have still little
understanding about its main drivers and consequences (Wiersema,
2013). In their HBR article “Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy”
Giamanco and Gregoire (2012) argue for the potential benefits of
using social media in selling, in aspects such as prospecting, qualifying
E-mail addresses: rodrigo.guesalaga@cranfield.ac.uk, guesalaga@uc.cl.
leads, and managing relationships with customers. Yet, the authors
highlight that, surprisingly, sales managers have been slow to recognize
this potential, and companies are still in an early stage of adopting social
media. This is consistent with the findings of a study conducted by
Guesalaga and Kapelianis (2012), together with the Sales Management
Association (Atlanta, United States of America): 70% of the companies in
the study are either not using social media in Sales, or just exploring its
use. This discrepancy between the relevance and the usage of social
media in sales motivates this research.
Previous research has addressed the role and breadth of social media
in sales (Andzulis, Panagopoulos, & Rapp, 2012; Marshall et al., 2012),
its connection with customer relationship management (CRM), service
behaviors and value creation (Agnihotri, Kothandaraman, Kashyap, &
Singh, 2012; Trainor, 2012), its influence on performance (Rodriguez,
Peterson, & Krishnan, 2012; Schultz, Schwepker, & Good, 2012), and
the motivation of sales employees to use social media technology
(Levin, Hansen, & Laverie, 2012). With respect to antecedents of
social media usage in sales, Schultz et al. (2012) have looked at the
role of age, social media norms, and customer oriented selling in
explaining salesperson's use of social media, and recently Keinänen
and Kuivalainen (2015) explored the use of social media from the B2B
customer perspective. Still, there is a need to understand which factors
drive the use of social media in B2B selling by the sales organization. Is
this usage driven mainly by characteristics of the sales manager? Is it
largely determined by organizational factors? Do customers play a rele-
vant role? Answers to such questions should be informative to senior
management who try to encourage the use of social media in sales.
The purpose of this research is to contribute to this emerging litera-
ture by proposing and testing a model of social media usage in sales.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.12.002
0019-8501/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
72 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
Recognizing the critical boundary-spanning role that the sales organiza-
tion has within their company by being in the front line with customers,
and drawing on interactional psychology theory, we propose that sales
executives' competence and commitment with social media are rele-
vant person antecedents of social media usage in sales. Moreover, we
suggest that organizational competence and commitment, as well as
customers' engagement in social media, are meaningful situation deter-
minants of social media usage in sales. We elaborate on how these
person and situation antecedents relate, through moderation and
mediation analyses. We conclude with a discussion of the key findings
of this study, the theoretical contribution to the existing literature, the
managerial implications, and some limitations and avenues for future
research.
2. Background literature
2.1. The concept of social media
Social media has been defined in several ways. Marketo (2010, p. 5)
defines it as “the production, consumption and exchange of informa-
tion through online social interactions and platforms.” Kaplan and
Haenlein (2010, p. 61) define social media as “a group of Internet-
based applications that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and allow the creation and exchange of
User Generated Content.” In a selling context, looking at customers as
a key context for social media usage, Andzulis, Panagopoulos and
Rapp (2012, p. 308) define social media as “the technological compo-
nent of the communication, transaction and relationship building func-
tions of a business which leverages the network of customers and
prospects to promote value co-creation.”
Social media has been described by Kietzmann et al. (2011) in terms
of its functionality, including identity (the extent to which users reveal
themselves), presence (the extent to which users know if others are
available), sharing (the extent to which users exchange, distribute and
receive content), relationships (the extent to which users relate to
each other), groups (the extent to which users are ordered or form com-
munities), conversations (the extent to which users communicate with
each other), and reputation (the extent to which users know the social
standing of others). Therefore, social media can also be defined in terms
of the purposes it serves.
In practice, social media refers to specific platforms through which
people communicate, such as discussion forums, blogs, wikis, social net-
works, and multi-media sites, being some of the most popular Facebook,
MySpace, LinkedIn, Google +, Flickr, Twitter, and Youtube (Bradley &
Barlett, 2011; Gupta, Armstrong, & Clayton, 2011). These specific
platforms may change over time or be replaced by some others, but it
seems valuable to address social media by looking at the specific plat-
forms people use.
2.2. Social media in sales
The increasing importance of social media in sales has encouraged
scholars to study the breadth of social media tools for sales, its main
benefits and challenges, and the role that salespeople play in deploying
social media strategies to increase performance and to build customer
relationships. A mix of conceptual and empirical studies represents
this emerging body of research. We provide an overview of the litera-
ture and then provide a synthesis of how this revision illuminates and
motivates this research.
2.2.1. Conceptual studies
Andzulis et al. (2012) review the role of social media in the sales
force and the sales process. They argue that the use of social media
must be driven by a deep understanding of the customers and that,
therefore, social media should be “owned” by sales and marketing,
as these functions know customers best. The authors also call for
establishing metrics of social media success that are tailored to the cus-
tomers and the value proposition. They suggest that social media strat-
egies should relate to relationships, product/service, customer, and
price, and be integrated to enhance customer engagement. Finally, the
authors explore how social media can affect the entire selling process:
understanding the customer (e.g., participating in specific LinkedIn
groups), approaching the customer (e.g., posting news in Facebook or
Twitter), discovering needs (e.g., generating blogs to ignite debate),
presenting the value (e.g., through a Youtube video), closing a sale
(e.g., driving customers from Facebook to a sales channel), and provid-
ing post-sale service (e.g., following customers on Twitter).
Agnihotri et al. (2012) present a framework on how the use of social
media by salespeople creates value in a co-creation approach to cus-
tomers. They discuss how the fit between salespeople's behaviors in in-
formation sharing, customer service and trust building, and social
media capabilities, increases the perceived value by both customers
and salespeople. They draw on task-technology fit theory (Goodhue &
Thompson, 1995) based on the belief that in order to benefit from a
technology initiative, there must be a fit between the technology and
the task supported.
Recognizing that the increased availability of social media platforms
has forced many companies to integrate these with their traditional
customer relationship management (CRM) systems, Trainor (2012)
provides a framework to link social media technologies with traditional
CRM and thus, affect performance. He suggests that the emphasis of so-
cial CRM technologies must be placed on having many-to-many relation-
ships between customers and organizations, establishing interactive
dialogs and information sharing, and promoting co-created knowledge
and value with customers. The author suggests that by doing this, and
mediated by co-created customer experience, companies should attain
customer-based profit performance, customer-based relational perfor-
mance, and new product performance.
2.2.2. Empirical studies
Marshall et al. (2012), in an effort to explore the breadth of social
media usage by sales executives, conducted four focus groups to come
up with insights about the following relevant themes: connectivity
(the level at which salespeople are connected or available to their
employers and their clients), relationship (the degree to which social
networking is used, the amount of face-to-face contact, and the use of
social media by buyers), selling tools (the array of technology-based
techniques used by sellers to create, build and maintain relationships),
generational (differences between younger and more experienced
salespeople), global (building and maintaining world-wide customers
and relationships), and Sales/Marketing interface (the merging of
sales and marketing strategies). They conclude that social media is
transforming the way sellers and buyers interact. Salespeople are
using social media more and more to demonstrate connectivity to cus-
tomers and to their organization, although the authors indicate that
the acceptance and use of technology may vary to a great extent
among salespeople. Also, social media makes buyer-seller interactions
more efficient, although this may bring a detriment to the quality of
the relationship by reducing face-to-face interaction. Clearly, the use
of social media has reduced information asymmetries between buyers
and sellers, and has made the selling process more efficient and custom-
ized. In addition, the authors identify some resistance to technology
adoption by older salespeople, and a tendency to use social media to
pursue opportunities in a global market. Finally, they stress the impor-
tance of coordinating the sales and marketing functions in how to use
social media at a strategic and tactical level.
A number of quantitative studies have been done to understand an-
tecedents and consequences of social media usage by the salesperson,
the supplier company, and the customer. For example, Levin et al.
(2012) look into motivational factors to engage in social media usage.
Using a quasi-experimental design with business students, the authors
compare extrinsic, intrinsic, and apathetic motivation as antecedents
 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
of the behavioral intention to participate in blogging, finding that all
three are significant predictors, being extrinsic motivation the most im-
portant, followed by apathetic and then intrinsic. Moreover, the authors
show that behavioral intention translates into behavioral use of social
media, which then influences both objective and subjective outcomes.
They suggest that these results may extrapolate to real salespeople
and, therefore, supplier companies interested in having salespeople ac-
tive in using social media should find ways to boost their motivation.
Also, looking at the salesperson as the unit of analysis, Schultz et al.
(2012) find that the age of the salesperson has a negative relationship
with social media usage, and social media norms has a positive one.
They also find evidence for a positive relationship between social
media usage and outcome performance. Contrary to their expectations,
they find customer oriented selling to be unrelated to social media
usage.
Rodriguez et al. (2012) conducted a survey to business-to-business
salespeople from several industries, to uncover some relevant outcomes
of social media usage at the supplier company level. They find that the
use of social media positively relates to the company's ability to create
opportunities through prospecting and to manage business relation-
ships; however, they did not find social media usage to help their un-
derstanding of customers. Lastly, the authors find that social media
usage positively relates to relationship sales performance but, contrary
to their expectations, it does not relate to outcome-based performance.
Finally, a recent study by Keinänen and Kuivalainen (2015) explores
the use of social media by B2B customers, and finds that executives who
use social media for private purposes tend to use it more also for busi-
ness purposes. The authors also find that peers' use of social media en-
courages their own use of it, and that young individuals use social
media for business purposes more than older executives.
2.2.3. Synthesis and contribution of this research
In summary, the literature on social media in sales has been both
conceptual and empirical, and has studied social media usage from the
perspectives of four relevant units of analysis: supplier company, sales
organization, salesperson, and customer. The pivotal and common
topic across these studies is social media usage, which has been ana-
lyzed mostly in terms of its nature and breadth, antecedents, and
consequences.
This research contributes to this literature by filling one important
gap, which is to empirically examine the antecedents of social media
usage by the sales organization. Admittedly, the salesperson, the suppli-
er company, and the customer represent relevant actors in the process
of understanding the drivers and outcomes of social media usage. How-
ever, because the sales organization (or function) has gained strategic
importance in supplier companies (Le Meunier-FitzHugh, Baumann,
Palmer, & Wilson, 2011), it is critical to analyze it as an entity in the
context of social media usage. LaForge, Ingram, and Cravens (2009)
argue that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the sales organiza-
tion rather than on the salesperson to align the sales function with the
company's business and marketing strategy, and to create a more
customer-focused firm. This is consistent with Sheth and Sharma
(2008), who see the sales organization as the key responsible for
implementing a successful consultative selling approach towards the
development of trusted partners. Table 1 summarizes the literature on
social media (SM) in sales, and identifies the gap that this research is ad-
dressing: an empirical study of antecedents of SM usage by the sales
organization.
3. Conceptual framework and hypotheses
As presented in the previous section, the literature suggests that so-
cial media usage in sales is desirable, because it translates into perfor-
mance and value creation, while helping the selling process in its
varying stages. However, current use of social media in B2B sales ap-
pears to be in an early stage, despite its potential benefits. Therefore,
73
Table 1
Summary of literature review and contribution of this research.
Unit of analysis Conceptual Empirical
SM in the selling process Outcomes of SM usage
Supplier company
(Andzulis et al., 2012) (Rodriguez et al., 2012)
SM in the selling process GAP: Antecedents of SM
Sales organization
(Andzulis et al., 2012) usage (This research)
Breadth of SM usage
(Marshall et al., 2012)
SM usage in value co-creation Motivation to use SM
Salesperson
(Agnihotri et al., 2012) (Levin et al., 2012)
Model for SM usage
(Schultz et al., 2012)
SM usage in value co-creation Antecedents of SM usage
Customer
(Agnihotri et al., 2012) (Keinänen & Kuivalainen, 2015)
we intend to contribute to the understanding of what drives social
media usage in sales, focusing on the sales organization as the unit of
analysis, which is particularly important in the B2B context (LaForge
et al., 2009; Sheth & Sharma, 2008).
We define social media usage in sales as the intensity with which so-
cial media is used in the company's sales organization, considering so-
cial media as web-based applications including LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook, Youtube, Google+, and similar media that foster social inter-
action. As antecedents of social media usage, we analyze factors that re-
late to the individual (sales manager's competence and commitment
with social media), the organization (supplier company's competence
and commitment with social media), and the customer (buying compa-
nies' engagement with social media). From a sales management per-
spective, these categories make sense as the sales organization plays a
boundary-spanning role between the supplier company and the cus-
tomer and, therefore, it is influenced by the forces of both entities
(Ambrose, Rutherford, Shepherd, & Tashchian, 2014; Jelinek, Ahearne,
Mathieu, & Schillewaert, 2006). We control for the size of the company,
the size of the sales force, and the age of the sales manager.
3.1. Theoretical foundation
The general theoretical framework for this research is derived from
interactional psychology (Chatman, 1989; Terborg, 1981) which posits
that behavior stems from a continuous and multidirectional interaction
between factors emanating from the person and the situation. This no-
tion had been developed by Lewin (1951) thirty years before Terborg's
publication, and it applies not only to individuals, but also to organiza-
tions (Sells, 1963). According to interactional theory, behavior is always
determined by person and situation factors. The situation factors act as a
set of stimuli that provoke responses from the person, and as opportu-
nities for action or obstacles for action (Pervin & Lewis, 2011). More-
over, not only is the person influenced by the situation, but also the
person selects and affects the situations that relate to behavior (Endler
& Magnusson, 1976).
The interactionist view of behavior provides a useful general frame-
work to analyze the use of social media in sales. In this case, we consider
the person factors as the individual characteristics of the sales manager:
competence with social media, and commitment to social media. These
aspects of the person are expected to affect the use of social media by
the sales organization. Yet, as interactional theory suggests, behavior
is also significantly determined by situation factors, that is, aspects
from the environment that interact with person factors. In the context
of this research, we consider two types of the situation factors: organi-
zational (competence with social media and commitment to social
media), and customer-related (customer engagement with social
media). This perspective of considering individual, organizational and
customer-related factors is consistent with previous work on sales tech-
nology adoption (Jelinek et al., 2006), which is also based on interac-
tional psychology. The rationale is that because the sales function is in
the unique position of being the nexus between their own company
74 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
and their customers, it should receive the influence of these two entities
as part of the environment it faces.
We study competence and commitment as relevant characteristics of
individuals and organizations. This seems reasonable because interac-
tional psychology suggests that on the person side of the interaction,
the individual ability, plus cognitive, affective and motivational factors
are usually present; likewise, in the situation side, the psychological
meaning and interpretation of the situation from the person affects be-
havior (Endler & Magnusson, 1976; Terborg, 1981). This is consistent
with Burr and Girardi (2002), who argue that a broad definition of com-
petence in organizational settings considers individual's knowledge,
skills, and abilities, and also self-efficacy. We believe that competence
and commitment are meaningful factors in the B2B context for both
the sales manager and the supplier company, and capture the essence
of the main determinants of behavior in interactional theory. In the
case of the customer as a situational factor, we study customer engage-
ment with social media, which can be thought as an opportunity under
the interactional theory perspective, and represents a relevant contex-
tual element that could affect social media usage.
Another relevant aspect of interactional theory is that person and
situation factors can affect behavior through complex combination of
these factors (Nelson, 1990), and that different meanings of interaction
are possible to analyze, depending on the context of the phenomenon
being studied (Terborg, 1981). In this research we look at the following
types of interaction, as defined by this theory: the main effects of person
and situation factors on social media usage; the statistical interaction
between competence and commitment, for both the individual (sales
manager) and the organization (supplier company); and the role of
individual and organizational factors as mediators of the relationship
between customer engagement in social media and social media
usage in sales.
The proposed model is particularly suited for the business-to-
business selling context. Previous research suggests that the breadth
of social media usage by sales organizations relate mostly to B2B
customers and activities (Andzulis et al., 2012; Marshall et al., 2012).
In addition, customers' engagement in social media is not very likely
to be visible in a business-to-consumer context, as it is in a B2B,
where sales executives establish closer relationships with clients and
engage in more formal and longer group buying processes (Swani,
Brown, & Milne, 2014). Overall, this research respond to a call for iden-
tifying characteristics of the individual, organization or customer base
that influence the use of social media in B2B sales (Schultz et al., 2012).
3.2. Hypotheses development
3.2.1. The person: sales manager's factors and social media usage
We define individual competence in social media as the individual
proficiency and familiarity with social media tools, and individual
commitment to social media as the extent to which an individual actively
engages in social media. These two factors should positively relate to the
sales organization's use of social media.
The higher the knowledge and self-efficacy of sales managers with
respect to social media tools, the more they will tend to adopt them in
their job, because the perceived ease of use and the perceived useful-
ness of social media should increase, and consequently foster the accep-
tance and usage of this technology (Avlonitis & Panagopoulos, 2005).
Similarly, higher levels of sales managers' competence with social
media should increase their effort and persistence, and thus learn how
to cope with task-related obstacles, such as engaging in social media
usage (Román & Rodríguez, 2015).
Likewise, the more sales executives commit to using social media,
the more likely is that B2B salespeople and managers will adopt its
use for the sales organization, as they face the social pressure from
their peers (Avlonitis & Panagopoulos, 2005; Parthasarathy & Sohi,
1997). Additionally, previous research shows that private social
media usage positively relates to social media business usage, in
the B2B setting (Keinänen & Kuivalainen, 2015). Moreover, the use
of social media by sales managers should signal usefulness to sales
executives and may become a norm for the group (Weinstein &
Mullins, 2012).
We expect sales managers' competence and commitment not
only to have a meaningful direct effect on social media usage in
sales, but also synergistic effects between the two. This is consistent
with the general notion of interactional theory, where “both situa-
tional and personal variables in complex combinations affect atti-
tudes and behavior” Nelson (1990, p. 80). In the context of social
media usage, we expect that the effect of a sales manager's commit-
ment to social media on its usage should be higher if he/she has the
adequate competence (that is, knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy).
Therefore, we propose:
H1a. : There is a positive relationship between individual competence
in social media and social media usage in sales.
H1b. : There is a positive relationship between individual commitment
to social media and social media usage in sales.
H1c. : There are synergistic effects between individual competence and
individual commitment, in affecting social media usage in sales.
3.2.2. The situation: organizational and customer factors and social media
usage
We define organizational competence in social media as the supplier
company's knowledge about social media and the expertise in making
a productive use of it, and organizational commitment to social media
as the extent to which the company has invested resources in social
media, as well as developed and communicated a strategy about its
use. These two factors should positively relate to the sales organization's
use of social media.
The more competent is the supplier company in terms of social
media usage, the higher should be the usage by the sales organization.
If senior management is knowledgeable about social media, it is more
likely that they will support initiatives of this kind in the sales organiza-
tion. It is also expected that by having access to the company's technol-
ogy capabilities, the sales department will be more willing to engage in
using social media to communicate with customers, identify prospects,
or support the selling process. Research on information technology (IT)
adoption suggests that IT expertise is a very important antecedent of or-
ganizational innovation adoption (Hameed, Counsell, & Swift, 2012).
We anticipate that organizational commitment to social media will
increase social media usage in sales. From the interactional perspective
“…if your organizational context promotes cooperation you can expect
new entrants to engage in cooperative activities” (Chatman, 1989,
p. 334). In the context of B2B sales, we could interpret this quote as
the positive consequences that organizational efforts to promote social
media usage may have on salespeople's engagement with social
media. Besides, as Andzulis, Panagopoulos and Rapp (2012, p. 309) sug-
gest, “social media will require not only the buy-in from all parts of an
organization but a real-time commitment of resources to continue to
foster the engagement, collaboration, and brand development efforts
that it hopes to nurture.” Previous research finds that management
technology commitment (in terms of supporting and promoting the
use of technology in sales) has a positive effect on technology usage
(Weinstein & Mullins, 2012).
We expect that organizational competence and commitment with
social media will also interact, creating some synergistic effects. This is
something that interactionist theorists would expect (Nelson, 1990),
by virtue of analyzing the dynamic processes or transactions between
people and situation (Nelson, 1990; Terborg, 1981). It is presumed
that the impact of organizational commitment with social media
(through training, planning, and communication) will have a higher im-
pact on social media usage in sales if the company is knowledgeable,
 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
forward-thinking, and experienced with social media. Consequently, we
posit:
H2a. : There is a positive relationship between organizational compe-
tence in social media and social media usage in sales.
H2b. : There is a positive relationship between organizational commit-
ment to social media and social media usage in sales.
H2c. : There are synergistic effects between organizational competence
and organizational commitment, in affecting social media usage in sales.
We define customer engagement in social media as the extent to
which the organization's important customers are active in using social
media tools. In the context of sales management, the customer becomes
a very relevant situational factor, based on interactional theory (Jelinek
et al., 2006), either through objective situations or subjective inter-
pretations (Nelson, 1990). Because sales executives work at the
outer boundary of the organization, directly and closely with cus-
tomers, it is expected that customer engagement in social media
will affect the intention of the supplier company to use social media
as well (Jelinek et al., 2006). In light of customers' expectations contin-
uously increasing, their active participation with social media tools may
signal salespeople that they need to follow them on such a venture and
adopt technology to meet their expectations (Jelinek et al., 2006; Jones,
Sundaram, & Chin, 2002). Moreover, Andzulis et al. (2012) argue that
knowing what customers want should drive, in part, the selection of so-
cial media tools used by the sales organization. Based on the previous
reasoning, we propose:
H3. : There is a positive relationship between customer engagement in
social media and social media usage in sales.
3.2.3. Mediating effects
We expect that the influence of customer engagement in social
media on the use of social media in sales will be at least partially me-
diated by the competence and commitment of the sales manager and
the supplier company. Interactional psychology theory proposes me-
diation as one important form of ‘interaction’, and encourages the
study of person factors that might mediate the effects of situation
factors (Terborg, 1981). Chatman supports this argument by indicating
that people actively choose their situations and perform better in situa-
tions that are more compatible with themselves.
It might be that salespeople choose to work for supplier companies
in industries where customer engagement in social media is more
prominent. It could also be that once working for a supplier company,
sales executives are motivated to learn more about social media and
use it more (as individuals) when their customers are highly engaged
with it. This is also likely to happen at the organizational level: cus-
tomers' actively engaged in the use of social media may provide a signal
to their suppliers about the level of social media expertise and commit-
ment that is required to deal with them (Weinstein & Mullins, 2012).
This is in line with the argument of Schultz et al. (2012), who suggest
that supplier companies are likely to comply with the expectations of
customers, as they have the ability to reward or punish the supplier
company's actions. Therefore, we posit:
H4a. : Individual competence in social media mediates the relationship
between customer engagement in social media and social media usage in
sales.
H4b. : Individual commitment in social media mediates the relationship
between customer engagement in social media and social media usage in
sales.
H4c. : Organizational competence in social media mediates the relation-
ship between customer engagement in social media and social media
usage in sales.
75
H4d. : Organizational commitment in social media mediates the relation-
ship between customer engagement in social media and social media
usage in sales.
3.2.4. Control variables
Previous research points out that generational aspects may explain
that younger people (for the purpose of this research, sales executives)
may be more competent and committed to social media usage
(Marshall et al., 2012), and this may influence the extent to which
social media is used in the sales department. In a previous research
(Schultz et al., 2012) it was found that age was negatively related
to social media usage. Therefore, we control for the age of the sales
manager.
We also control for the size of the company and the size of the sales
force, as these variables may potentially affect social media usage in the
sales organization Hameed et al., 2012).
The conceptual model of this study is presented in Fig. 1.
4. Research methodology
4.1. Sample and data collection
The target population for this study was executives with sales re-
sponsibilities in the United States of America. The sample frame, from
which sales executives were invited to participate, was obtained from
two sources: a database of sales executives from the Sales Management
Association (Atlanta, USA), and a database of sales executives from
Survey Monkey. The identified potential respondents were contacted
by e-mail and invited to complete an online survey, which was written
in English. The invitation letter indicated that to be eligible to participate
in this study, the respondent must be knowledgeable about aspects re-
lated to the use of social media in their sales organizations. To thank
their participation, respondents who completed the questionnaire
were offered a summary report with the main results of the study.
We obtained a sample of 220 sales executives, all from different
companies. The executive position of the participants was classified
under the following categories: senior sales leader (18.2% of the sam-
ple), sales manager (30.9%), salesperson (18.6%), sales operation or sup-
port manager (22.7%), and marketing or operations manager (9.5%).
These executives represented companies from various sizes and indus-
tries. Additionally, they ranged in age from 23 to 67, with a mean and
median of 45 years, and a standard deviation of 9.7 years.
The response rate for the survey was 43.7%. We tested for the likeli-
hood of non-response bias by following the extrapolation technique de-
scribed by Armstrong and Overton (1977). We split the total sample
into two groups: those received before the second wave of invitations
to participate, and those received after that second wave. Using a
t-test, we compared these groups in terms of the mean responses
on each variable. The results revealed no significant differences be-
tween the two groups, leading us to conclude that respondents did
not differ from non-respondents.
4.2. Measurement of the constructs
In return for access to its sales executives' database, the Sales Man-
agement Association requested the use of scales that were meaningful
to practitioners and specific in terms of some social media platforms
that they were interested in testing. Therefore, for each of the constructs
measured, we focused on developing formative measures that could be
combined into a single index. The specific items were agreed with a
panel of experts from the Sales Management Association and some of
its member companies. In this endeavor, we were mindful of following
best practices as regards formative measurement (Diamantopoulos &
Winklhofer, 2001; Jarvis, MacKenzie, & Podsakoff, 2003; MacKenzie,
Podsakoff, & Jarvis, 2005). Still, we assessed convergent validity running
76 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.
a factor analysis with principal components to check whether the indi-
cators for each construct loaded mainly in one factor. For all constructs,
the EFA suggested a 1-factor solution, since all eigenvalues for the
second factor were less than 1.0; for all the constructs, the single-
factor solution explained more than 50% of the variance of the items.
We also assessed reliability with Cronbach's alpha, obtaining values of
0.673 for individual competence in social media, 0.572 in individual com-
mitment to social media, 0.850 in organizational competence in social
media, 0.725 in organizational commitment to social media, and 0.877
in customer engagement in social media.
A complete list of the scales used for the variables is shown in appen-
dix A. The dependent variable, social media usage in sales, is measured on
a 0–10 scale with the instruction “On a scale from 0 to 10, please choose
the number that best describes the intensity of your company's social
media usage in the sales organization.” It is important to mention that
for this and the other questions in the survey, participants received
the following explanation to communicate the concept of social
media: “In these statements, the term social media describes web-
based applications including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube,
Google+, and similar media that foster social interaction.” We decided
to use a single-item measure for this variable mainly for two reasons
that have been addressed in the literature on constructs measurement
in marketing (Bergkvist, 2015; Bergkvist & Rossiter, 2007; Rossiter &
Braithwaite, 2013). First, the level of concreteness of this construct is
rather high, as it is defined in terms of specific web-based applications,
and therefore a single-item measure seems appropriate. Bergkvist
(2015) refers to doubly concrete constructs as those having a simple,
clear object (in this case, the specific social media platforms) and a
single-meaning attribute (in this case, usage). Second, because this
survey was conducted with senior-level sales executives/managers,
we tried to design a questionnaire that was not too long, to reduce the
risk of respondent boredom and fatigue. The independent variables in
our research framework were measured with multiple items to capture
the breadth of the constructs.
4.3. Model estimation
To test the hypotheses, we use OLS multiple regression analysis for
the main effects and the interactions, and run a Sobel test for the medi-
ating effects.
The regression model is specified as follows:
SM usage sales ¼ β0 þ β1 Indiv compet þ β2 Indiv commit
þ β3 Organ compet þ β4 Organ commit
þ β5 Custom engage þ β6 Indiv inter þ β7 Organ inter
þ β8 Size org þ β9 Size sales force þ β10 Indiv age þ e
To test the mediating effect of individual and organizational factors
in the relationship between customer engagement in social media and
social media usage in sales, we use following procedure:
(1) Regress social media usage in sales on customer engagement in
social media.
(2) Regress individual competence, individual commitment, organi-
zational competence, and organizational commitment (all sepa-
rately) on customer engagement in social media.
(3) Regress social media usage in sales on customer engagement in
social media, plus each independent variable (on separate
regressions).
(4) Analyze the mediating effect with the Sobel test.
5. Results
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics (mean and standard devia-
tion) for each variable, and the Pearson correlations.
5.1. Hypotheses testing
5.1.1. Main effects and interactions
Hypothesis 1a, which anticipated a positive association between in-
dividual competence in social media and social media usage in sales, is not
supported (β = −0.082; p = 0.594). Hypothesis 1b, which anticipated
a positive association between individual commitment to social media
and social media usage in sales, is supported (β = 0.447; p = 0.020).
Hypothesis 1c, which anticipated synergistic effects between individual
competence in social media and individual commitment to social media, is
supported (β = 0.277; p = 0.028).
Hypothesis 2a, which anticipated a positive association between or-
ganizational competence in social media and social media usage in sales, is
supported (β = 0.845; p = 0.000). Hypothesis 2b, which anticipated a
positive association between organizational commitment to social media
and social media usage in sales, is supported (β = 0.270; p = 0.045).
Hypothesis 2c, which anticipated synergistic effects between organiza-
tional competence in social media and organizational commitment to
social media, is not supported (β = 0.046; p = 0.434).
Hypothesis 3, which anticipated a positive association between
customer engagement in social media and social media usage in sales, is
supported (β = 0.337; p = 0.000).
None of the control variables appear to be a significant predictor of
organizational usage of social media in sales. Overall, the model has a
good fit, with a coefficient of determination of R2 = 60.8%.
Table 3 shows the results of the regression analysis.
 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79 77

Table 2
Means, standard deviations and correlations.

Variable Mean St. Dev (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

(1) sm_usage 3.841 2.508 –

(2) indiv_compet 4.661 1.096 0.408 –
(3) indiv_commit 0.003 0.737 0.399 0.543 –
(4) organ_compet 4.514 1.521 0.714 0.495 0.340 –
(5) organ_commit 3.768 1.372 0.635 0.586 0.329 0.739 –
(6) custom_engage 3.174 1.364 0.454 0.252 0.302 0.348 0.422 –
(7) size_org 23140 73229 0.063 −0.127 −0.157 0.042 0.087 0.133 –
(8) indiv_age 45.391 9.704 −0.022 −0.224 −0.226 −0.074 −0.026 −0.078 0.148 –
(9) size_sales force 7513 40269 0.010 −0.165 −0.150 0.042 0.027 0.126 0.676 0.105

Cell Contents: Pearson correlations.

Values greater than 0.14 are significant at p b .05.

5.1.2. Mediating effects responses (Podsakoff et al., 2003). In addition, the design of the ques-
We find that the effect of customer engagement is partially mediated tionnaire followed the recommendations by Aaker, Kumar, and Day
by all the four other predictors: individual competence, individual com- (2010). In the case of multiple scales, the categories were displayed in
mitment, organizational competence, and organizational commitment. a random way. Furthermore, the question order was pre-tested to pre-
When we analyze the extent to which each factor mediates the rela- vent the order bias. Finally, we conducted a Harman one-factor test
tionship between customer engagement in social media and social (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986; Podsakoff et al., 2003), and checked that
media usage in sales, we find some interesting differences. Overall, the common method bias does not seem to affect the validity of the results.
mediating effect is much stronger for the organizational factors than
for the individual factors. In particular, we find that 48.5% of the effect 6. Discussion
of customer engagement on social media usage is through organization-
al competence; 50.1% of the effect of customer engagement on social The purpose of this research was to propose and test a model of so-
media usage is through organizational commitment; and for the indi- cial media usage in sales, to understand the relative importance of indi-
vidual factors, the mediating effect is much lower: 17.4% for individual vidual, organizational, and customer-related factors. We find that the
competence and 19.1% for individual commitment. most important predictor of social media usage in sales is organizational
Table 4 shows the summary results of the mediation analysis. competence, that is, the supplier company's knowledge, productivity
and expertise with social media. The second most relevant variable is
5.2. Robustness checks customer engagement with social media, followed by individual com-
mitment (being active in using social media tools) and organizational
We addressed the potential existence of common method bias commitment (providing training, and developing and communicating
following the procedures suggested by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and a strategy on social media). Individual competence does not appear to
Podsakoff (2003). In the invitation letter to participate in this study, be a significant predictor of social media usage by the sales organization.
we assured anonymity to the respondents and highlighted that there Following the interactionist approach, we tested possible synergistic
were no right or wrong answers, and that we were asking for their effects between competence and commitment, for both individuals and
sincere opinions and thoughts. These procedures reduce people's organizations. We find a significant positive interaction for sales execu-
evaluation apprehension and the probability to get socially desirable tives, but not for supplier companies. We conclude then, that the effect
of individual commitment on social media usage will be higher when
the individual competence is higher. This is an interesting result,
Table 3 because although individual competence does not have a significant
Results of the regression analysis. main effect on social media usage, it can help increase the influence of
Predictor Coefficient Standard error T-stat P-value VIF sales executives' commitment to social media. We also find that the ef-
Constant 3.640 0.140 26.12 0.000
fect of customer engagement on social media usage in sales is partially
mediated by individual and, especially, by organizational factors. This
Main effects is another very important finding, because it highlights the relevance
indiv_compet −0.0823 0.154 −0.53 0.594 2.4
indiv_commit 0.4467 0.191 2.34 0.020 1.7
of customers as social influencers for supplier companies, and the
organ_compet 0.8448 0.110 7.67 0.000 2.4 importance of organizational factors as means to translate customer en-
organ_commit 0.2703 0.134 2.01 0.045 2.9 gagement into social media usage by the sales organization.
custom_engage 0.3375 0.092 3.68 0.000 1.3

Interaction effects 6.1. Theoretical contribution

indiv_int 0.2765 0.125 2.22 0.028 1.3
organ_int 0.0458 0.058 0.78 0.434 1.2 Social media usage has grown dramatically as a marketing tool to
Control variables reach and learn from consumers, and to influence consumer prefer-
size_org 0.0000 0.000 1.17 0.242 1.9 ences (Michaelidou et al., 2011; Kumar & Mirchandani, 2012). However,
size_sales force −0.0000 0.001 −1.61 0.110 1.9
indiv_age 0.0114 0.012 0.96 0.338 1.1
S = 1608(square root of the mean square error) Table 4
R-Sq = 60.8% ummary results of the mediation analysis.
R-Sq(adj) = 58.9%
Sobel test % indirect effect
Analysis of Variance
Mediator Z-value St. error p-value of Cust_Eng
Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 10 837.214 83.721 32.39 0.000 Ind_compet 3.1190 0.0465 0.0018 17.4%
Residual Error 209 540.217 2.585 Ind_commit 3.3388 0.0478 0.0008 19.1%
Total 219 1377.432 Org_compet 5.0596 0.0800 0.0000 48.5%
Durbin-Watson statistic =1.90 Org_commit 5.6034 0.0747 0.0000 50.1%
78 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
the use of social media in B2B marketing, and selling in particular, is
more limited in spite of its recognized importance (Giamanco &
Gregoire, 2012; Wiersema, 2013). Therefore, more research is needed
to understand the drivers of social media in sales.
Previous research has been very helpful to uncover an array of pos-
sible uses of social media with customers and within the supplier firm,
and its effects on performance (e.g., Marshall et al., 2012; Rodriguez
et al., 2012). Still, a big question that needs more research is what deter-
mines social media usage in sales. Moreover, it is imperative to look at
the antecedents of social media usage by the sales organization, given
its strategic importance and its boundary-spanning role. So far, the
units of analysis for empirical social media usage studies have been
the salesperson, the supplier company, and the customer, but not the
sales organization.
This research contributes to filling this gap in the literature by study-
ing antecedents of social media usage in sales, by the sales organization.
We draw on interactional theory (Chatman, 1989; Terborg, 1981) to
propose a framework where person factors (individual competence
and commitment with social media) interact with situation factors
(organizational competence and commitment with social media, and
customer engagement in social media) to explain social media usage
by the sales organization.
6.2. Managerial implications
The findings of this study provide several managerial implications.
First, if supplier companies believe in the benefits of using social
media in sales, they need to build organizational competence and com-
mitment. The former could be developed by selecting senior managers
with high levels of knowledge and expertise in social media, and by
providing the necessary training to acquire relevant knowledge and
productivity in using social media. Something companies might explore
is to have an expert in social media, with enough authority to influence
senior management in the company. This position may be strategic in
developing competence, but also commitment through an articulate
strategy on social media and a communication campaign.
At the individual level, this research suggests that companies should
select sales executives that are active users of social media, and promote
the personal use of social media. For selection, the areas of Human Re-
sources may consider explicitly the engagement and expertise of candi-
dates to sales jobs, either through personal interviews or standardized
tests. With respect to promoting the personal use of social media
platforms, the implications are somehow tricky. On the one hand, com-
panies may have policies that limit the personal use of social media dur-
ing work hours, to reduce the risks of lower productivity. On the other
hand, the findings of this study indicate that it could actually be benefi-
cial to encourage the personal use of social media in sales executives.
The answer probably depends on some other factors related to the
company and the salesperson; however, a starting point could be to
promote personal use of social media, but at the same time provide
training on how to build expertise from the personal usage to a profes-
sional usage, and how to increase effectiveness and efficiency in their
jobs by using social media.
With respect to the findings on the role of customer engagement in
social media, companies should facilitate the implementation of busi-
ness intelligence mechanisms that makes customers' engagement in so-
cial media more visible. Another opportunity relies in co-creating with
customers applications of social media that are useful for both the sell-
ing and the buying company.
6.3. Limitations and avenues for future research
This study has some limitations that we would like to acknowledge.
First, we limit the person factors of interactional theory to competence
and commitment, which seems reasonable and practical for this study,
but neglects other possible elements, such as the perceived value of social
media, or the ease of use, both of which have been studied under the tech-
nology acceptance framework (e.g., Jones et al., 2002). Similarly, we only
consider customer engagement as a situation factor, which although
seems to be the most important element in the B2B selling context, may
not be enough to represent the broad concept of situation under the
interactionist perspective. Another situation factor to consider might be
the competitors' use of social media, and other environmental conditions.
Future research could incorporate new person and situation factors.
Second, this research is cross-sectional. A more comprehensive ap-
plication of interactional theory would include the dynamics of time,
to study the process by with person and situation factors relate, and to
address some causality issues. This is certainly an avenue for future re-
search, which is more likely to be accomplished by analyzing the phe-
nomenon in one company, as opposed to studying the behavior of
many companies.
Third, there is potentially some common method bias, although we
took the recommended actions to reduce the probability of having
that problem. Still, future research may utilize alternative ways to mea-
sure social media usage, maybe through some objectives indicators at
the sales organization level. To follow this path, it will probably be nec-
essary to focus in only one or two social media tools (e.g., only LinkedIn,
or Twitter).
7. Conclusion
Social media is here to stay, and its potential benefits for personal
selling and sales management are enormous. This research contributes
to the understanding of some antecedents of social media usage by
the sales organization. More research is needed in this field, to help
companies make effective and efficient use of these tools. Finally, new
social media platforms will probably come in the future, and new chal-
lenges will arise for academics and practitioners.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Sales Management Associa-
tion and its president Robert Kelly for supporting this research, and
Dimitri Kapelianis (University of New Mexico) for helpful comments
during the preparation of this manuscript.
Appendix A. Table A.1
Measures for the variables.
Social Media Usage in Sales (org_usage; scale 0–10)
On a scale from 0 to 10, please choose the number that best describes the intensity
of your company's social media usage in the sales organization.
Individual Competence in Social Media (indiv_compet; scale 1–7)
How would you rate your overall proficiency with general business technology
(business software applications, web applications, PCs/tablets/smartphones)?
How familiar/knowledgeable are you with the following social media tools?
Average: Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn-Google + −Youtube (1 = very unfamiliar
to 7 = very familiar)
I have a solid understanding of how to use social media in my job. 1 = strongly
disagree; 7 = strongly agree.
I have received sufficient training from my organization on using social media.
1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree.
Individual Commitment to Social Media (indiv_commit; scale 1–7)
With which of the following services do you currently have a personal account?
Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn-Google + −Youtube (Select all that apply.)
How many hours per week do you use the following social media tools?
Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn-Google + −Youtube.
I interact with my organization's customers and/or prospects using social media.
1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree.
Organizational Competence in Social Media (organ_compet; scale 1–7, strongly
disagree to strongly agree)
My organization makes productive use of social media.
Our sales organization is innovative and forward-thinking when it comes to
adopting productivity-enhancing technology.
My organization's senior leadership is knowledgeable about social media.
 R. Guesalaga / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 71–79
Table A.1 (continued)
My organization's leadership actively uses social media.
Organizational Commitment to Social Media (organ_commit; scale 1–7, strongly
disagree to strongly agree)
My organization has communicated a social media usage policy to me.
My (total) organization has a social media strategy.
I have received sufficient training from my organization on using social media.
Customer Engagement in Social Media (custom_engage, scale: 1–7)
In general, are your organization's important customers active with any of the
following services?
Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn-Google + −Youtube.
Size of the Company (size_org)
How many total full-time employees (including salespeople) are in your
organization?
Size of the Sales Force (size_sales force)
How many total full-time salespeople work in your organization?
Age of the Sales Executive (indiv_age)
How old are you?
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