Social media's opportunities in business-to-business customer interaction in innovation process

How do B2B companies motivate participation in online innovation?

“…There is a lack of academic research and case studies regarding motivators involved in B2B social media innovation. As B2B environments differ significantly from B2C environments [13] regarding products, product development, markets and the nature of the relationship and interaction between customer and producer or distribtor, it may be assumed that the factors motivating participation in the B2B context is different from those in B2C contexts [19]. It has, for instance, been doubted that recognition, sense of community or self-esteem are important enough to drive actual participation in the B2B context [19], whereas these factors are important in motivating participation in the B2C context.…”

“…It has, for instance, been doubted that recognition, sense of community or self-esteem are important enough to drive actual participation in the B2B context [19], whereas these factors are important in motivating participation in the B2C context. Also, issues related to legal contracts and IPR as well as issues concerning security might restrict the usability of social media in the B2B context [12,13,20]. On the other hand, as the participants in the B2B context are still individuals, there might be similarities regarding motivational factors involved in the different contexts as well.…”

“…Social media has been defined as "a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content" [14]. The definition was extended by adding that social media applications and their value are based on user-generated content and user activity [13].…”

“…Major reasons for this include failure to comprehend the opportunities of social media in innovation, difficulties assessing the financial gains, difficulties in adopting new mental models and practices needed for adoption, and the lack of evidence from similar cases using social media in innovation [17]. However, B2B companies have been found to realize the potential of social media innovation and social media do offer novel ways of enhancing and enriching B2B customer interaction and creating new knowledge and information related to customers [3,4,5,13]. Benefits that producers might derive from using social media are ideas for product or service development, feedback on products or services at different development stages, identification of trends and general knowhow of professionals outside of the company etc.…”

“…Due to the novelty of social media concepts and approaches as well as the fact that academic B2B-oriented research regarding social media use in innovation in general is limited [13], this issue is not well understood and good case studies are rare. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to explore how B2B companies who have successfully implemented social media in collaborative innovation processes motivate their customers to participate in online innovation.…”