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Social media and international Social media

and
business: views and international
business
conceptual framing
Matti Saari 25
School of Marketing and Communication, University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland
Received 1 June 2021
Lauri Haapanen Revised 11 December 2021
Department of Marketing, Management and International Business, 17 June 2022
Accepted 7 October 2022
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, and
Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
Department of Marketing, Management and International Business,
Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

Abstract
Purpose – The objective of this paper is to increase understanding of social media in international business
context. To this end, the authors make an attempt to integrate the existing, still somewhat limited views in a
framework that advances the knowledge of scholars and decision-makers on this topic.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct a conceptual study supported by use of a
systematic literature review method.
Findings – This study shows marketing as a dominant area of discussion and reveals that many firm
functions where social media plays a role have received relatively little attention. Furthermore, the study shows
that the positive features of social media in international activity tend to be more widely acknowledged and
better understood than the potentially problematic aspects.
Research limitations/implications – The number of articles analyzed in this study was relatively small,
resonating with the nature of an emerging research area. Research on social media has only taken off over the
last years, and it is understandable that there is limited research that connects it specifically to phenomena of
international business.
Practical implications – This study reminds managers to be cautious when using social media in international
markets. The relationship between social media and international business exhibits dynamism and is dependent on a
variety of factors. Social media does not come without costs, nor is easily transferred from one market to another.
Efficient use of this media in the international context may increase the need of specific and qualified human
resources, and it may necessitate having the whole process from R&D to delivery, and beyond, ready for adaptation.
Originality/value – It can be argued that we know too little about the relevant factors and relationships
between social media and international business. The authors hope that this study revealing the scarcely
studied aspects and suggesting a tentative framework for capturing the dynamics of social media and
international business can guide subsequent research and accelerate its emergence.
Keywords Social media, Social networking sites, International business, Internationalization, International
marketing
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Social media, as a manifestation of digitization, is one of the current megatrends that impacts
international business. Social media connects to firms’ internationalization process and

© Matti Saari, Lauri Haapanen and Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen. Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone International Marketing Review
Vol. 39 No. 7, 2022
may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and pp. 25-45
non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full Emerald Publishing Limited
0265-1335
terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode DOI 10.1108/IMR-06-2021-0191
IMR international business in terms of the timing, pace, and rhythm of internationalization,
39,7 location and entry mode choices, foreign market learning and knowledge recombination
(Glavas et al., 2019; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020). Social media has become significant
regarding the accessibility of resources and capabilities in home and host markets, and it
affects companies’ abilities to manage the liabilities of foreignness and outsidership (Coviello
et al., 2017).
Social media has attracted considerable attention and interest among organizations and
26 academics. Mangold and Faulds (2009, p. 359) define social media as “a hybrid, that springs
from mixed technology and media origins that enable instantaneous, real-time
communications, and uses multi-media and numerous delivery platforms with global reach
capabilities”. The emergence of social media has remarkably changed the way people and
organizations communicate and interact (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Ngai et al., 2015; Hanna
et al., 2011). Social media channels, such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
and TikTok, provide virtual places for social communication and personal career building
(Tang et al., 2012). They include a tremendous amount of user-generated information, which
may help organizations and academics to better understand the behavior of people (Kaplan
and Haenlein, 2010; Dervojeda et al., 2014), Bouman et al. (2012). For different organizations,
social media provides a way to create, share, and maintain communication and activities with
their employees, peers, customers, partners and other stakeholders (Mangold and Faulds,
2009). These new communication media have opened a wide range of new opportunities and
created new business models that challenge traditional ways of doing business (Kietzmann
et al., 2011; Hanna et al., 2011).
However, social media is a relatively new phenomenon, and its research still has some
blind spots. Only recently, businesses and researchers have started to pay more attention to
social media especially in the international business context, acknowledging the
opportunities that social media provides for scaling up and expanding business operations
globally (Glavas et al., 2019; Rialp-Criado et al., 2020; Almeida and Santos, 2020; Fraccastoro
et al., 2021). However, the positive expectations may cause problems, as limited
understanding of social media and its use exposes risks for firms in international markets
(Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020). Only few researchers have expressly studied the role of
social media in internationalization (e.g. Maltby, 2012; Restrepo, 2013; Dervojeda et al., 2014;
Josee et al., 2014; Tran et al., 2016; Pogrebnyakov, 2017; Fleischmann and Fleischmann, 2019;
Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020), and the scarcity of research becomes even more
pronounced when specific types of actors (e.g. small firms) or activities (e.g. marketing or
R&D) are considered. The lack of comprehensive view makes it challenging to draw solid
conclusions for managerial purposes or to develop strong theoretical frameworks. Companies
that have international activities need to know how social media work in an international
environment and how it can be exploited (Dervojeda et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2012), and
therefore, we argue that social media in the context of international business and
internationalization process deserves further exploration.
The objective of our paper is to increase understanding of social media in international
business context. To this end, we make an attempt to integrate the existing, still somewhat
limited views in a framework that advances the knowledge of scholars and decision-makers
on this topic. In doing this, we draw attention to the tendencies of existing literature to
concentrate on the positive aspects of social media, focus on the context of a single country
and discuss social media as communication, marketing and sales channel (e.g. Restrepo, 2013;
Mills, 2012; Berthon et al., 2012; Dateling and Bick, 2013; Jussila et al., 2013).
Our study contributes to existing knowledge in the following ways. In addition to adding
to the growing literature on social media by integrating the international business view to it,
this study responds to the recent calls for broader investigation of diverse aspects of
digitization as a new context of internationalization (e.g. Coviello et al., 2017). Our study
describes how social media connects to the international activities of companies and in Social media
particular, it shows how companies use social media not only in communication (Seroka- and
Stolka and Tomski, 2015; Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013; Crowne et al., 2015), customer and
partner support (Maltby, 2012; Bochenek and Blili, 2014; Okazaki and Taylor, 2013), and
international
marketing and sales (Zhang and Vos, 2014; Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Restrepo, 2013), but also in business
research and development (Maltby, 2012), human resource management (Kazienko et al.,
2013; Crowne et al., 2015) and market penetration in the international environment (Restrepo,
2013; Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Pogrebnyakov, 2017). The study also shows how the impact of 27
social media is not always positive, but it acknowledges how especially small and medium
sized firms (SMEs) may experience the risks and downsides of social media in the
international context (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020; Baccarella et al., 2018). In doing
this, our paper also indicates the dynamic nature of social media in international business; the
implications of social media may vary depending on not only the phase of internationalization
(Fraccastoro et al., 2021), but also on the firm resources, the functions in which it is used and
conditions under which it is used. The different elements are in constant interaction. The
practical implications of the study help managers to understand and develop holistic social
media management in an international environment and assist them to build cohesive
international social media strategies linked to their companies’ international strategies.

2. Views on social media in international business

Social media has been considered an interesting and effective instrument to base
internationalization strategies (Dervojeda et al., 2014), to efficiently explore foreign market
opportunities (Alarc
on et al., 2018) and to utilize scalability to grow in several geographical
markets (Almeida and Santos, 2020). Likewise, literature suggests that the use of social media
can accelerate internationalization (Arnone and Deprince, 2016; Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson,
2018) and improve the firms’ performance at foreign markets (Mahmoud et al., 2020). These
kinds of notions in existing literature demonstrate the importance of social media in
international business. However, they simultaneously invite questions, such as how these
things really happen, and if the relationship really is as undoubtedly beneficial as literature
seems to indicate.
Our study is motivated by the need to understand better how social media connects to the
international business settings. Therefore, we began our study by searching for studies that
specifically addressed them together. This initial search yielded notably low number of
results. Intrigued by this, we utilized the means of a systematic literature review (see, e.g.
Tranfield et al., 2003) to gain better view of the current scholarly knowledge as well as the
main concepts and constructs present in the discussions. In doing this (see Appendix), we did
not limit our search on any specific field or discipline. We found only 36 studies that explicitly
and concurrently considered both social media and firms’ international business. These
studies are distributed widely across 31 different journals [1], including eight articles in
international marketing (IM) journals and six articles in international business (IB) journals.
The focus and findings in IM and in IB studies do not differ significantly, yet IB research
emphasizes slightly more social media’s role in firms’ internationalization process (e.g.
Fraccastoro et al., 2021; Tran et al., 2016). The limited number of articles dedicated to social
media in international business was somewhat surprising. In the following, we tap into the
topics and suggest a conceptual framing based on the found research.

2.1 Social media and firms’ international operations

Articles that focus on social media in international business bring up some specific aspects
that seem to be particularly pronounced for this combination. The first issue is that research
IMR generally assumes that social media has implications on international expansion rather than
39,7 vice versa – if and how the international expansion impacts the use of social media.
Second, there seems to be a tendency to focus on the positive aspects between social media
and international activities rather than the (potentially) adverse elements. While all the
examined articles bring up at least some positive issues (with 80% of all observations in
Table 1 showing a positive sign), much smaller portion brings out negative aspects (and also
then next to the positive ones).
28 Third, the focus of the research on social media is – quite naturally – biased on
international marketing. As we show in Table 1, our search captured 24 papers (67%) that
discuss the role of social media for firms’ marketing function in the context of firms’
international business, and 11 papers relate it with firms’ sales function. Out of the 36 studies,

The effect of social media Use of social media for international

on international business across firm functions
Articles/authors Expansion Marketing Sales R&D HRM

Hanna et al. (2011) +/−

Berthon et al. (2012) +/− + −
Zhang and Vos (2014) +/−
Okazaki and Taylor (2013) − +
Crowne et al. (2015) +
Moll
a-Descals et al. (2010) + +/−
Singh et al. (2012) +
Maltby (2012) +
Bochenek and Blili (2014) +
Kazienko et al. (2013) +/−
Restrepo (2013) + + +/−
Sigfusson and Chetty (2013) +
Dervojeda et al. (2014) + + + +
Gong et al. (2014) +/− +
Josee et al. (2014) +
Bianchi and Andrews (2015) +
Kiralova and Pavliceka (2015) +
Seroka-Stolka and Tomski (2015) +
Arnone and Deprince (2016) + + +
Khan et al. (2016) − +
Lacoste (2016) +
Paniagua et al. (2016) +
Tran et al. (2016) + + +
Bocconcelli et al. (2017) + + +
Pogrebnyakov (2017) + + +
Vatamanescu et al. (2017) +
Rialp-Criado and Rialp-Criado (2018) + + + +
Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson (2018) + −
Glavas et al. (2019) + + +
Fleischmann and Fleischmann (2019) + +
Table 1. Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al. (2020) +/− +/− +/− +/−
Positive and negative Almeida and Santos (2020) +/− +/− + +
views on the Mahmoud et al. (2020) + +
relationship between Rienda et al. (2021) + +
social media and Rialp-Criado et al. (2020) + + + +
international business Fraccastoro et al. (2021) + + +
– process and firm %+ 68 68 31 19 11
functions %− 17 14 11 3 3
only 7 articles discuss the relationship between social media and research and development Social media
(R&D), and 5 articles pay attention how social media and human resource management and
(HRM) interact in the international business context. Thus, individual firm functions are
unevenly addressed. In the following, we take a closer look at these function-related
international
discussions. business
2.1.1 Marketing. Most of the literature on social media in the context of international
business relates with international marketing. Since social media is relatively easy to
adopt and does not require investments in marketing resources, it not surprising that this 29
literature considers social media as an extended marketing resource (Hurmelinna-
Laukkanen et al., 2020) with which firms can reach potential customers and generate vast
global exposure with relatively low costs (Alarc
on et al., 2018; Bocconcelli et al., 2017;
Glavas et al., 2019; Josee et al., 2014; Kiralova and Pavliceka, 2015). Social media has
become a component of globally integrated marketing communications (Okazaki and
Taylor, 2013; Rienda et al., 2021) that lessens or removes physical distances and facilitates
interaction with customers (Alarc
on et al., 2018; Bianchi and Andrews, 2015; Mahmoud
et al., 2020) by increasing awareness (Fraccastoro et al., 2021; Kiralova and Pavliceka,
2015) and facilitating of sharing news about the products (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
et al., 2020).
Some studies note that market awareness may create buzzes (Kiralova and Pavliceka,
2015), enforce virtuous circles (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020) and increase speed as
uploads can go viral overnight (Dervojeda et al., 2014). Furthermore, with social media, firms
can protect and communicate their brands (Almeida and Santos, 2020; Zhang and Vos, 2014;
Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). Firms may use social media to build and reinforce their brand
images across the world (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013; Rienda et al., 2021). Social media also
provides international firms with a means to access networks (Fraccastoro et al., 2021;
Lacoste, 2016; Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). It allows firms relatively easily to develop and
manage large number of relationships (Arnone and Deprince, 2016; Fraccastoro and
Gabrielsson, 2018; Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013; Singh et al., 2012), to solidify existing
relationships (Almeida and Santos, 2020), to maintain customer engagement (Bianchi and
Andrews, 2015), and in doing this, develop mutual dependencies with customers and partners
(Maltby, 2012). Literature suggests that closeness, listening, interaction and personal tones in
conversations are such social media elements that support firms to create customer
engagement and loyalty (Dervojeda et al., 2014; Hanna et al., 2011; Zhang and Vos, 2014).
Direct interaction with customers across the world offers the opportunity to establish a long-
lasting, emotional bonds (Fleischmann and Fleischmann, 2019). Prior literature further shows
that social media can be effectively used to gain market information, relevant for marketing
endeavors (Almeida and Santos, 2020; Bianchi and Andrews, 2015; Dervojeda et al., 2014;
Singh et al., 2012).
While scholars commonly agree that social media reduces marketing costs (Alarc
on et al.,
2018; Almeida and Santos, 2020; Arnone and Deprince, 2016; Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Kiralova
and Pavliceka, 2015; Pogrebnyakov, 2017; Restrepo, 2013) and suggest that setting up social
media is usually free of charge and with reasonable media spends (Dervojeda et al., 2014;
Hanna et al., 2011; Tran et al., 2016), literature also shows the opposite. Digital content must be
highly appealing, and the constantly growing number of followers requires qualified
resources to react to their posts (Almeida and Santos, 2020; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al.,
2020). Social media calls for instantaneous feedback, that is, speedy actions (Almeida and
Santos, 2020). Bad news travel faster than the good ones, and firms are not able to control all
the social media contents. Users can generate, edit and disseminate information themselves
(Zhang and Vos, 2014), and they may rather trust the opinions of their peers than the firm
(Hanna et al., 2011). Hence, social media means a shift in the relative locus of power from the
firm to the consumer (Berthon et al., 2012).
IMR Even though launching social media activity is inexpensive, firms still need employees
39,7 with IT and communication skills (Almeida and Santos, 2020; Berthon et al., 2012; Hanna
et al., 2011). Each social media is somewhat different, comes with time-consuming following
and posting, yielding increases in content management costs (Almeida and Santos, 2020).
Zhang and Vos (2014) note that return on investments on social media is unclear. User
experiences are difficult to manage (Khan et al., 2016; Zhang and Vos, 2014) and especially
young and small firms relying heavily on social media cannot be certain which contacts and
30 ambassadors are appropriate (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020). Cultural differences mean
challenges (Gong et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2012) and localization using different local
languages is demanding (Singh et al., 2012; Zhang and Vos, 2014). Accordingly, current
research suggests that social media cannot completely replace traditional media (Hanna
et al., 2011).
2.1.2 Sales. Besides marketing, social media is closely related to several sales related
aspects. Studies acknowledge that social media is a truly contemporary sales channel
(Dervojeda et al., 2014). It enables contacting salespersons in foreign markets (Restrepo, 2013),
supports customer segmentation and targeting of the sales (Dervojeda et al., 2014), and can be
used in different stages of the sales process (Bocconcelli et al., 2017). Similarly to marketing, the
use of social media typically reduces the need of human sales resources as firms can contact
potential clients or distributors through the social media channels (Restrepo, 2013). Hence,
social media provides low-cost support to sales (Fraccastoro et al., 2021; Tran et al., 2016), helps
to gain more leads (Alarc
on et al., 2018) and reduces logistics costs (Almeida and Santos, 2020).
Strong brand loyalty built on social media use promotes more frequent purchases and higher
volumes (Rialp-Criado et al., 2020), that is, increased demand and sales (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
et al., 2020), which then improve firm’s overall performance (Moll
a-Descals et al., 2010).
Yet, increased demand may lead to resource shortages (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al.,
2020), and the challenges of using social media become concrete in the realized sales. Because
of uncontrollability of social media, demand may climb to a level where the company cannot
respond it (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020). Not being able to meet the demand may
mean decline in subsequent sales if customers start to avert the firm. Moreover, a firm’s
online contacts need to be frequent and effective, or they might result in negative experiences
(Restrepo, 2013). Relatedly, Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson (2018) point out that in the context
of internationalization, the need for direct sales personnel and personal relationships
increases along with foreign expansion. Furthermore, such elements as vague privacy and
security, poor logistics, or lack of experience with Internet may reduce sales (Moll
a-Descals
et al., 2010). Literature suggests that besides online channels, firms should maintain
additional traditional delivery support as social media contact are not always frequent or
effective (Restrepo, 2013).
2.1.3 R&D. Prior literature on social media and international business focuses strongly on
international marketing and sales but discusses less the connection of social media and R&D
in the international context. This is quite surprising keeping in mind the vast literature on the
strong relationship between marketing and R&D.
Considering the international business context, contemporary literature acknowledges
that social media may provide firms’ R&D function with worldwide market information and
customer feedback that can be used in designing new, tailoring and improving existing
products (Arnone and Deprince, 2016; Glavas et al., 2019; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020;
Pogrebnyakov, 2017; Restrepo, 2013). Social media opens new opportunities and offers new
ways of doing business (Dervojeda et al., 2014; Almeida and Santos, 2020; Arnone and
Deprince, 2016; Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013). With such interpretation, R&D is, at least in
some extent, shifting from product centered paradigm to an experience-centered paradigm
(Dervojeda et al., 2014). Firms can convert market knowledge into products and services for
which customers are willing to pay (Maltby, 2012). Social media means direct communication
with customers, and for this reason, firm use it as a tool for integrating customers into the Social media
product development (Pogrebnyakov, 2017). Social media can promote customer-driven and
co-creation and innovations in the international context (Alarc
on et al., 2018; Dervojeda et al.,
2014; Restrepo, 2013). Firms may enable customers to design their own unique products, or
international
they can manufacture and deliver products on demand, which in turn, leads to cost savings in business
terms of warehousing (Rialp-Criado et al., 2020).
Yet, social media can become a trap for innovating firms as it may lead R&D and
production to such directions where the firm does not have adequate capabilities (Hurmelinna- 31
Laukkanen et al., 2020). Focusing too much on customers’ wishes is risky, but this may happen
if social media gains too notable role as a source of ideas. Considering further that users’
behavior is out of firms’ control, social media may lead to situations where firms’ R&D
activities are harmed. For example, creative consumers might tamper with proprietary
products and produce something which is unwanted by the firm (Berthon et al., 2012).
2.1.4 Human resource management. Social media research that relates to firms’
international operations pays some attention to human resource management issues. This
literature suggests that social media connects to engaging in job search (Singh et al., 2012;
Kazienko et al., 2013); firms may use it to attract highly qualified and specialized human
resources (HR) (Almeida and Santos, 2020). Social media provides firms with an easy access
to talent database, and hence, may facilitate talent acquisition (Lacoste, 2016). When using
social media in recruiting, costs typically remain relatively low (Almeida and Santos, 2020).
Social media is not only useable in recruitment situations but may have also wider
applications. In internationally operating firms, social media can play an important role in
supporting expatriates’ well-being, knowledge transfer, adjustment and job performance
(Crowne et al., 2015). That is, Networks operating on social media may be a source of concrete
work-related assistance, which aids the assignee in achieving higher levels of performance
even when the work is done from the distance. As an important feature, online social
networks nurture the social aspects of collaboration, cooperation and sharing, which may
prevent frustration and enhance understanding (Crowne et al., 2015).
However, cultural differences may still hamper the positive interplay and attention needs
to be paid in how social media is used. A challenge is, if the resources and capabilities within
the firm are not up to this task. For example, apparently digital natives (Prensky, 2001) can be
much more familiar with social media compared to senior managers. Paradoxically, senior
management may consider social media as the wasteful pastime of teenagers, and hence, may
even prohibit their own employees from using social networking tools at work (Berthon et al.,
2012). The attitude of the senior management toward social media is quite crucial (Bochenek
and Blili, 2014), and it should be considered as a strategic tool (Almeida and Santos, 2020;
Bochenek and Blili, 2014; Paniagua et al., 2016). In fact, Alarc
on et al. (2018) find that higher is
the level of managerial involvement with social media, the better is the firm performance.

3. Tentative conceptual framing – combining the emerging views

The above discussion suggests that there likely are specific aspects that are particularly
pronounced in the interplay of social media and international business. We used existing
literature to identify those factors and mechanisms that elaborate the social media’s role in
the international business. Table 2 organizes and summarizes our findings. It first shows
illustrative extracts from the existing literature, and in doing this, pinpoints how social media
may come with both positive and negative impacts. We then categorize these extracts and
collect them under aggregated factors to gain better understanding of the relevant elements
and their connections. The discussion below addresses these issues and shows how the
different factors seem to generate dynamism in the interplay between social media and
international business.
IMR Illustrative extracts from the papers Aggregated factors Main categories
39,7
Benefits Market intelligence Social media
Highly valuable source of foreign market information (Hurmelinna- features
Laukkanen et al., 2020)
Provides the market insight (Josee et al., 2014)
Social media as a market-research function (Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Social media as a market thermometer (Bianchi and Andrews, 2015)
32 Benefits Communication
Enables global reach (Glavas et al., 2019) towards customers
Build awareness in foreign markets (Fraccastoro et al., 2021)
The grapevine effect - market awareness (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
et al., 2020)
Communications across boundaries that are faster and more
frequent than ever before (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013)
Disadvantages
Not all people are active on social media (Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Internet-based media does not replace traditional media (Hanna
et al., 2011)
Benefits Connectedness
Solidify existing relationships and to break the barrier of physical
distance (Almeida and Santos, 2020)
To develop mutual dependencies with customers and partners
(Maltby, 2012)
To become insiders in the relevant network in foreign markets
(Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013)
Disadvantages
Firms cannot standardize social media usage across borders
(Okazaki and Taylor, 2013)
Benefits Costs
Low-cost marketing tools (Alarc
on, Rialp and Rialp, 2018)
Cost-cutting in advertising and competitor analysis (Restrepo, 2013)
Reduction in internationalization costs (Almeida and Santos, 2020)
Reduces logistics costs (Almeida and Santos, 2020)
Costs associated with recruitment processes can be lower (Almeida
and Santos, 2020)
Disadvantages
Increase in content management costs, each social network has its
specific cost (Almeida and Santos, 2020)
Benefits Speed
In the introductory phase, increases the speed of international
growth (Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson, 2018)
Accelerate the internationalization of small businesses (Arnone and
Deprince, 2016)
Rapid internationalization requires that interactions with foreign
organizations via social media networks become available at a very
early stage (Maltby, 2012)
Start-up’s rapid internationalization (Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Uploads can go viral (spread like a virus) and make or break a brand
Table 2. overnight (Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Internationalization Disadvantages
related social media The grapevine effect – market awareness may enforce vicious circle
extracts, aggregated (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020)
factors and resulting
three main categories (continued )
Illustrative extracts from the papers Aggregated factors Main categories
Social media
and
Benefits
SMEs can control the contents they share (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
Controllability international
et al., 2020) business
Disadvantages
Spread of the information is beyond firm’s influence (Hurmelinna-
Laukkanen et al., 2020) 33
Allows power to shift from firms to customers (Almeida and Santos,
2020)
Local almost inevitably becomes global, whether the firm wishes it
to or not (Berthon et al., 2012)
Consumers are intelligent, organizing, and more trusting of their
own opinions and the opinions of their peers (Hanna et al., 2011)
Users can generate, edit, and disseminate information themselves -
companies face challenges in their monitoring and tracking
activities (Zhang and Vos, 2014)
Consumers are intelligent, organizing, and more trusting of their
own opinions and the opinions of their peers (Hanna et al., 2011)
Users can generate, edit and disseminate information themselves –
companies face challenges in their monitoring and tracking
activities (Zhang and Vos, 2014)
Benefits International International
Immediate access to a large international community of potential operations expansion
customers, partners, employees and competitors (Maltby, 2012)
Support marketing strategies of international partners like
franchisees (Restrepo, 2013)
Support communication with distributors in foreign markets
(Restrepo, 2013)
Information for decision-making regarding international suppliers,
distributors, distribution channels, competitors, current and
potential customers (Glavas et al., 2019)
Understanding key institutions and regulatory frameworks in
potential international markets (Glavas et al., 2019)
Disadvantages
Not always for sure which contacts and ambassadors are
appropriate (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020)
Benefits Increased performance
Positive relationship between “cluster” of exporting firms and
performance (Alarc
on, Rialp and Rialp, 2018)
Export performance (Mahmoud et al., 2020)
Potential to benefit from international market growth (Mahmoud
et al., 2020)
More frequent purchases and higher volumes (Rialp-Criado et al.,
2020)
Facilitates foreign sales (Fraccastoro et al., 2021)
Improves the buying intent (Rienda et al., 2021)
Establish credibility (Maltby, 2012)
Disadvantages Cultural aspects
Social media usage driven by national and cultural factors (Singh
et al., 2012)
International communities are constrained by geographic and
linguistic boundaries in terms of their social media content (Singh
et al., 2012)
The impact and intensity of determinants vary across different
cultures/foreign markets (Khan et al., 2016)
Inclusion of different local languages is demanding (Zhang and Vos,
2014)
Ethical constraints (Zhang and Vos, 2014)

(continued ) Table 2.
IMR Illustrative extracts from the papers Aggregated factors Main categories
39,7
Benefits Opportunities and Firm-specific
A gold mine of ideas and business prospects, to identify innovations features
opportunities (Berthon et al., 2012)
Amplify their tacit knowledge and quickly convert it into products
and services for which customers are willing to pay (Maltby, 2012)
34 Co-creation and opportunity exploitation (Almeida and Santos,
2020)
Assists to develop/tailor products and services to the local market
(Pogrebnyakov, 2017)
Shift from a product centered paradigm to an experience-centered
paradigm (Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Extensive opportunities to customize user engagement (Hanna et al.,
2011)
Benefits Resources
To overcome resource limitations, e.g. with regard liabilities of
foreignness, newness, and outsidership (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen
et al., 2020)
International relationships and growth despite an initial lack of
resources and a dearth of established network relationships
(Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson, 2018)
Acquire critical resources such as skills and knowledge through
bridging social capital (Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013)
Effective means to contact salespersons in foreign markets
(Restrepo, 2013)
Valuable resource allowing small firms to increase their visibility
and enter into new markets (Bocconcelli et al., 2017)
Extends networking capability (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013)
Disadvantages
Requires qualified and specialized human resources (Almeida and
Santos, 2020)
Benefits Managerial aspects
A positive impact on an expatriate’s well-being, knowledge transfer,
adjustment and job performance (Crowne et al., 2015)
Effective instrument to base internationalization strategies
(Dervojeda et al., 2014)
Effects on FDI for less experienced firms in an international context
(Paniagua et al., 2016)
Easy access to talent database – facilitate talent acquisition
(Lacoste, 2016)
Engage in job search (Singh et al., 2012)
Disadvantages
Negative attitude of the senior management toward social media
Table 2. (Bochenek and Blili, 2014)

3.1 Social media key features – advantages and challenges for activities in international
markets
While social media can be considered to support different functions, thereby serving different
purposes in the context of international business, specific social media features deserve more
close attention. Importantly, the use of social media comes with both advantages and
downsides.
Social media is all about connectedness, listening and interacting, and the literature
suggests that it has a special meaning in international business (Kiralova and Pavliceka,
2015; Zhang and Vos, 2014). Social media is an inexpensive platform providing firms with an
immediate access to a large international community of potential customers, partners,
employees and competitors (Hanna et al., 2011; Maltby, 2012). Firms can replicate contents in
different social media channels even with limited resources (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., Social media
2020), thereby allowing firms to overcome resource and knowledge deficits (Maltby, 2012). and
Since social media is highly accessible, firms typically use it to reach large numbers of
customers (Berthon et al., 2012), build relationships and connect with foreign distributors
international
(Fraccastoro et al., 2021). business
Outbound knowledge transfer is promoted, as the firm can communicate with its
customers regardless of the location (e.g. Alarc
on et al., 2018). Social media enhances
interactivity and allows developing and maintaining relationships across the international 35
market (e.g. Fraccastoro et al., 2021; Lacoste, 2016), often in a cost-efficient (e.g. Almeida and
Santos, 2020) and fast way (e.g. Maltby, 2012). Likewise, market intelligence is a relevant
element that social media makes more accessible (e.g. Dervojeda et al., 2014). Social media can
greatly advance inbound flows of relevant knowledge for the needs of organizations
operating in international environments. However, this is not without limits, because the
contents are eventually generated by users of social media, and because the firm therefore
cannot well validate the knowledge and information (e.g. Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020).
In fact, social media has considerable limitations in the international context. As
Dervojeda et al. (2014) point out, not all people are active in social media. Furthermore, as the
spread of social media discussions is beyond firm’s influence (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al.,
2020), any local aspect becomes inevitably global (Berthon et al., 2012). Such uncontrollability
means that power shifts from firms to customers in any part of the world (Almeida and
Santos, 2020; Bianchi and Andrews, 2015; Hanna et al., 2011). Based on these observations, we
expect the following:
Proposition 1. The use of social media and firms’ international performance are related
through outbound and inbound information transfer for different
purposes; the nature of this relationship depends on the extent to which
control over social media shifts from a firm to other actors.

3.2 International expansion and social media

Research generally accepts that the use of social media may accelerate, support and promote
firms’ international expansion and improve their international performance (e.g. Moll
a-
Descals et al., 2010). However, it has also been noted that the value of social media depends on
phase and extent of the international expansion. Social media can be used more efficiently in
promoting international expansion especially in the early phases of internationalization (e.g.
Fraccastoro and Gabrielsson, 2018; Glavas et al., 2019; Mahmoud et al., 2020; Rialp-Criado
et al., 2020). Yet, there is less evidence that social media would be a highly relevant part after a
firm has gained foothold at international markets (Almeida and Santos, 2020).
The international environment where firms move has an impact on social media. For
example, the intensity of social media usage is not the same across all geographic areas.
Obviously, high rates of usage smoothen firms’ internationalization endeavors with social
media (Gong et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2016). Nevertheless, technological and institutional
settings vary between target countries (Berthon et al., 2012), and cultural differences
fundamentally challenge relying on social media and capitalizing benefits from it (e.g.
Okazaki and Taylor, 2013; Gong et al., 2014). The international environment influences
especially the contents of the social media in terms cultural suitability. Cultures, the
diversity of languages, linguistic boundaries, national norms, regulations and distinct
ethical issues make appropriate and genuinely efficient social media content localization
difficult (Singh et al., 2012; Zhang and Vos, 2014; Gong et al., 2014; Dervojeda et al., 2014).
As a result, as Okazaki and Taylor (2013) point out, firms cannot standardize social media
usage across borders. Following from these considerations, we formulate the following
proposition:
IMR Proposition 2. The use of social media and firms’ international performance are related
39,7 through social media’s applicability across international markets; the
nature of this relationship depends on the firm’s internationalization phase
and the extent of cultural differences.

3.3 Social media and firm-specific features

36 The literature connecting social media and international business brings forward factors that
firms need to consider regarding their own resources and managerial capabilities. The use of
social media seems often to relax demand for resources in different firm functions and release
them to other use. For example, prior research acknowledges that social media may allow
firms to efficiently tap into international opportunities and innovations (Sigfusson and
Chetty, 2013; Pogrebnyakov, 2017). As Berthon et al. (2012) note, social media is a gold mine of
ideas and business prospects that can be capitalized in the R&D functions. Not all
development work needs to be done by the firm itself to respond to the potentially varying
demand in different locations.
However, at the same time, promoting international activity, increasing communication and
producing relevant social media contents to different markets may require new, specific
marketing resources that a firm does not already possess (Hanna et al., 2011; Almeida and
Santos, 2020). Furthermore, Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al. (2020) point out that due to
uncontrolled spread, use of social media may lead to excess demand, which in turn, requires
more resources in manufacturing and production. Literature also points out that negative
managerial attitudes towards social media erode its potential to influence international activities
(e.g. Bochenek and Blili, 2014), meaning that if right kind of resource and capabilities, and
managerial support are needed. In the light of these considerations, we propose the following:
Proposition 3. The use of social media and firms’ international performance are related
through resource endowments; the nature of this relationship depends on
the existing resources and capabilities and managerial support.
The above notions can be combined into a tentative conceptual framing on the dynamics of
social media and internationalization. Figure 1 below illustrates how social media,

Figure 1.
Framing the interplay
of social media and
internationalization
international business and organizational features can be seen to connect based on the Social media
existing literature. and
In sum, it can be considered that the relationship between the use of social media and firms’
international expansion depends concurrently on the available relevant resources, managerial
international
resources and capabilities, and the extent of cultural differences at target markets. Likewise, the business
relationship between social media and firm resources can be argued to be dependent
concurrently on the phase of the firm’s international expansion, firm’s capabilities to control
social media communities, and the firm’s capabilities to balance between the increasing sales and 37
production. These interrelations generate continuous dynamism, with changes in either social
media or international business resonating to the other.
We suggest that social media enables augmenting the resource base of a firm operating in
international markets by improving the use and easing the allocation of sometimes scarce
resources (especially in small firms at early stages of internationalization) and by expanding
the capabilities of the firm trough connectedness and interaction with foreign customers and
other stakeholders. Through learning, the firm can use the acquired capabilities to feed back
to more efficient use of social media.
Social media also directly relates to international performance through accelerating and
strengthening international activities across firm functions. However, the outcomes from this
relationship are conditioned by the controllability of social media. Especially under resource
constraints and with cultural aspects complicating the situation, control may be easily lost, in
which case expected positive results may not realize, or may turn into new challenges.
Product development for new markets may become distorted, reputational issues may harm
international performance, cultural aspects, such as language differences, variation in forms
of social media used in different markets, or other needs for localization, may start to exhaust
resources in surprising ways.
This tentative framework acknowledges that the relationship between social media and
internationalization is dynamic and two-directional, and that it can become positive or
negative depending on various contingency factors and their intricate connections, as well as
depending on which firm functions are taken under scrutiny; aspects that may be useful for
marketing may not produce similar benefit for R&D. Considering that it seems that literature
addressing these issues is still quite scant, and that more information is needed, we encourage
further research in many areas.

4. Agenda for future research

Our tentative conceptual framing and the general insight on the state of research provide
useful direction for future research. First, as we note earlier, prior research identifies both
positive and negative relationships among those constructs that we incorporate in the
suggested framing. We argue that more versatile research designs are therefore needed: It
appears that for the relationship between social media and international expansion, the
impact of various external factors (such as firm size, international experience, marketing,
sales, R&D, and financial resources, managerial resources and capabilities, industry-
specifics, and the cultural and regulatory distance between home and target countries)
matters. Against this background, social media research would benefit from more
multifaceted qualitative and quantitative studies. Furthermore, more studies discussing
the benefits and challenges of using social media in international business is warranted.
It could also potentially turn more attention to the impact of international business on social
media, which is another aspect waiting to be addressed more explicitly.
Second, and relatedly, only few articles explicitly acknowledge that the use of social media
may be limited, or even turn out to be harmful in the context of international expansion. This
may take place especially in cases where the power shifts from firms to customers (see
Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2020) and other stakeholders. In this regard, further studies
IMR could explore the role of social media in firms’ opportunity exploitation (see Restrepo, 2013),
39,7 and how this influences firms’ resource endowments. As we suggest above, explicit
consideration of external factors is needed. When scholars understand the conditions better,
diffusion of issues in social media (see Zhang and Vos, 2014) can be better understood. Fake
news, trolling and other such aspects can harm firms’ competitiveness and relationships with
customers and other stakeholders. Thus, it would be important to also study the dark side of
social media to shed light on how firms can avoid undesirable outcomes.
38 Third, the role of social media in different dimensions of firms’ international operations
warrants examination. This resonates with the observation that international marketing tends
to dominate the discussion, leaving other functions with less attention. So far, literature lightly
touches R&D, HR and finance. Future studies should delve deeper into these functions, and their
interconnectedness, scrutinizing the relevant dynamics and microfoundations. Based on the
insight from this study, we encourage exploring how cross-functional use of social media
impacts the international expansion – and vice versa. In conducting these studies, it is possible
to consider the fact that new technologies are emerging and taking foothold; these technologies
may influence the use of social media. For example, the use of big data is already being exploited
in many large firms’ R&D, sales and marketing. The role of big data in the social media
and international expansion will likely grow. In a similar manner, artificial intelligence
(AI) applications are spreading, which has opened up new possibilities for the use of social media
– especially in the international context – and respectively, calls for further research.
Fourth, as a relatively typical aspect when calling for future research, new methodological
and theoretical perspectives are asked for (Fleischmann and Fleischmann, 2019; Fraccastoro
et al., 2021; Mahmoud et al., 2020; Pogrebnyakov, 2017; Rienda et al., 2021). Considering the
relatively limited research where the dynamics of social media and international business are
purposefully taken under simultaneous examination, we agree that employing a variety of
methodological approaches will be valuable. Diverse research methods may be useful to uncover
more and different empirical evidence with respect to the firm’s use of social media as means to
operate in international markets. Our framework indicates that a wide view is warranted, as
complex mediating, moderating, and more and less linear connections may be present. Some of
these may be captured with qualitative, and others with quantitative approaches.
Finally, while this aspect is not as strongly visible in existing literature or the suggested
tentative framing, we argue that future research should allocate effort to identifying and
carefully defining the constructs and the key factors of international social media strategy. In
doing this, it would be important to be able to analytically separate generally applicable features
of social media and those that are integrally connected to its international application. In a
relatively new field, there is a lot of potential in careful conceptual treatment and development,
which assists later work and enables avoiding fragmentation that hinders research. We hope
that this review can provide tools and starting points for such development work.

5. Conclusions
Our study was motivated by the need to understand the relationship between social media
and international business. Partly due to the novelty of the research field, existing research
has focused on the use of social media in general or has placed it in very specific contexts
(e.g. Kietzmann et al., 2011; Erdogmus and Cicek, 2012; Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Insight
into its international and strategic use seems to be more limited. In addition, most of the
previous studies have discussed social media as a communication, marketing or sales channel
(e.g. Mills, 2012; Berthon et al., 2012; Dateling and Bick, 2013; Jussila et al., 2013), and paid
attention to the possibilities and opportunities provided by social media (e.g. Seroka-Stolka
and Tomski, 2015). Less attention has been devoted to discussing the adverse effects or
functions such as R&D and human resource management.
5.1 Theoretical contributions Social media
Our study adds to existing knowledge on social media use, thereby providing insight into and
the wider discussion on digitalization. More specifically, we highlight that nowadays
various firm functions may benefit from the use of social media, especially when firms are
international
engaged in international business. The results indicate that in addition to promoting business
international marketing and sales operations, social media can be used in innovation
(Berthon et al., 2012), research and product development activities (Maltby, 2012), and in
human resource management (Kazienko et al., 2013; Crowne et al., 2015) – perhaps even 39
financing. Although social media research explicitly connected with firms’ international
operations largely omits firm finance related aspects, from a managerial perspective, social
media may stimulate foreign capital expenditure, for example (see Paniagua et al., 2016).
New, skilled employees can be found, and ideas captured from platforms across countries,
and country or market-specific insights can be harnessed for product and service
development. These are only a few examples how companies may utilize social media in
their international business.
However, we also argue that using social media necessitates awareness of the related risks,
and readiness to address the opportunities and threats. This need for alert approach is
particularly pronounced in the international business context, and with this notion, we also add
insight into the IB literature. The need for less resources or easy application of social media is a
risky assumption for firms engaging or already engaged in international operations. Our study
indicates that internationalization and international performance can be influenced by
phenomena brought by digitalization, but reminds further that the reverse is relevant, too. It
also extends the understanding of the role of resources in international business by paying
attention to the complexities related to this, as revealed by issues in social media use.

5.2 Managerial implications

Our study reminds managers to be cautious when using social media in international markets.
The relationship between social media and international business exhibits dynamism and is
dependent on a variety of factors. Social media does not come without costs, nor is easily
transferred from one market to another. Efficient use of this media in the international context
may increase the need of specific and qualified human resources, and it may necessitate having
the whole process from R&D to delivery, and beyond, ready for adaptation.
This is not to say that social media in the international context is too risky or demanding.
On the contrary, managers could well benefit from searching even more widely for possible
uses. Not only marketing and sales, but also other firm functions may benefit from a wise use
of social media in the context of international business. Use of social media platforms may
have a positive impact on expatriates’ wellbeing, knowledge transfer, and job performance,
and allow finding new employees. Social media may also help in designing and exploitation of
internationalization strategies, including finance. In any case, without management, also
senior management, having a positive attitude towards social media, social media will not
have a chance to show its potential as relevant part of international business.

5.3 Limitations
Although we believe that our study provides much needed insight into social media in
international business, it has limitations. Research on social media has only taken off over the
last years, and it is understandable that there is limited research that connects it specifically
to phenomena of international business. The number of articles identified for closer
examination in this study is small, resonating the nature of an emerging research area.
However, based on our observations, it can be argued that we still know little about the
relevant factors and relationships between them. We believe that on the way towards a more
IMR comprehensive view on the relationship between social media and international business,
39,7 those studies that explicitly and directly address these constructs and their interaction are the
most valuable ones as a starting point.

Notes
1. Aslib Journal of Information Management, Business Horizons, Corporate Communications: An
40 International Journal, Electron Markets, Escenarios: Empresas y Territorio, European Commission,
European Journal of Business and Management, European Management Journal, Global Journal of
Business Research, Book chapter in Understanding Social Media and Entrepreneurship Springer,
Industrial Marketing Management, Information Systems Management, International Business
Review, International Marketing Review, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal of
Business Case Studies, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management,
Journal of Global Information Management, Journal of Global Mobility, Journal of Research in
Interactive Marketing, Journal of World Business, Management and Marketing, Management
International Review, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences, Book chapter in Social Media in Strategic Management
Emerald Group Publishing, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, Technology
Innovation Management Review,
The 2015 WEI International Academic Conference Proceedings, Thunderbird International
Business Review

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Appendix
Systematic search process
In our comprehensive synthesis of academic literature on social media and international business we
followed Tranfield et al.’s (2003) systematic review approach to find out what is the current state of
research on social media and international business, what are the core themes and insights emerging
from the literature, and what are the implications for future research. This review proceeded through
searching, screening, and extraction/synthesis stages. While Figure A1 illustrates the steps taken,
Tables A1–A3 provide information on the search string and criteria, and quality assessment that we
used to identify those studies where social media and international business are explicitly connected to
each other.

Figure A1.
Systematic search
process
IMR “Social media and internationalization” “Online media” and “international marketing”
39,7 “Social media and international “Digital strategy” and “international marketing”
business” “Social networking sites” and “international marketing”
“Social media” and “global” “International marketing” and (“facebook” or “twitter” or “youtube”
“Social media” and “multinational*” or “web 2.0” or “user-generated content”)
“Social media” and “born globals” “International business” and (“facebook” or “twitter” or
“Social media” and “international new “youtube” or “web 2.0” or “user- generated content”)
44 ventures” “Global” and (“facebook” or “twitter” or “youtube”
“Social media” and “international*” Or “web 2.0” or “user-generated content”)
“Social media” and “international “Multinational*” and (“facebook” or “twitter” or “youtube”
marketing” Or “web 2.0” or “user-generated content”)
“Online media” and “Internationali*” and (“facebook” or “twitter” or “youtube”
“internationalization” Or “web 2.0” or “user-generated content”)
“Digital strategy” and
“internationalization”
”Social networking sites” and
“internationalization”
“Social networking sites” and
“international business”
Table A1. “Online media” and “international
Key phrases used to business”
search for relevant “Digital strategy” and “international
articles business”

Criterion Inclusion Exclusion

Study Theoretical and empirical and studies, peer

Type reviewed; working/conference articles included if
high quality
Language English Any other language
Date 2000 to 2020 Any study published before 2000
Relevance * Clear connection between social media and * Not directly relevant to the research
international business question (e.g. social media in local use)
* Focus on the role of social media in international * No clear connection between social media
business and international business
* Focus on the role and impact of social media in * Focus not on the role of social media in
Table A2. internationalization process international business
Inclusion and * Focus not on the role and impact of social
exclusion criteria media in the internationalization process
 Level
Social media
Not and
Element 0 - Absence 1- Low 2 - medium 3 - high applicable international
1. Theory The article Poor Basic Deep and broad This business
robustness does not awareness of understanding knowledge of element is
provide existing of the issues relevant not
enough literature and around the topic literature and applicable 45
information debates. Under being discussed. theory relevant to the
to assess this or over The theory for addressing document
criterion referenced weakly is related the research. or study
Low validity of to data Good relation
theory theory-data
2. Implication for As above Very difficult There is a Significant As above
practise to implement potential for benefit may be
the concepts implementing obtained if the
and ideas the proposed ideas being
presented. Not ideas, with discussed are
relevant for minor revisions put into practice
practitioners or adjustments
or
professionals
3. Methodology As above Data Data is related to Data strongly As above
Data supporting inaccuracy the arguments, supports
arguments and not related though there are arguments.
to theory. some gaps. Besides, the
Flawed Research design research design
research may be is robust:
design improved sampling, data
gathering, data
analyses is
rigorous
4. Generalizability As above Only to the Generalizable to High level of As above
population organizations of generalizability
studied similar
characteristics
5. Contribution As above Does not make Although using Further develops As above
plus a short an important other’s ideas, existing
statement contribution. It builds upon the knowledge,
summarizing the is not clear the existing theory expanding the
article’s advances it way the issue Table A3.
contribution makes was explained so Quality assessment
far criteria

Corresponding author
Matti Saari can be contacted at: matti.saari@uva.fi

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