Consumer resource integration and service innovation in social commerce: the role of social media influencers

Yao Wu,Kang Xie,Jinghua Xiao,Satish Nambisan

doi:10.1007/s11747-022-00837-y

Yao Wu, Kang Xie + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00837-y

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Abstract

Social media technologies have given rise to influencers who shape the purchasing behaviors of their followers (peer consumers), thus enabling consumer-initiated social commerce. However, few studies have explored how social media influencers, and more broadly, consumers, actively integrate resources to engage in service innovation in social commerce. This qualitative study (involving two firms and their influencers) examines the emerging roles of social media influencers and their resource integration behaviors in service innovation. Drawing on the service-dominant logic and the technology affordance theory, the study advances a framework that identifies the resource integration behaviors that underlie two primary roles of influencers—communicator and innovator—and explains how social media technology affordances facilitate these behaviors, and thereby, the ensuing innovation outcomes. By focusing on the technology-mediated processes of social media influencers’ engagement in service innovation, we contribute to research and practice in consumer-led service innovation in the emerging digital world.

Highlights

Social media technologies (SMTs) have opened novel opportunities for consumers to leverage their personal resources to engage with firms and become “influencers”, thereby cocreating value and shaping the purchasing behaviors of their followers
Drawing on the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) perspective, here, we suggest that each lead role played by influencers in service innovation essentially represents a different set of inputs—inputs that are related to the dominant operant resources of the role—that shape service innovation outcomes
This study focused on how social media influencers integrate resources to engage in and enable service innovation in consumer-initiated social commerce (CSC)

Summary

Introduction

Social media technologies (SMTs) have opened novel opportunities for consumers to leverage their personal resources to engage with firms and become “influencers”, thereby cocreating value and shaping the purchasing behaviors of their followers (peer consumers). In the CSC context, social media influencers assume a lead role in marketing and service innovation by engaging in two-way interactions with firms and followers. Drawing upon multiple data sources, including semi-structured interviews, documents, and direct observations, we examine the differentiated roles and resource integration behaviors of the social media influencers at the two firms and examine how they lead to specific service innovation outcomes (individualized product promotion and individualized brand building). 16 media reports, collected from CNKI.net (the most frequently used digital library by universities and colleges in China), provided sufficient information for understanding the marketing strategy of Company A, which helped the research team to better understand Company A’s purpose and criteria for selecting influencers These documents helped us identify the communicator role of the influencers and their value in promoting products, thereby enabling the research team to further explore the specific behaviors of the influencers. We suggest: Proposition 3B Influencer innovators’ utilizing, constructing, and uniting behaviors will positively impact their efforts at service innovation, in terms of individualized brand building, in the CSC context

Discussion

Findings

Limitations and future research directions