TY - JOUR
T1 - Social media–based customer service and firm reputation
AU - Guo, Yujuan
AU - Fan, Di
AU - Zhang, Xiao
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the guest editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The first author acknowledges support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (#71872053 and #71902041).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/5/4
Y1 - 2020/5/4
N2 - Purpose: This study investigates the effects of using social media for customer service on firms' reputation building. In addition, this study explores the role of absorptive capacity, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9,000 implementation and periodic training for management and employees in the relationship between social media–based customer service and firm reputation. Design/methodology/approach: This study sampled 115 US-listed firms and collected secondary data from five databases as follows: Factiva, Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (WMAC), Standard & Poor's COMPUSTAT, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Thomson Reuters’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). This study developed a panel dataset of these 115 firms from 2007 to 2016 and conducted dynamic panel data analyses to examine the hypotheses. Findings: This study finds that a higher number of social media channels used for customer service is associated with a higher reputation score for a firm. In addition, the positive relationship is reinforced when a firm has a high absorptive capacity level, an ISO 9000 quality management system and offers periodic training for management and employees. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between social media–based customer service and firm reputation. This study also explores the boundary factors in terms of firm absorptive capacity, ISO 9000 quality management systems and training for management and employees.
AB - Purpose: This study investigates the effects of using social media for customer service on firms' reputation building. In addition, this study explores the role of absorptive capacity, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9,000 implementation and periodic training for management and employees in the relationship between social media–based customer service and firm reputation. Design/methodology/approach: This study sampled 115 US-listed firms and collected secondary data from five databases as follows: Factiva, Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (WMAC), Standard & Poor's COMPUSTAT, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Thomson Reuters’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). This study developed a panel dataset of these 115 firms from 2007 to 2016 and conducted dynamic panel data analyses to examine the hypotheses. Findings: This study finds that a higher number of social media channels used for customer service is associated with a higher reputation score for a firm. In addition, the positive relationship is reinforced when a firm has a high absorptive capacity level, an ISO 9000 quality management system and offers periodic training for management and employees. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between social media–based customer service and firm reputation. This study also explores the boundary factors in terms of firm absorptive capacity, ISO 9000 quality management systems and training for management and employees.
KW - Customer service
KW - Reputation
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085069174&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/IJOPM-04-2019-0315
DO - 10.1108/IJOPM-04-2019-0315
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85085069174
SN - 0144-3577
VL - 40
SP - 575
EP - 601
JO - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
JF - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
IS - 5
ER -