Graduation Year
2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
D.B.A.
Degree Granting Department
Business
Major Professor
Richard Plank, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Sajeev Varki, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Anand Kumar, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Moez Limayem, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Steve Oscher, DBA
Keywords
Business to Business, relationship life cycle, Relationship Marketing, Relationship Quality, social media
Abstract
Social media is increasingly being used by business-to-business (B2B) firms to engage with their customers as they seek to maintain and grow their relationship with their customers. In my dissertation, I examine what communication objectives B2B firms seek to achieve via social media at different stages of the relationship cycle (exploration, expansion, maturity). I then use a panel of social media experts to evaluate the social media efforts of these firms to determine how well these firms achieve their social media objectives. I then contrast how the social media communication objectives of these firms at different stages of the relationship line up with what academic literature suggests as being the most appropriate at the given stage of the relationship and thus highlight the gaps between theory and practice.
Scholar Commons Citation
Jarrett, Loran, "Social Media Deployment in a Business to Business Environment: Theory and Practice." (2018). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/7527
