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The popularity of e-commerce has increased significantly over recent years. However, this growth is not shared by all European Union states. One reason for this discrepancy is culture which impacts on e-commerce acceptance. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the effect of acculturation process on e-commerce acceptance.

Structural equation modelling is employed to test three research models: technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour model and motivational model.

The findings show that attitudes towards e-commerce change in relation to the perception of control and the influence of subjective norms, which impact intentions to use e-commerce before movement to a host country’s culture. However, its effect diminishes after the exposure to the influence of a host culture.

This is the first study to demonstrate the existence of the effect of acculturation process on mingling and migrating consumers and their changing attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance.

In business-to-business (B2B) settings, research on social media sites (SMS) has primarily examined the benefits and challenges relating to their use, as well as factors driving their adoption. Recently, attention has turned to the consequences of using SMS in B2B markets. The purpose of this paper is to extend this line of research by investigating the impact of B2B brands’ social media presence, interactivity and responsiveness on customers’ perceptions of four indicators of brand relationship strength (commitment, intimacy, satisfaction and partner quality).

Data from an online survey (N = 200) with customers of UK-based B2B firms were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The study reveals that a supplier’s presence on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook has a positive impact on all four brand relationship strength indicators; interactivity enhances perceived partner quality, while responsiveness positively influences commitment. Differences across the three SMS are also observed.

The research was conducted on a sample of UK-based firms with varying degrees of SMS use that may influence the impact on B2B brand relationship strength.

This study indicates that B2B brands ought to focus primarily on presence on SMS, given its positive impact on brand relationship strength. At the same time, however, B2B brands should be active in responding to customers’ queries on SMS, as well as interacting with them to enhance commitment and perceived partner quality, respectively.

This study contributes to the digital marketing and B2B relationships interface and is the first to examine the role of B2B brands’ presence, interactivity and responsiveness on SMS in enhancing relationships with customers.

This paper examines the servitization phenomenon in the context of global value chains (GVCs) and presents a conceptual framework by connecting the two literature streams—servitization and GVCs—to depict the interconnected multilevel processes by which the influence of servitization on GVC structure and governance is manifested.

Drawing on cross-disciplinary literature, the authors develop a multilevel conceptual framework. The theoretically informed framework advances research on servitization and GVCs and provides a line of inquiry to be explored as avenues for future research opportunities.

The authors argue that servitization instigates the formation of new ecosystems and collaborative structures within GVCs, reduces the fragmentation of the overall network structure and increases embeddedness within the subclusters of GVCs. These changes are expected to be reflected in the increase in the complexity of firms' GVC governance tasks, a greater reliance on relational governance, and an increase in the dependency on local partners in terms of the governance of GVCs.

This conceptual paper establishes the link between servitization and GVCs, anchors the servitization phenomenon in GVCs, explains how servitizing firms can engage in and shape GVCs and offers insights into the servitization-driven changes in GVCs. The conceptual framework is intended to lay the foundation for future empirical research on the link between servitization and GVCs.

This study aims to analyze the available literature on the use of digital marketing in a business-to-business (B2B) context. It identifies gaps in the current research knowledge and proposes a research agenda for scholars and practitioners.

A systematic literature review has been conducted on B2B digital marketing. The various themes have been identified on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of extant literature. Also, semi-structured interviews with B2B marketing experts were also conducted to further refine the emerged digital marketing themes.

Although some B2B firms use digital marketing, most are unable to leverage its full benefits because of the dearth of comprehensive research on the subject. This review provides an insight into the emerging themes by developing a collaborative conceptual framework. The review highlights that few areas such as digital marketing communication and sales management have witnessed steady development while decision support systems, critical success factors, electronic marketing orientation (EMO), etc., were lesser explored. Furthermore, it identifies research gaps and highlights the emerging research themes for future researchers.

The collaborative framework will help organizations to align their digital marketing activities as per the changing market dynamics such as the focus on building social media capability, EMO and value co-creation.

Research on the use of digital marketing by B2B firms is still at the embryonic stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the use of digital marketing in B2B organizations and identify research priorities for scholars and practitioners.