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This paper aims to propose and test a research model that links social media usage with networking capabilities on the commercialization performance.

The target population of this study consisted of 530 managers and experts in knowledge-based firms in Science and Technology Parks of Isfahan (Iran), which were active in the electronics and electronic engineering, bio, renewable energy, nano and information and communication technologies. To determine the effects of the social media and networking capability on the commercialization performance in knowledge-based firms, this study collected the data through a questionnaire survey with knowledge-based firms and conducted statistical analysis. The unit of analysis is the entire firm. The random sampling method was applied in this study. This study mainly uses the validated existing scales of previous studies on Likert-type scales with response options ranging from 1 to 5. To increase the response rate and accuracy, the researchers in this study also conducted phone and e-mail survey. A total of 230 questionnaires were conducted to remove the questionnaires with inadequate or missing answers, and the final 220 cases were selected as valid samples.

First, this research confirmed that social media usage can positively improve commercialization performance. Second, this research confirmed the mediating role of the networking capability on the relationship between social media usage and commercialization performance. In fact, social media tools represent a potential vehicle to help firms create better relationships with partners and increase commercialization performance via these mechanisms.

This study contributes to the existing literature by integrating the domains of social media usage and business networks perspective. Social media has revolutionized the way firms interact with business partners. A salient characteristic of today’s business setting is that partners use social media to nurture and sustain their network relationships with others (Kim et al., 2016). Moreover, based on the dynamic capability theory and business networks perspective, the authors introduce the impression management capability as a networking capability dimension that has been neglected and mentioned only briefly.

The purpose of this study is to develop a structural equation model to explain the complex relationship between social network and firm performance by introducing the mediating role of trust, selling capability and pricing capability.

The research model with hypothesis development was derived based on the literature. To provide empirical evidence, this study carried out a survey in which the data were equated with a list of questionnaires with a random survey of 380 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Indonesian context.

This study indicates that the use of social media in management process will not affect the increasing firm performance, unless the firms build trust upon social networks. The social network with trust allows the firms to gain a pricing capability and a selling capability, which brings a positive impact on firm performance. The results also show that the selling and the pricing capabilities become essential following the utilizing the social media, which concerns on trust building.

This study focused on the small-to-medium context, which has conventionally provided an exemplary site for the development of social capital theory but raises issues of generalizability across different contexts.

To the managers, it is advisable to encourage their employees to consciously exploit the selling capability by enhancing the business networks via social media to achieve the firm performance.

This paper contributes to the social capital theory by explaining the mediating role of trust in the complex relationship between social network and firm performance. This study provides evidence that trust plays a pivotal role in social networks, which enable the observed firms to achieve the performance.

Drawing on the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between resource capabilities and performance by incorporating two network dimensions (i.e. social and business networks), a moderator (i.e. international experience) and a mediator (i.e. marketing capabilities).

SME data were collected via surveys. A sampling frame of 3,000 exporting manufactures was developed based on a database sourced from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The authors first contacted the managers of each firm in the sampling frame through e-mail or phone to receive permission, and then sent a paper questionnaire. The authors analyzed 392 valid cases using a path analysis.

The findings largely confirmed the hypotheses in the proposed framework based on the RBV. While social networks only enhanced marketing capabilities and did not directly lead to international performance, business networks enhanced both. Also, unlike social networks, the influence of SME business networks on international performance was weakened as international experience increased. This study found that marketing capabilities mediated the path from business networks to international performance.

The study explained the distinctive roles played by social and business networks in international performance, extending our knowledge of the RBV by showing how firm resources can turn into sustainable competitive advantages. More importantly, the integration of time into the discussion on networks and international performance extended the business network internationalization process model.

The authors suggest that Korean SMEs focus on developing their own marketing capabilities by capitalizing on their social and business networks, which could directly enhance international performance. Governments can also offer assistance to SMEs for developing their own marketing capabilities during the initial stages of internationalization, since the benefit of business networks diminishes as international experience increases.

By testing the proposed link between resource capabilities and performance, this study suggested how SME networks can contribute to international performance, extending our understanding of RBV. This study further confirmed the dynamic impact of business networks on international performance, such that it changes over the course of the internationalization process.

This paper seeks to examine how dense and cohesive social networks can lead to pioneering. In this sense, the specific aim of this study is to analyse the mediating role placed by marketing and technological capabilities to explain the link among the structural social capital and the pioneering.

Focusing on a sample of 224 companies from the Spanish footwear industry, the authors used partial least squares (PLS) with PLS‐Graph software to analyse data.

The obtained results show how those firms with a dense and strong social network tend to develop pioneering. In this sense, a positive and significant relationship is found between structural social capital and pioneering. Furthermore, a strong positive relationship is found between structural social capital and marketing and technological capabilities, and of both kinds of capabilities with pioneering. The study also finds that the significant relationship between structural social capital and pioneering disappears under the effect of a firm's capabilities.

This study develops a cross‐sectional and non‐longitudinal approach. In any case, it is clear that the cross‐sectional approach of the study suffices for the proposed aims, having already been put to good use in other studies on entry timing.

It is demonstrated how in mature industries such as the footwear industry, albeit unhampered by strong entry and imitation barriers, marketing and technological capabilities position barriers can be established, which favour a firm's expectations of obtaining FMAs.

This study provides theoretical linkages between concepts of several theoretical approaches, social capital, RBV and the FMAs approach.

Creative performance relies on the capability of developing and presenting an original concept or idea, and the collaborative production of creative content which enhances feeling of connection with others and formation of strong community. The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of work performance containing four dimensions (capacity, opportunities, willingness, and performance) to investigate how the capabilities of social network sites enhance user creative performance through collective social capital and information capital (opportunities) for and individual habit of use (willingness) of the user to engage in social learning process.

Many measurement items are adapted from the literature, except those measuring the constructs of social media capabilities (i.e. transmission velocity (TV), parallelism, symbol sets, rehearsability, and reprocessability) and user creative performance. The study uses survey method to collect data from social media network (SMN) users in Taiwan. Facebook is chosen as the source because it is the most prevalent and sophisticated social media platform that provides a home for users to interact and communicate. Structural equation modeling with partial least square is used to analyze the usable data collected from 533 Facebook users.

The results show that the constructs are significantly and positively correlated, meaning that social media capabilities enable social capital, information capital, and habit of use to improve user creative performance in SMNs. Three out of five social media capabilities (i.e. TV, parallelism, and rehearsability) are identified as the key enablers.

Because of the sampled surveyed subjects and the single research method, there are some limitations in this study. The research results may lack generalizability that should be taken into account when they are interpreted. The authors encourage researchers to test the proposed theoretical model further with additional subjects, variables, and linkages.

The findings of this research shed light for managers of SMN platforms on how to manage the platforms more effectively. A healthy SMN platform must implement at least these three media capabilities: the functions of news feed (i.e. TV), chat (i.e. parallelism), edit (i.e. rehearsability), in order to sustain its service.

This study confirmed that user creative performance can be increased in various ways through social capital, information capital, and habit of use. Company management should use SMNs (e.g. Facebook or Twitter) to enable employees to interact and exchange ideas and promote “coopetition” among employees across the company. If the organizational culture supports free expression of ideas and sharing of opinions, the development and robustness of group creativity can be enhanced, leading to higher competitive advantage for a company against its competitors.

Past studies related to individual creativity have mostly discussed it as a personality trait or talent; yet, personality trait or talent is implicit until it is shown by one’s behavior. Thus, for the collective performance of user creativity on SMNs, the authors elicit individual creativity through the creative performance manifested by user behavior. Furthermore, the authors confirm that social capital, information capital, and habit of use are the critical antecedents of user creative performance, and that the five social media capabilities are the enablers of social capital, information capital, and habit of use on SMNs.

A rise in international travel leads to increased competitiveness in the hotel industry. The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of social networking relationships on the association between innovative capability (IC) and firm performance in Ghana’s hotel industry.

Data are collected from managers of 200 registered hotels in the northern region of Ghana. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire, with variables measured on a seven-point Likert scale.

The findings reveal a mixture of confirmation for the relationships hypothesized in this study. IC influences the financial as well as the operational performance of hotels and guesthouses in Ghana. Social network relationships have a slight tendency to positively impact on business performance. Network relationships with the community leaders enable hotels to gain knowledge from local communities to build its IC. Social networking with political leaders does not moderate the relationship between IC and performance.

The findings provide empirical support for the viability and performance benefits of developing IC, so as to inform management interventions. It is focused on Sub-Saharan Africa specifically, where managers in the hospitality industry need to find new approaches to develop IC in order to remain competitive. The potential contribution of this study lies in the moderating role that IC plays in the relationship between different types of social networking relationship and performance of hotels.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of online social networks and competency-based management on innovation capability.

The paper is theory-confirming. Theoretical relationships were tested using an empirical study of 289 firms from the Spanish biotechnology and telecommunications industries.

Results confirm that online social network use for internal cognitive processes (e.g. reading, searching and storing information) and external cognitive processes (e.g. sharing and co-creating knowledge) positively affects knowledge transfer. This knowledge helps firms to achieve superior competency in R&D to succeed in innovation programs.

All survey respondents were from Spain, which may limit the generalizability of findings. A longitudinal approach was not used. However, doing so would make it possible to explore time lags between online social network use, competency-based management and innovation.

This paper highlights the potential as well as the limitations of online social networks and competency-based management in promoting innovation capability. Businesses must consciously manage the assimilation and use of online social networks to benefit from them.

The study contributes to the literature by identifying effects on innovation capability at the meso-level (i.e. online social networks). Findings highlight the need for a shift in focus away from collaborating and interacting in online social networks (micro-level) and organizational contexts (macro-level) so as to improve innovation capability.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse the importance of social networking in information diffusion and capability of farmers by understanding the pattern of social networking. This study also looks into the impact of social networking in agriculture and how far the village resource centre as an institution helped the social networking at the rural level.

The study conducted an empirical analysis by using primary data. A well-structured interview schedule is used to collect the information about social networking of each of the 170 Village Resource Centre (VRC) attending (VRCAM) and VRC non-attending (VRCNAM) people of Meppadi (Kerala State, India) and 170 VRC non-attending people from neighbouring villages of Meppadi (VRCNANV). Also, 133 samples were collected from VRC attendees (VRCAT), VRC non-attendees (VRCNAT) and VRC non-attendees from neighbouring villages of Thiruvaiyaru (Tamil Nadu state, India).

This paper provides empirical results that appropriate institutions at rural level can create effective social networking, and thereby help the information dissemination among the farmers. It is understood that the Meppadi VRC social network is expansionary in nature, but in Thiruvaiyaru, the social network is not expansionary. A major motive for the farmers to join a VRC network is to gain “knowledge” in both regions. The two patterns of networking identified that networking and communication between experts and attendees are strong in Triruvaiyaru, but less visible in Meppadi. Similarly, networking between VRC attendees and non-attendees is very strong and evident in Thivaiyaru. At the same time, the study found that the knowledge diffusion from VRC happens maximum in Meppadi famers because of their enhanced skills and capabilities.

Since the research has conducted among the farmers who attended one particular type of institution, the result lacks diversity. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to conduct it in different types of institutions.

The study throws light on the importance of appropriate institutional interventions for developing a social network to disseminate knowledge and ideas among the farmers. Farmers rely more on personal interactions with their peers, friends, agricultural professionals, local institutions, media and extension farm advisers for new technology, knowledge, etc., than the formal channels of information sharing.

Well-directed social networks among the farmers can enhance the productivity of agriculture, which, in turn, will enhance the living standard of the agriculture-dependent population.

The study conducted an empirical analysis by using primary data and proved that local institutions are important for developing social networks.

This paper seeks to examine the internal and external social networks in which subsidiary HR and general managers discuss HRM issues, and to explain how their involvement in these networks influences subsidiary HRM capabilities.

The data consist of qualitative interviews with 40 HR and general managers in 23 Nordic MNC subsidiaries in China.

Managers view their networks with other MNCs as being more important for developing their HRM capabilities than contact with peers in local domestic companies. Within the MNC global and regional networks were perceived as being especially useful.

The interviews were conducted in Nordic MNC subsidiaries in Beijing and Shanghai. This could carry implications for the generalisability of the findings. Other limitations of the study are the sampling method and the interview language. MNCs establishing themselves in China should encourage involvement of HR and general managers in internal and external networks. External MNC networks appear to be particularly important sources of HRM knowledge and ideas. Internally more effort should be focused on helping HR managers improve their global networks.

The paper provides an in‐depth description of subsidiary managers' networks, responds to calls made for more research regarding the outcomes of social capital, and addresses the gap in previous research regarding the importance of how things are done in HRM.

Although social networks play an important role in individual ambidexterity, few studies have examined the impact of salespeople's social networks on sales-service ambidexterity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how salespeople's internal and external social networks affect sales-service ambidexterity.

The unique data of 331 salespeople from 39 units in retail banking industry and insurance industry were collected, and the hierarchical linear model was adopted to test the hypotheses. Finally, the alternative measure of the dependent variable and the alternative estimation method were adopted for robustness test.

The results show that the strength of salespeople's internal social networks and the extensiveness of salespeople's external social networks could facilitate sales-service ambidexterity of salespeople separately and synergistically. Salespeople's role breadth self-efficacy partially mediates the influences of internal and external social networks on sales-service ambidexterity, while empowerment climate and transformational leadership positively moderate the aforementioned mediational process by strengthening the relationship between salespeople's role breadth self-efficacy and sales-service ambidexterity.

Practical guidelines are provided for managers to shape ambidextrous salespeople by facilitating salespeople's internal and external social networks, promoting transformational leadership and creating empowerment climate within the unit.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to systematically examine the impact of salespeople's social network on sales-service ambidexterity. Drawing from social cognitive theory and the ambidexterity literature, this research reveals the mechanism of how salespeople's internal and external social networks contribute to sales-service ambidexterity.