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Reputational Assets and Social Media Marketing Activeness: Empirical Insights from China

Author

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  • Johansson, Anders C.

    (Stockholm China Economic Research Institute)

  • Zhu, Zhen

    (Kent Business School, University of Kent)

Abstract

We explore the linkages between social media marketing activeness and reputational assets on digital platforms with a unique sample of over 8,000 customer-to-customer (C2C) sellers registered on both Taobao, China’s largest C2C online shopping platform, and Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblogging platform. A unique collaborative effort between the two platforms enables us to examine whether C2C sellers are motivated to engage in marketing activities on a separate social media platform. Applying machine learning and natural language processing methods, we first identify whether C2C sellers conduct social media marketing on their microblogs. We then differentiate between earned and owned reputation factors accumulated on both platforms and test their relationships to social media marketing activeness. We find that earned reputation factors on both platforms are significantly associated with social media marketing activeness. However, we identify a conflict of owned reputation factors between the two platforms, which provides a potential explanation for the limited success of the cross-platform collaboration.

Suggested Citation

  • Johansson, Anders C. & Zhu, Zhen, 2021. "Reputational Assets and Social Media Marketing Activeness: Empirical Insights from China," Stockholm School of Economics Asia Working Paper Series 2021-53, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm China Economic Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hascer:2021-053
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social media marketing; reputational assets; electronic commerce; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • M30 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - General
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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