Word-of-mouth in business-to-business marketing: a systematic review and future research directions

Ishii, R (通讯作者),Ritsumeikan Univ, Coll Business Adm, Osaka, Japan.
2023-1-10
Purpose - The purpose of this study is to review and analyze the status of word-of-mouth (WOM) research in the business-to-business (B2B) context and discuss and identify new possible future directions. Design/methodology/approach - A systematic review was conducted and 36 articles on B2B WOM were collected to evaluate the current state of the literature and clarify possible future research directions. Findings - This thematic analysis categorize these articles into three themes: WOM generation, WOM usage and reference marketing. Under each theme, the authors reveal research findings unique to B2B research and different from business-to-consumer (B2C) WOM research. This study identifies several research questions that should be addressed by future research. Originality/value - Both academic researchers and business practitioners recognize that WOM plays an essential role in B2B marketing. However, no review paper focuses on WOM in the B2B context. Findings in the B2C WOM literature suggest that WOM substantially influences firms' performance, but that managers cannot simply attempt to extrapolate B2C findings to the B2B arena. By synthesizing and assessing prior research on WOM in the B2B context, this study contributes to a better understanding of the B2B WOM phenomenon and facilitates future research on this topic.
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING
卷号:38|期号:13|页码:45-62
ISSN:0885-8624|收录类别:SSCI
语种
英语
来源机构
Ritsumeikan University
资助机构
JSPS KAKENHI(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceGrants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI))
资助信息
The authors would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Wesley Johnston, and anonymous reviewers for providing valuable insights and constructive comments. Funding: This work was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K12883.
被引频次(WOS)
0
被引频次(其他)
0
180天使用计数
6
2013以来使用计数
6
EISSN
2052-1189
出版年
2023-1-10
DOI
10.1108/JBIM-02-2022-0099
WOS学科分类
Business
学科领域
循证经济学
关键词
Business-to-business marketing Recommendation Reference Referral Systematic review Word-of-mouth