Globalization in Marketing: An Empirical Analysis of Business Adoption and Use of Social Network Sites

Although the internet is a widely used information technology exploited by businesses to communicate with consumers, the present research indicates that many organizations have not established a presence on social network sites (SNSs). Using contingency and organizational learning theories, this research establishes a theoretical foundation for understanding organizational adoption and use of SNSs as a standardization marketing strategy by some of the world’s leading brands. This paper also utilizes the Business Social Network Site (BSNS) Index, a new metric for measuring the extent to which companies promote their use of SNSs on their own website, to test hypotheses predicting firm adoption and use of SNSs. In addition to the contribution of the BSNS Index, an initial understanding of actual adoption and use of SNS as a marketing strategy by large firms is established.