MBS research methods
Critique of research article
Student number: A00267243
Name of article: Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales
author(s): Raj Agnihotri , Rebecca Dingus , Michael Y. Hu , Michael T. Krush
Title & Abstract Review
Is the title specific?
Is the purpose of the study clear?
Is the methodology indicated?
Does the abstract highlight the key findings?
10 marks
The title is specific concerning the theme of
the research, but after reading the article I
suggest that the title could be more specific
in term of how social media are influencing
the customer satisfaction in the B2B sales, by
adding more precise key words to give the
reader a general idea of the article content.
For example the article highlights that social
media are influencing the customer
satisfaction [ positively] concerning
informing communicating the customer
[main advantage], so it may be useful to
Re-articulate the title using those specific
words
Yes, there purpose of the study is clear since
the article states testing the mediating effects
of salesperson information communication
behaviours between social media use and
customer satisfaction
Yes, in the first beginning I was about to say
no, since I had no idea about structural
equation modelling, but after research, it has
showed up that the Structural Equation
Modeling is a quantitative research technique
that can also incorporates
qualitative methods. SEM is used to show the
causal relationships between variables. The
relationships shown in SEM represent the
hypotheses of the researchers.
Yes, the abstract highlights the key findings
in a good way since they states that the key
findings suggest that social media plays an
important role in communicating information
to customers, but as an antecedent enhancing
salesperson behaviours to increase customer
satisfaction rather than a direct factor.
Introduction & Literature Review
Is the purpose of the study made clear?
Do the authors explain the
significance/rationale of the study?
Does the review address the relevant area?
Are the reviewed articles current and from
credible sources?
20 marks
Yes, the purpose of the study is clear since the
article is considering the importance of social
media in a business-to-business (B2B) sales
context. To build our theoretical foundation,
Based on what is already known about social
media interactions in a business-to-consumer
(B2C) context and expand upon this in the B2B
realm.
The research significance is that it fulfils a
specific research gap. To date, academic research
has yet to explore how customer satisfaction is
affected by the implementation of social media in
B2B sales relationships. Further, the researchers
had little understanding of the factors and the
pathway which provide a successful route for
social media to deliver customer satisfaction. As
such, this paper's research objective is to build
upon the information, communication literature
and recent scholarly advances in the area of
social media use within industrial selling, to
develop and empirically test a model relating
salespeople's social media use to customer
satisfaction.
Yes, the review does address to the relevant
area, starting by the broad context which is
the contribution of social media in the
customer’s satisfaction within the B2B,
moving to be more specific on the topic by
studying how salespeople use social media as
a means to effectively communicate
information, which enables greater
responsiveness and satisfaction. Therefore
they conducted the research by selecting
crucial elements (variables) from the
business field and others from the social
media context such as testing the business
model whit social media which gives
responsiveness and customer satisfaction
(table 4). So the review was addressed to
relevant area.
The reviewed articles are current taking into
account that they conduct the social media
revolution, but some articles are not current
since they deal with customer satisfaction in
the B2B business, however, the elements of
credibility and reliability has been taken into
consideration since the an Journal of
Business & Industrial Marketing,
Is it balanced? There is a certain balance since the reviewed
articles belong to both fields of business and
social media, concerning the research there is
balance principle in research. This article
stresses the definition and function of the
customer satisfaction within the B2B, the
strategies and detailed measures, for example
to improve salesperson communication to
attract and satisfy customers as apart of the
research, and the analysis of the common
variables (responsiveness-business models-
financials) involving the use of the balance
principle in scientific research.
Do the authors state a research question or There are3 hypothesis in the research :
hypothesis? Hypothesis 1. A salesperson's use of social
media will positively influence information
communication.
Hypothesis 2. A salesperson's information
communication will positively influence
customers' satisfaction with the salesperson.
Hypothesis 3. A salesperson's information
communication will positively influence
responsiveness.
Hypothesis 4. A salesperson’s responsiveness
to customers will positively
There is no research question stated in the
article but there is a purpose of the research
and the study seems to be logic while
analysing the data, the purpose is always
there(the study is always conducted
regarding a part of the purpose )

Design/Methodology 20 marks
Do the authors justify design methodology In this quantitative research, the researchers
decisions? did not justify the reasons behind the design
methodology decisions, they started by
stating the sample and the methods of
organising the analysis, but I presume that
highlighting the methodology decision is not
that significant since the readers will
understand that in order to evaluate the
salespersons communication in B2B towards
customers, it is needed a sample of
professionals salespersons.
In this case, the justification of design
methodology is not really affecting the
research but it might affect in other cases

Is a rationale given for the choice of research
method?
Is the sampling strategy clearly defined and
justified?
Do the authors provide a transparent
procedure and ethical considerations?
Do the authors discuss any limitations?
Findings
Are the results reported without any
interpretation first?
where the logic in the design might be
unclear
It was not given since there is no justification
of the research design methodology
Yes, it was a sampling strategy since the
sample was drawn from a large group of
sales professionals involved in B2B
industrial selling. We drew a list of
companies and salespeople connected to a
reputable sales centre in a mid-size state
university. Apart from undergraduate sales
education, this sales center offers coaching
and training programs for industrial sales
professionals and, therefore, maintains a
database of salespeople. An e-mail
containing a link to the survey was sent to
1238 sales professionals, of whom 149
responded (12% response rate). Of the 149
responses, 111 responses were complete and
usable. Sales professionals were made
aware that the research was being conducted
for scholarly purposes.
The survey respondents represented a large
range of diverse companies and industries.
it was some ethical procedures hidden
between the lines, for example the
salespersons were informed of the purpose of
the study, in other words there is an informed
consent and Respect for the human person.
Yes, some limitations were discussed in the
article as they might affect the credibility
element since all measures were self-reported
by the salesperson. While a dyadic sample
would be preferable, sample accessibility was
constrained to only sellers. Given the method
of self-reported measures in this study, each
salesperson evaluated his or her customers'
satisfaction at an overall level, which we
recognize is not the most ideal measure of
customer satisfaction and we accept this as a
limitation of this study.
20 marks
It was an interpretation presenting the
findings of the analysis, first after compiling
the data nonresponsive bias was tested using
a t-test to examine differences between early
and late respondents on all of the measures.
Respondents who responded after the initial
message were termed ‘early,’ while those

Are the results presented clearly and linked
to the question, hypothesis or problem?
Qualitative:
Is it clear how the themes and concepts were
derived from the data?
If the analysis was performed by more than
one researcher, were differences in
interpretation appropriately resolved?
Quantitative:
Is the data analysis strategy relevant to the
context of the research?
who responded after receiving a second
message were termed ‘late’ respondents.
The results of the tests are not statistically
significant, thereby suggesting that
nonresponse bias is not an issue with our data
Multiple preliminary tests were conducted to
ensure that the constructs had acceptable
psychometric properties. An exploratory
factor analysis suggested that individual
items representing the latent constructs were
loaded appropriately and no cross-loadings
were present.
The results are directly linked to the
hypothesis since The findings of the present
article begin to address the call for empirical
sales research focusing on social media. The
proposed model provides statistical support
using salesperson-reported data to show that
the effects of social media use by salespeople
influence customer satisfaction, to the extent
that salespeople adequately communicate
information that is important to the customer.
Customers value this extra medium through
which they can contact salespeople.
The way the results were derived from the
data was clear because after compiling the
data and have the analysis ready, it was attest
in which the analysis findings may support or
not the hypothesis.
The analysis and the research in general was
performed by a group of researchers, but the
it was no differences in the interpretation
since the findings were logically interpreted
and explained.
The data analysis has a direct relation to the
context of the research because all the
variables are derived from the context and
have been analysed regarding the purpose of
the research (social media within the
customer satisfaction in the B2B)
Discussion & Conclusions
What are the primary findings?
What are the implications of these findings?
Do the summary/conclusions follow from the
findings?
Are the conclusions plausible and coherent?
Has future research in this area been
considered?
Has the author been critical of their own
work?
Does this study enhance my understanding of
the research topic?
20 marks
 The primary key findings are:
1- Social media use by salespeople influence
customer satisfaction, to the extent that
salespeople adequately communicate
information that is important to the customer,
which support hypothesis.
2- Customers value this extra medium
through which they can contact salespeople.
3- Positive relationship between
responsiveness and customer satisfaction
suggesting that customers appreciate timely
responses from salespeople.
 The implication of the findings :
The findings either support of critic the
hypothesis, as implication the findings, they
do support the hypothesis which highlights
the purpose of the research and its value.
The current study makes a number of
contributions to the industrial sales literature
and offers theoretical implications. First,
findings suggest that a salesperson's use of
social media enhances the salesperson's
overall information communication (i.e., new
and useful information, objective
comparisons, and information that is
presented in a clear and concise manner). The
value of information communication is
important in explaining the significance of
social media.
The summary and the discussion were driven
down from the results and findings since all
the comparisons seems to be based on the
findings, for example the finding 3 was
discussed in the managerial implication as
The area of social media use in B2B buyer-
seller relationships is still relatively new and,
in academic literature, empirical research is
extremely limited (if not non-existent).
The conclusion is plausible since it follows
the logic of the study, another thing is that
the researchers have been critical in their own
by regarding and comparing their findings to
the literature context and to the managerial
context to measure if the research reflects the
reality in business as they have stated that
This study lays groundwork for countless
areas of additional research as future of
 research.
The study does enhance my knowledge
concerning the research topic by discovering
the effect of the social media in the B2B as
my interest; I am considering using this
article as a part of my research concerning
marketing in the B2B sector.
Summary strengths and weaknesses of the paper. (Note some key points, re: your
overall impression of the paper) 10
The strengths of this research are summed up as the article is well-organised concerning the
academic perspective, the components of the research were made clear and precise such as
the title, the purpose, the rationale, the sampling and the quantitative methodology analysing
the data arriving to the findings and the conclusion were impeccable. One thing which could
have been considered is to make the sampling strategy more justified than described (why
choosing sales person in the first place? What are the measures?)
The second thing is concerning the sampling strategy affecting the research credibility, but it
is always about justifying the design methodology and giving a rationale using it.
I have chosen the article as an important lead to my research project since it highlights the
B2B and the customer satisfaction, my impression is positive since that i have admired the
research and it has proven to me that there is a space of research concerning the B2B sector.

Final Mark: