Resumo

Social media has been changing the dynamics between firms, brands, consumers and stakeholders, using the digital environment to interact, communicate and foster engagement. This scenario has brought many opportunities, along with a revolution of the modus operandi of organizational practices and cultures. Additionally, social media is helping businesses to face the challenges brought by COVID-19, enabling the communication between consumers and business in the course of lockdown, proving to be an effective tool for managerial practices, even in unprecedented situations.

Although literature recognizes the significant role of social media in the business and management literature as an important resource for firms in dealing with the challenges of contemporary consumption society, we have not identified works dedicated to the comprehension of the social media research in the context of business and management. Therefore, this paper reports a literature review with the main purpose of analyzing the scientific field of social media in the context of business and management in order to understand its intellectual structure and propose a research agenda.

This study reports a literature review that combines a systematic review and a bibliometric analysis in a multimethod approach in order to analyze the scientific field of social media research in the context of business and management. We analyzed 513 papers about social media in the context of business and management, covering the impact of social media on consumer behavior, competition, strategy and organizational practices.

We identified two main traditions: the organizational perspective and the consumer perspective. Our research agenda was built in order to fulfil the gaps of both traditions, addressing the impact of COVID-19 to the future of business and management. We suggest researchers to explore the impact of lockdown on firms’ strategies, particularly those firms there were not digital and resorted to social media as a way to interact with the public and sell their products and services and the learning process firms and brands went through during the pandemic, considering the role of social media.

The evolution of social media research has shown the strategic role of social media in developing strategies, improving communication with the public and creating relationship strategies with consumers and stakeholders. The analysis of the latest developments in the field revealed a growing interest in social media topics, motivated by a shift from social media as technological solution to a strategic tool in fostering organizational performance, relationship with customers, brand positioning and marketing strategies.

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