Business-to-business and self-governance practice in the digital knowledge economy: learning from pharmaceutical e-detailing in Thailand

Ronan Kervenoael (), Alexandre Schwob (), Inci Toral Manson () and Chatlada Ratana ()
Additional contact information
Ronan Kervenoael: Rennes School of Business
Alexandre Schwob: Excelia Business School
Inci Toral Manson: Birmingham University
Chatlada Ratana: Aston University

Asian Business & Management, 2022, vol. 21, issue 4, No 7, 598-622

Abstract: Abstract This study investigates self-governance within business-to-business (B2B) in the digital knowledge economy. To do so, we elicit the engagement of healthcare professionals (HCPs) and medical science liaisons (MSLs) with “for-profit social media technology” (FPSMT) in e-detailing. Using data from 23 in-depth interviews with HCPs (physicians and pharmacists) and MSLs in Thailand, we show that e-detailing fosters self-governance as a practice. The data identify how FPSMT, as privatized social media managed by large firms, represents a tool for self-governance that is articulated by expert professionals along three cognitive frames: aspiration, regulation, and responsibilisation. Through FPSMT, professionals in highly regulated B2B ecosystems engage in self-governance practice to develop pooled views that are influenced by personal and collective rules. The perspective on self-governance as a practice that is offered allows to understand how B2B network governance rely on professionals’ engagement to foster aspirations for the collective agenda, beyond the narrow pursuit of sales’ objectives.

Keywords: B2B; Thailand; Social media technology; Healthcare; Self-governance; Technological framing; Network governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1057/s41291-020-00141-z

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