Using Social Media for Business Process Improvement:

a Systematic Review

Ademir Macedo Nascimento1,2 and Denis Silva da Silveira2

1
University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil {ademir.nascimento@upe.br}
2
Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil {dsilveira@ufpe.br}

Abstract. Social media have become an increasingly frequent research topic in

management studies, whether in marketing for product promotion, in public
relations for customer relationships, or even as a hiring tool in the area of
human resources. However, the vast majority of studies are concerned with
analyzing how information may be disclosed in social media, with few
management studies dealing with the employment of User-Generated Content
(UGC) in these media. In this study, we sought to make a systematic review of
studies that addressed this issue with the purpose of using UGC for the
improvement of organizational processes. As a result of this systematic review,
we noted the paucity of studies related to this, although we found some
interesting results for public organizations and those that generate content.
Keywords: Social Media; User-Generated Content; Improved Business
Processes; Systematic Review.

1 Introduction

Internet access has become easier in recent years due to improvements in the
infrastructure of telecommunications. The Internet, previously used only for military
purposes, grew in its technical capabilities and its penetration into different territories
once it was released to the general public [1].
As this developed and spread, innumerable applications, such as blogs, sharing
platforms and social media, were developed [2]. Thus, according to Kaufman [3], the
development of social media is perhaps one of the greatest events in recent years, as it
represents a new way of organization of contemporary society. Fialho and Lütz [4]
emphasize that these kinds of networks are becoming increasingly widespread and
play a highly important role among the options for communication and information
on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Cross and Thomas [5] and Kirkpatrick [6] report that users are
creating new ways to use social media, affecting both personal relationships as well as
relationships with businesses and governments. This is the case of social media that
has gained an important place over the years, as, for example, Facebook®,

Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 47

Á. Rocha et al. (eds.), New Advances in Information Systems and Technologies,
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 444,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31232-3_5
48 A.M. Nascimento and D.S. da Silveira

LinkedIn®, and Twitter ®, which permit organizations to have their pages and
applications related to them.
Following the growth of popularity of social media, many studies were mounted on
its potential for disseminating information, whether information of public interest,
advertisements or even rumors. However, apparently very little has been researched
about the information generated by users of the social media for the improvement of
processes within organizations.
This article fits in at this point. Indeed, starting from a synopsis of the few
references to articles, exploiting the theme of user-generated content in social media,
a systematic literature review was conducted, aiming to point out the research
opportunities in this regard, more specifically, how organizations have been using
content generated in the social media for feedback that can produce improvement in
their processes.
In a systematic review, according to Kitchenham and Charters [7], the first step is
to formulate a research question. Following this recommendation, the issue guiding
this study is: how can social media contribute to the improvement of business
processes, according to research published in international journals from 1975 to
2012.
To this end, in addition to this introductory section, this paper is organized into five
sections. The second section explains what a systematic review of the literature is.
The third deals with the procedures adopted in this study. The fourth and fifth present
quantitative and qualitative analysis of the articles selected. Finally, the sixth presents
final remarks on the study.

2 Systematic Review

According to Kitchenham and Charters [7], a systematic review is a mean of

identifying, evaluating and interpreting the available research relevant to a research
question, a topic or a phenomenon of interest. According to this author, conducting a
systematic review allegedly presents an impartial assessment on a research topic, as it
uses a methodology of rigorous review, reliable and able to be repeated by other
interested researchers.
There are several ways to conduct a literature survey, ranging from the traditional
bibliographical review, known as the narrative review or a discursive review,
including mechanisms used by researchers in the fields of health, social sciences and
education to describe the state of the art on a topic, as is the case of a systematic
literature review. In the area of organizational studies, a more robust methodology for
the systematic review allows researchers to approach the problem that interests them,
seeing its evolution over time and pointing out research opportunities [8].
According to Sousa and Ribeiro [9], a systematic review of literature is a rigorous
research strategy, serving to identify and evaluate research on a specific topic, with
more reliable results in exploratory studies. This strategy, according to these authors,
establishes a formal process for conducting the investigation, giving greater
credibility to the ongoing study.