Social marketing and happiness management: A bibliometric review on e-commerce context
Marketing social y happiness management: revisión bibliométrica en el contexto del comercio electrónico
Pedro Cuesta-Valiño
,
Patricia Durán-Álamo
,
Israel González-Santos
,
Sergey Kazakov
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Suma de Negocios, 17(36), enero-junio 2026, ISSN 2215-910X
https://doi.org/10.14349/sumneg/2026.V17.N36.A9
Received December 8, 2025
Accepted April 7, 2026
Online: May 29, 2026
Introducción/Objetivos: el comercio electrónico ya no es solo un canal de ventas. Hoy día, las nuevas tecnologías han abierto la puerta a que las plataformas de comercio electrónico se involucren en cuestiones sociales más amplias, como son el marketing social (SM) o la gestión de la felicidad (HM), especialmente dentro de sus organizaciones. Tras una revisión bibliográfica en la que se estudian los tres conceptos por separado, sigue sin explorarse una cuestión fundamental: ¿Estos conceptos simplemente coexisten o pueden reforzarse mutuamente de un modo significativo? Y si es así, ¿Qué papel desempeña el comercio electrónico en ese proceso? Este estudio aborda precisamente estas preguntas.
Metodología: se llevó a cabo una revisión bibliométrica de la literatura sobre SM y HM utilizando las bases de datos Web of Science y Scopus, aplicando la metodología PRISMA y las herramientas Bibliometrix y VOSViewer. Esta combinación ha permitido el desarrollo de mapas de coocurrencia y coautoría, lo que ha proporcionado a la investigación una excelencia analítica.
Resultados: después de filtrar y analizar 65 artículos, se ha descubierto que el comercio electrónico aparece como un eje estructural que vincula el HM y SM, actuando como canal de visibilidad para las acciones relacionadas con la felicidad de los empleados. Los análisis muestran que el HM se encuentra aún en fase de desarrollo, mientras que el SM presenta una trayectoria más consolidada. Sin embargo, ambos campos carecen de grupos destacados de autoría colaborativa consolidados, lo que pone de manifiesto la necesidad de reforzar las sinergias de investigación colaborativa.
Conclusiones: este estudio consolida el comercio electrónico como elemento de conexión entre la gestión y la felicidad organizacional y las estrategias de marketing social, dando así forma a un campo de investigación emergente. También muestra que las organizaciones que deseen obtener una ventaja competitiva a largo plazo deben utilizar plataformas digitales para promover la responsabilidad social y el bienestar de los empleados.
Palabras clave:
Felicidad organizacional,
marketing social,
comercio electrónico,
bienestar,
plataformas digitales,
comportamiento del consumidor.
Introduction/Objectives: e-commerce is no longer just a sales channel. Nowadays new technologies have opened the door for e-commerce platforms such as Social Marketing (SM) or Happiness Management (HM), to engage with broader societal concerns, especially within their organisations. After a literature review where the three concepts are studied separately, a critical question yet remains underexplored: do these domains merely coexist, or can they reinforce one another in meaningful ways? And if so, what role does e-commerce play in that process? This study addresses precisely that question.
Methodology: a bibliometric review of the literature on SM and HM was implemented using the Web of Science and Scopus databases, applying the PRISMA methodology and Bibliometrix and VOSviewer tools. This combination enabled the development of co-occurrence and co-authorship maps, providing the research with greater analytical excellence.
Results: after filtering and analysing 65 articles, we discovered that e-commerce appears as a structural axis linking HM and SM, acting as a visibility channel for actions related to employee happiness. The analyses show that HM is still in a developmental phase, while SM demonstrates a more consolidated trajectory. However, both fields lack sufficiently robust collaborative authorship communities, unravelling the need to strengthen collaborative research synergies.
Conclusions: this study consolidates e-commerce as a connecting element between organisational happiness management and social marketing strategies, shaping an emerging field of research. It also shows that organisations wishing to gain a long-term competitive advantage should use digital platforms to promote social responsibility and employee well-being.
Keywords:
Happiness management,
social marketing, e-commerce,
well-being,
electronic platforms,
consumer behaviour.
JEL Codes:
D91, L81, M14, M31.
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