Social Media Marketing and Corporate Sustainability Performance: Examining the Dual Pathways of Value Creation and Destruction

Abstract

The rapid evolution of the digital ecosystem has fundamentally transformed how corporations interact with stakeholders, shifting the paradigm from unidirectional communication to highly interactive, network-centric engagement. This research investigates the intricate role of Social Media Marketing (SMM) on corporate Sustainability Performance (SP), mediated simultaneously by two opposing mechanisms: Value Co-Creation (VCC) and Value Co-Destruction (VCD). While SMM is widely recognized for fostering brand loyalty and collaborative value, its potential to trigger adverse interactions that destroy value remains a critical gap in contemporary sustainability literature. Employing a positivist paradigm with an explanatory cross-sectional design, this study captured data from a dual-perspective sample comprising 119 corporate representatives and 98 active consumers in Indonesia. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to handle the complex dual-mediation structural model. The empirical findings substantiate that SMM significantly and directly enhance sustainability performance by acting as a transparent channel for external monitoring and governance. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a compelling paradox: SMM facilitates both VCC and VCD, yet both mechanisms yield a positive, significant impact on sustainability performance. While VCC drives sustainable innovation and stakeholder commitment, VCD serves as an evolutionary catalyst, an external feedback loop that forces organizations to adopt stringent corrective actions, thereby fortifying their long-term Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) resilience. The study confirms the partial mediation of both VCC and VCD, providing a highly nuanced theoretical extension to Social Exchange Theory and Service-Dominant Logic within non-Western digital contexts. These findings offer strategic implications for managers to balance digital engagement and sustainability imperatives.