Mechanisms Through Which Overseas Social Media Use Shapes International Brand Equity: A Dual-Mediation Model Based on Organizational Unlearning and Market Orientation

Overseas social media has become a core interface through which firms sense and shape cross market audiences, yet the mechanism linking social media use to international brand equity remains underexplained. This study develops a moderated dual mediation model, where overseas social media use capability impacts international brand equity through two parallel paths, organizational unlearning and market orientation, and cultural distance regulates these focal associations. Use survey data of 527 firm-level respondents, PLS SEM can be seen that overseas social media use capability has a positive direct effect on international brand equity, and there is also a significant indirect effect through the two mediators, and the mediating role of market orientation is stronger. Cultural distance substantially moderates overseas social media use capability on org unlearning and market orient, showing that cross cultural complexity determines signal to action conversion effectiveness. Findings contribute a capability explanation of how international brand equity is built and provide actionable priority to cross market social media.