MARKETING RESEARCH

ID FULL NAME

MBA1Y02163058 SALEEJA FATIMA

SUBMITTED TO: MR. ISHTIAQ

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 24 MARCH 2017

FOR GRADING:
COMMENTS: MARKS SECURED:
 Topic:

Internal factors that influence social media adoption in SME

Research question:

What are the internal factors of organizations that an administrator should considered while

adopting social media programs in SME?

Objectives:

Some objectives of social media adoption are as follows:

 Building brand awareness:

Social media can be used to build brand awareness as if every profile of the organizations

being unique then they can give good personality of their brands on social networks.

Characteristics of brand may include the way the organizations or business attracts, the

way the profile looks. And social media is an affordable and easy way to build brand

awareness. It is not too much expensive as it needs internet connection and personal

computer and that makes it affordable and easy to adopt(Ortega Góngora 2016).

 Sell products and/or services:

Social media is a useful tool that organizations can use to get awareness of what people

are saying about their brand and they can get to know about their competitors and they

come to know what people need. Strong relationships can be developed with customers

with the help of social media.

  Observation of competition:

Through social media organizations come to know about the competition they can do

competitive analysis so that they can get to know about the strengths and weaknesses.

Organizations can like or follow the social profiles of their competitors and they can

know they position of their competitors. They can get to know how their customers

interact with them(Ortega Góngora 2016).

 Engage customers:

In the today’s modern world social media is a useful tool for customer engagement.

Organizations can interact easily with their customers and can build good relationships

with them. So that engaged customers spend more and they become influential brand

advocates on social media.

 Collect customers feedback:

Social media is a good platform to get customer feedback. Customer can use social media

channel for any complaint, any question or if they have any query they can use social

media. Organizations can easily get awareness or what their customers are saying about

them and they can take steps to solve the problems of their customers.
 Literature review and theoretical framework:

 In the research model business size is independent variable and social media adoption is

dependant variable. Business size is the organizational factor that influences the social

media adoption. Business size has a great impact on the decision on adopting social

media adoption. As it is logical to think about the business size. Both the variables have

direct relationship with each other. As if the organization or business is small then the

less willing it will be to take the risk and less likely it will be to adopt social media

programs. But if business size is greater, then the more it will be willing to take risk and

more will be willing to adopt social media programs(Ortega Góngora 2016).

Hypothesis 1: Business size will be positively related to the social media adoption.

While adopting social media programs the size of organizations and the resources of

organization play an important role. Business size is the most important internal factor of

organization. As we know that smaller businesses will have less resources and larger businesses

will have greater resources and the organizations having greater resources or financial resources

would adopt any new technology or would consider adopting social media programs.

Business size is the capacity of an organization to utilize innovative and the existing knowledge

and it is associated with social media programs adoption. For example if the organization is

having knowledge and skills, then they will have the capacity to incorporate new knowledge or

innovation and they do adoption.

Business size also affects the organizations ability to take risk. The smaller the business the less

risk will be taken by the organization. And the larger the organization the greater the risk will be

taken the organization.

 The second independent variable if employee’s knowledge about social media. It has a

direct relationship with social media adoption. While adopting social media adoption

organization should consider this factor as they have skilled employees, their employees

are having technical skills. As they have knowledge about social media. Organization

will adopt social media programs if they have skilled employees or they have personnel

that can understand the new technology or any software or programs(Dahnil, Marzuki et

al. 2014).

Hypothesis 2: social media knowledge of employees will be positively related to the

social media adoption.

The employee’s knowledge of IT and social media is an important factor and is the most

important determinant of social media adoption. If the organization is having skilled

employees and the employees that have knowledge about social media then the organization

will adopt social media programs. But if organization is lacking skilled employees or

personnel then the organization would not go for social media adoption and their employees

are not having enough knowledge about social media. They would not be able to run social

media programs. So if the employees have social media knowledge then it will have a

positive impact on social media adoption.

  The third independent variable is ease of use of social media tools. And it has a direct

relationship with dependent variable that is social media adoption(Nguyen 2009).

Hypothesis 3: Ease of use of social media tools will be positively related to the social

media adoption.

Ease of use means the degree to which an individual thinks that using such system would be

free of effort. Ease of use of social media tools means that such individual can easily use the

social media programs. Ease of use has a great impact on technology and it then impact on

the adoption of new technology or on social media adoption. The decision of adopting social

media programs will depend upon the management’s opinion about the new technology or

social media programs. The organization or business will adopt social media programs if they

will find it easy to use social media tools or programs. So ease of use of social media tools

has a great impact on social media adoption.

 The fourth and final independent variable is perceived benefits of technology. These are

the benefits that come from the use of social media. If organization will think that by

using such technology or programs a organization will get benefits then it will use that

technology or adopt it(Dahnil, Marzuki et al. 2014).

Hypothesis 4: Perceived benefits that come from the use of social media will be positively

related to social media adoption.

Technology provides us with many benefits. And the organizations or businesses that are aware

of the benefits of the technology or any innovation will be more likely to adopt such new
 technology. And such organizations are more willing to adopt social media programs. If the

organization will think that by adopting new technology or innovation or by adopting social

media programs will improve the situation of the business and will increase the sales then the

organization will definitely go for social media adoption. And by doing so, an organization or

businesses will stay competitive.

 Research model:

Business
size

Employee’s
knowledge

SOCIAL MEDIA
ADOPTION
Ease of use
of social
media

Perceived
Benefits of
social media
 References:

Dahnil, M. I., et al. (2014). "Factors Influencing SMEs Adoption of Social Media Marketing."

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 148: 119-126.

Nguyen, T. H. (2009). "Information technology adoption in SMEs: an integrated framework."

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 15(2): 162-186.

Ortega Góngora, M. (2016). Study of the factors influencing the adoption of social media in

SMEs, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.