Female Micro-Entrepreneurs and Social Networks: Diagnostic Analysis of the Influence of Social-Media Marketing Strategies on Brand Financial Performance

Abstract

The business world is facing a very complicated situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs)—both in Spain and at the global level—are seeing their survival jeopardized by a fall in revenues. This scenario is aggravated in the case of micro-SMEs headed by female entrepreneurs. Accordingly, micro-SMEs, particularly those led by female entrepreneurs, need to reinvent themselves to overcome the current adversities that could lead to the destruction of their businesses and hence their jobs. One of the ways to do this is to take advantage of digital transformation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze which variables influence the financial results of female-led Spanish micro-SMEs when they carry out social marketing actions. For that purpose, an online survey was designed and analyzed using the “PROCESS” macro. Results show that social media marketing actions have significant effects on financial performance.

Digital Transformation among SMEs: Does Gender Matter?

“…These findings are consistent with earlier research which showed that the use of social networks and web presence for business purposes has a positive effect on the digital transformation of SMEs. Digital transformation is achieved through online marketing and easing the communication process between buyers and sellers [17,32,48,53]. Surprisingly, the effect of E-commerce adoption on perceived digital transformation was found to be statistically insignificant.…”

“…Finally, it is evident from recent research that the educational attainment of female entrepreneurs strengthened the positive impact of digital transformation on the financial performance of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic [32]. Therefore, targeted training for women business owners/managers could enhance their critical thinking and communication skills further, which are indispensable for decision-making during periods of crisis such as COVID-19.…”

“…In the regional context, digital transformation generates a considerable opportunity to boost SME performance. Research indicates that due to the pandemic, gender inequality is more pronounced in terms of digital access, ownership of digital devices, as well as digital fluency [29,30], which has created a perfect storm for women-led SMEs [31,32]. Research also highlights a lack of participation in technical jobs including the need to increase mentoring strategies for women at work [33].…”

Is ESG Relevant to Electricity Companies during Pandemics? A Case Study on European Firms during COVID-19

“…Next, to gain a deeper understanding of the interactions [83][84][85], we plotted the moderation effect of environmental and governance pillar scores to the traditional variable. Following the literature, we adopted the approach suggested by Dawson and Richter [86], and we graphed both interactions [87].…”

Redefining Transformation Drivers in SMEs toward Business Performance with Covid-19 Situation in Indonesia

“…Some studies also discuss transformation drivers in business during Covid-19 as the potential strategic process to cope with the crisis era. For example, transformation in an organization (Muñoz-pascual, 2021;Nurunnabi, 2020); Technology (Jiménez-zarco et al, 2021;Nuseir & Aljumah, 2020;Winarsih et al, 2021); Consumer behavior (Harahap et al, 2020); Financial (Klein & Todesco, 2021;Moretto & Caniato, 2021), External Support (Falahat et al, 2021), Network relationship (Adam et al, 2020;Arsik et al, 2018;Guan et al, 2020;Ivanov, 2020;Ivanov and Dolgui 2020;Guan et al, 2020;Meqdadi et al, 2020;Saputra et al, 2021;Siu, 2016;Sodhi, 2016;Utomo et al, 2020), and as the benchmark business performance .…”