Social Media in Micro-Enterprises

Abstract

Social media is increasingly gaining traction as a valuable tool for small business. This is particularly the case in micro enterprises in the Indonesian retail industry, where adoption is anecdotally increasing, but with little understanding of the factors enabling such adoption. Consequently, this study proposes a research model derived from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and the Use of Technology and extended by integrating the task-technology-fit framework, along with price value propositions. Online surveys were sent to micro enterprises operating in the Indonesian retail industry with 153 valid responses received. Data analysis used structural equation modelling with SmartPLS 3. The results show that price value and task-technology-fit are perceived as significant factors for influencing positive attitudes towards the adoption of social media among micro enterprises. In addition, attitude and facilitating conditions were found to have a significant influence on intention to adopt social media. These findings hold import implications to theory and practice in this nascent field of research.

Exploring usage, expected benefits and perceived usefulness of social media in travel agencies: an empirical investigation in Italy

“…From a theoretical point of view, the study touches upon and contributes to deepening various aspects of the literature on the relationship between TAs and SM. Six different study perspectives can be identified: (1) usage of SM by SMEs (Matarazzo et al ., 2021), in particular with respect to micro-enterprises (Vatanasakdakul et al. , 2020: Jones et al ., 2015); (2) SM adoption in the tourism industry (Magno and Cassia, 2018; Leung et al.…”

“…From a theoretical point of view, the study touches upon and contributes to deepening various aspects of the literature on the relationship between TAs and SM. Six different study perspectives can be identified: (1) usage of SM by SMEs (Matarazzo et al, 2021), in particular with respect to micro-enterprises (Vatanasakdakul et al, 2020: Jones et al, 2015; (2) SM adoption in the tourism industry (Magno and Cassia, 2018;Leung et al, 2019) with reference to TAs, focusing on the importance of social tools for the purpose of achieving marketing objectives; (3) omnichannel strategies in the retail sector (Capriello and Riboldazzi, 2020) implemented by tourism intermediaries in order to ensure a relationship with the client throughout the entire customer journey and achieved by setting up a multiplicity of contact moments, considering the different levels of the digital orientation of businesses and consumers; (4) rule of the pandemic on technology use among tourist enterprises Social media in travel agencies (Sigala, 2020), also in line with recent studies (Hu et al, 2023), where the pandemic seems to have accelerated the digitization process of those who had already undertaken it and, at the same time, induced the most reticent and traditional ones to start it; (5) factors that influence the SM adoption by SMEs and TAs (Ali Abbasi et al, 2022;Ali Qalati et al, 2022;Dahnil et al, 2014). The empirical analysis confirms that in small businesses the personal factors of the owner/manager are more discriminating than firm-specific ones, because the micro/small dimensions of TAs are characterized by a typically entrepreneurial approach to marketing (Morris et al, 2002) particularly suited to an informal organization, structured with few or no hierarchical levels, and strongly projected toward customer needs; and (6) factors that influence the adoption of specific social networks (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.…”

Exploring the intellectual and conceptual structure of small retail research through a bibliometric analysis

“…For example, the existing literature in retailing has investigated the role of social media in network operations and generic marketing activities (Ramanathan et al, 2017), consumer engagement (Bianchi and Andrews, 2018), social media marketing (Dolega et al, 2021), and multiple other contexts. However, the adoption and usage of social media have been comparatively new phenomena for small unorganised retailers, and thus, very few recent studies (Kwon et al, 2021;Vatanasakdakul et al, 2020) have investigated it, indicating that the applications of social media are an emerging research theme in the small retail domain.…”

Celebrity Endorser in Supporting SMEs through Social Media in Pandemic Situation

“…First, Microenterprises, as identified by the experts facing problems in enhancing business competitiveness, such as the expansion of the business and marketing strategies and networks [11], can take advantage of social media. Second, social media also has the potential to reduce transaction costs and enhance information [12] to which micro-enterprises are challenged by high transportation and limitation on access to relevant business information. Third, social media could facilitate micro-enterprises to promote their brands more effectively, so they can build online communities in new ways in order to build customer loyalty [13].…”