Sociodemographic Factors and Adoption of Social Media as a Management Tool by Managers and Administrators in Selected Non-Governmental Organizations in Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract

Social media use has gained prominence in the public as well as in the work environment as a way of quickly and widely sharing information and its crucial role in management has been elevated even more by the covid-19 pandemic which has severely limited human physical interaction. This study was carried out to explore the sociodemographic factors and adoption of social media as a management tool among managers and administrators in selected Non-Governmental Organizations in Kigali Rwanda. The study focused on the popular social media applications that can be of use in management namely, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, video-conferencing applications, and YouTube. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design with an online survey questionnaire administered to a sample size of 217 respondents purposively sampled from six selected NGOs in Kigali Rwanda. Findings indicated that the overall social media adoption was quite high with WhatsApp being the most popular app. Several respondents’ characteristics such as age, education and job level showed statistically significant association with adoption of particular social media applications. Findings, however, revealed no structured approach to social media use in most of the surveyed NGOs. The study concluded that the overall adoption rate of social media was quite high but with a huge disparity in usage rates of specific social media applications and that certain sociodemographic factors such as education level and training appeared as strong predictors of social media adoption. This study recommended therefore, that NGOs should determine the applications that support their business model and provide comprehensive policies and support to encourage the employees to adopt the chosen social media applications in their managerial functions. The policy makers should also promote the modifiable sociodemographic factors that influence social media adoption such as education level and training.