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An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses

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Abstract

Social media has become an online platform for businesses to market products/services and to manage customer relationships. While more and more small businesses have jumped on the bandwagon of social media in recent years, we found that only a limited number of published articles are currently available regarding the decision-making factors for social media adoption by small businesses. To understand why and how small businesses (i.e., small non-manufacturing enterprises) in the U.S. adopt social media, and for which business purposes, we conducted a case study using an approach that combined literature review, interviews, and cross-checking social media sites. In particular, we interviewed 27 small businesses as our cases in a mid-size U.S. city in terms of their social media adoption for business purposes. This study revealed some novel insights and developed a decision support model composed of factors critical to successful social media adoption by small businesses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Wu He & Yong Chen

  2. Media and Digital Design Program, Chinese Culture University, Taipei City, Taiwan

    Feng-Kwei Wang

  3. James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, 22807, USA

    Shenghua Zha

Authors
  1. Wu He
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  2. Feng-Kwei Wang
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  3. Yong Chen
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  4. Shenghua Zha
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Correspondence to Wu He.

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He, W., Wang, FK., Chen, Y. et al. An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses. Inf Technol Manag 18, 149–160 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10799-015-0243-3

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