Key Drivers of Social Media Adoption among MSMEs: Evidence from apparel store retailers in Gurugram

Abstract

Background- The growing use of technology, rapid digitisation and globalisation across the industry have increased global competition and resulted in both opportunities as well as challenges for Micro small medium enterprises (MSMEs). Numerous studies have looked into the benefits of using social media (SM) in enterprises. Unlike existing studies focusing on business to consumer perspective, the current study focuses on social media adoption from an MSME perspective.  The study's goal is to identify if SM platforms are being used by MSMEs as a marketing strategy. The study focuses on different social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and even LinkedIn to understand which platform is used by MSMEs in doing their business activities, The study also focuses on investigating drivers that lead to social media adoption by MSMEs.

Objective- This study investigates the driving forces influencing social media adoption among MSMEs.

 Design/methodology- Study used the TOE framework that includes Technology (TEC), organisation (ORG), Environment (ENV) and Individual factors (INDV) factors to examine how these variables affect MSMEs' use of social media.  Data from a random sample was gathered from MSME apparel store retailers in Gurugram using survey questionnaires, 72 respondents were analysed. Later the data is analysed and validated using statistical tools SPSS.

Findings: The study investigated that several aspects of TOE structure have a significant impact on social media adoption among Apparel store retailers. These variables are examined to see their impact on social media adoption. The present study additionally seeks to offer various insights to retailers, research scholars and decision-makers.

Originality: This study will use various factors of the TOE framework which will be tested with the sample of Apparel retailers in Gurugram.