The Examination of Factors Influencing Saudi Small Businesses’ Social Media Adoption, by Using UTAUT Model

Abstract

Social media is becoming a major development in electronic commerce among a wide range of sectors, for example, education, government, health care, and business. In Saudi Arabia, a major movement toward social media has taken place, especially among small business entrepreneurs, due to its low cost and the powerful role it can play in globalization.The goal of this paper is to add to the theoretical knowledge base regarding the adoption of social media among Saudi small businesses, by applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the influences of Saudi small businesses’ social media adoption. An empirical study was carried out using online survey research among 73 Saudi business entrepreneurs. The major findings of the paper are that Saudi small business entrepreneurs tend to use social media for the major constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. However, although the moderator of gender proved to be effective on the construct of effort expectancy, the effects of the moderators of age, gender, and experience on the other major constructs were not salient.It is believed that the findings will be useful for understanding adoption phenomena better, to help business entrepreneurs to make superior decisions based on them.

E-Marketplace Acceptance of MSMEs in Bali Based on Performance Expectancy and Task Technology Fit

“…The findings of this study shows that PE has a direct positive effect on the behavioral intention the adoption of e-marketplace among MSMEs, p < 0.05 and t-statistic = 2.617 > 1.960. The significant effect was in accordance with the results found by Venkatesh et al [9], Mursalin and Al [13] and Humaid and Ibrahim [14] which indicates that there is a strong influence between PE on BI in using a system. Thus, the hypothesis is accepted.…”

Ghanaian academic libraries’ use of social media: A structural equation modelling approach

“…Results of facilitating conditions coincide with findings of prior studies that have examined the impact of facilitating conditions on the intention to use (e.g. Engler and Alpar 2018) and actual use (Chua et al 2018;Salahshour Rad et al 2019;Humaid and Ibrahim 2019) of social media. Findings of the study are also like Al-Azawei (2018) who reported the importance of facilitating conditions in actual Facebook use in the context of Iraq.…”

“…Likewise, prior research (e.g. Humaid and Ibrahim 2019) empirically supported the assertion regarding the influence of social influence on behaviour intention for using social media, even though others found the opposite (Gan, Li and Liu 2017). As academic libraries that feel more pressure from others to use social media are more likely to do so (Yuvaraj 2016), social influence is expected to predict the intention to use social media in academic libraries in Ghana.…”

“…Salahshour Rad, Nilashi, Mohamed Dahlan. and Ibrahim 2019); Humaid and Ibrahim 2019), although others recorded no significant relationships (e.g. Mhina, Johar and Alkawaz 2019).…”

“…Recently, Humaid and Ibrahim (2019) presented mixed results of the relationships hypothesised in the UTAUT model. According to the study findings, the key constructs, namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions, revealed the existence of significant positive influence on behavioural intention.…”