Effects of entrepreneurial orientation, social media, and innovation capabilities on SME performance in emerging countries: a mediated-moderated model

• Published in: Technology analysis & strategic management Vol. 34; no. 11; pp. 1326 - 1338
• Main Authors: Fang, Gu Gui, Qalati, Sikandar Ali, Ostic, Dragana, Shah, Syed Mir Muhammad, Mirani, Manzoor Ali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02-11-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Algorithms; Bootstrap method; Conceptual models; Digital media; Entrepreneurial orientation; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; innovation capabilities; Innovations; Internet; Quantitative analysis; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME; small and medium-sized enterprises; Small business; Social media; social media adoption; Social networks
• ISSN: 0953-7325; 1465-3990
• DOI: 10.1080/09537325.2021.1957816

Improvement in social media (SM) platforms and their ability to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reach a large audience has led to changes in how entrepreneurial firms carry out their regular activities. Studies on entrepreneurship and SM adoption are relatively new and fragmented; however, there is scant interest from managers, scholars, and governments for future research work in this area in emerging countries. This study aims to investigate the role of SM adoption and innovation capabilities (IC) in improving SME performance. We employ the resource-based view (RBV) as a basis for the conceptual model and infer relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), SM adoption, IC, and SME performance. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to collect data through a web-based survey and quantitative analysis was employed to generalise the results. The proposed relationships are tested on a sample of 431 randomly selected SMEs, applying the PLS algorithm, bootstrapping, and blindfolding techniques using SmartPLS 3.0. The findings reveal that SME performance could be improved by EO, SM adoption, and IC. Additionally, SM adoption significantly mediates the EO-SME-performance relationship, and IC moderates the SM-adoption-SME-performance association. This paper also makes several theoretical and practical contributions.