Factors of social networking use as a business tool among micro-enterprises

Studies have consistently found information technology (IT) enhances the business operation and performance, but the adoption of IT among micro-enterprises for business growth is still considerably poor. The factors that influence the micro-enterprises to actively embrace IT that include social networking sites and whether the adoption has led to stronger business performance have become the major attention of the social networking research. This is due to the concern that the information technology programs for micro-enterprises are very limited and the effectiveness is uncertain. Hence, this study was conducted with the aims of investigating the factors that influence micro-enterprises to use social networking as a business platform and examining the relationship between social networking use and the micro-enterprises' business performance. Selected domains from TAM and UTAUT were adapted and integrated with findings from prior social networking and micro-enterprises research to theorize the proposed model. Five hypotheses were developed and empirically validated. Data was collected based on a survey and 115 responses from microenterprise operators were used. Findings of the study suggest social pressure, perceived usefulness and facilitating conditions are the determinants of intention to use; and the actual use of social networking sites as business tools indeed provides a significant improvement to business performance. This study draws a substantive attention to the understanding of utilizing social networking sites as readily available and low cost technology as a business tool, especially among micro-enterprises.