IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p2082-d499848.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining Social Media Adoption for a Business Purpose: An Application of the UTAUT Model

Author

Listed:
  • Wilert Puriwat

    (Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand)

  • Suchart Tripopsakul

    (School of Entrepreneurship and Management, Bangkok University, 119 Rama IV Road, Prakanong, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand)

Abstract

Nowadays, the advance of the internet and mobile technologies have changed our daily life, not only in terms of consumption but in how business is done. Social media has been recognized as one of the potential online platforms for entrepreneurs especially in small and medium business establishments to cope with large corporations. This study aims to investigate elements affecting social media adoption for business purposes by adopting a well-known technology acceptance model—the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The data of 196 samples were collected via online questionnaires in Thailand using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique employed to verify the proposed model with empirical data. The outcomes illustrate the performance and effort expectancy and social influence significantly influence behavior prospects to implement social media for business purposes. Facilitating conditions significantly contribute to affecting actual user behavior. Also, the authors investigated the moderating effect of all demographic and behavioral factors such as gender, age, daily spent time on social media, and entrepreneur status. The results of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis show that there are immense variances in the intention of social media behavior and use behavior due to age. Younger adults tend to be more adept with user behavior and behavioral intention more than older adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilert Puriwat & Suchart Tripopsakul, 2021. "Explaining Social Media Adoption for a Business Purpose: An Application of the UTAUT Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2082-:d:499848
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2082/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2082/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jörn H. Block & Andreas Landgraf, 2016. "Transition from part-time entrepreneurship to full-time entrepreneurship: the role of financial and non-financial motives," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 259-282, March.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    4. E. Burton Swanson, 1994. "Information Systems Innovation Among Organizations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(9), pages 1069-1092, September.
    5. Monica C. Gavino & Denise E. Williams & David Jacobson & Iris Smith, 2018. "Latino entrepreneurs and social media adoption: personal and business social network platforms," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(4), pages 469-494, December.
    6. Kietzmann, Jan H. & Hermkens, Kristopher & McCarthy, Ian P. & Silvestre, Bruno S., 2011. "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 241-251, May.
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:359966 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Humphrey, John,, 2003. "Opportunities for SMEs in developing countries to upgrade in a global economy," ILO Working Papers 993599663402676, International Labour Organization.
    9. San Martín, Héctor & Herrero, Ángel, 2012. "Influence of the user’s psychological factors on the online purchase intention in rural tourism: Integrating innovativeness to the UTAUT framework," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 341-350.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Bruce & Zhao Shurong & Sulemana Bankuoru Egala & John Amoah & Du Ying & Huang Rui & Tai Lyu, 2022. "Social Media Usage and SME Firms’ Sustainability: An Introspective Analysis from Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Ming-Pey Lu & Zunarni Kosim, 2024. "An empirical study to explore the influence of the COVID-19 crisis on consumers' behaviour towards cashless payment in Malaysia," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(1), pages 33-44, March.
    3. Evon M. Abu-Taieh & Issam AlHadid & Ra’ed Masa’deh & Rami S. Alkhawaldeh & Sufian Khwaldeh & Ala’aldin Alrowwad, 2022. "Factors Affecting the Use of Social Networks and Its Effect on Anxiety and Depression among Parents and Their Children: Predictors Using ML, SEM and Extended TAM," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-27, October.
    4. Han-Jen Niu & Fei-Hsu Sun Hung & Po-Ching Lee & Yensen Ni & Yuhsin Chen, 2023. "Eco-Friendly Transactions: Exploring Mobile Payment Adoption as a Sustainable Consumer Choice in Taiwan and the Philippines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Borah, Prasad Siba & Iqbal, Shuja & Akhtar, Shamim, 2022. "Linking social media usage and SME's sustainable performance: The role of digital leadership and innovation capabilities," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Denise Dreist & Holger Schulze & Neele Harder & Sarah Kühl, 2025. "When will I be successful? The use of social media in agricultural direct marketing in Germany," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Carla Riverola & Ozgur Dedehayir & Francesc Miralles, 2022. "A Taxonomy of Social-Network-Utilization Strategies for Emerging High-Technology Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, June.
    8. Oltra, Itziar & Camarero, Carmen & San José, Rebeca, 2025. "Agility in marketing teams: An analysis of factors influencing the entry decision into a trendy social network," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Nisar Ahmed Dahri & Muhammad Saleem Vighio & Jairam Das Bather & Aijaz Ahmed Arain, 2021. "Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Mobile Collaborative Learning for the Continuous Professional Development of Teachers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohammad Tipu Sultan & Farzana Sharmin & Alina Badulescu & Darie Gavrilut & Ke Xue, 2021. "Social Media-Based Content towards Image Formation: A New Approach to the Selection of Sustainable Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Nicolai Pogrebnyakov, 2017. "A Cost-Based Explanation of Gradual, Regional Internationalization of Multinationals on Social Networking Sites," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 37-64, February.
    3. Eun Ju Seo & Jin-Woo Park & Yu Jin Choi, 2020. "The Effect of Social Media Usage Characteristics on e-WOM, Trust, and Brand Equity: Focusing on Users of Airline Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Janarthanan Balakrishnan & Pantea Foroudi, 2020. "Does Corporate Reputation Matter? Role of Social Media in Consumer Intention to Purchase Innovative Food Product," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 181-200, August.
    5. Fatima Zahra Barrane & Gahima Egide Karuranga & Diane Poulin, 2018. "Technology Adoption and Diffusion: A New Application of the UTAUT Model," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(06), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Vasile-Daniel Păvăloaia & Elena-Mădălina Teodor & Doina Fotache & Magdalena Danileţ, 2019. "Opinion Mining on Social Media Data: Sentiment Analysis of User Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Shiwei Shen & Marios Sotiriadis & Qing Zhou, 2020. "Could Smart Tourists Be Sustainable and Responsible as Well? The Contribution of Social Networking Sites to Improving Their Sustainable and Responsible Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Perez-Vega, Rodrigo & Hopkinson, Paul & Singhal, Aishwarya & Mariani, Marcello M., 2022. "From CRM to social CRM: A bibliometric review and research agenda for consumer research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1-16.
    9. Reilly, Anne H. & Hynan, Katherine A., 2014. "Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 747-758.
    10. TANASE, George Cosmin, 2017. "Managing the Brand and Communication in Social Media," Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Romanian Distribution Committee, vol. 8(2), pages 20-22, June.
    11. repec:ehu:cuader:49721 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Saridakis, George & Benson, Vladlena & Ezingeard, Jean-Noel & Tennakoon, Hemamali, 2016. "Individual information security, user behaviour and cyber victimisation: An empirical study of social networking users," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 320-330.
    13. Ekkapong Cheunkamon & Sajjakaj Jomnonkwao & Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha, 2020. "Determinant Factors Influencing Thai Tourists’ Intentions to Use Social Media for Travel Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-22, September.
    14. Chen, Yan, 2018. "Blockchain tokens and the potential democratization of entrepreneurship and innovation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 567-575.
    15. Elena Casprini & Alberto Di Minin, 2015. "How are companies facing the social media (r)evolution?," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(2), pages 67-86.
    16. Baccarella, Christian V. & Wagner, Timm F. & Kietzmann, Jan H. & McCarthy, Ian P., 2018. "Social media? It's serious! Understanding the dark side of social media," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 431-438.
    17. Nilesh Saraf & Pratyush Bharati & T. Ravichandran, 2023. "Does Social Capital Arise from Enterprise or Public Social Media Use? A Model of Social Media Antecedents and Consequences," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 2353-2375, December.
    18. Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco & Marinkovic, Veljko & Ramos de Luna, Iviane & Kalinic, Zoran, 2018. "Predicting the determinants of mobile payment acceptance: A hybrid SEM-neural network approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 117-130.
    19. Fraccastoro, Sara & Gabrielsson, Mika & Pullins, Ellen Bolman, 2021. "The integrated use of social media, digital, and traditional communication tools in the B2B sales process of international SMEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    20. Ziad Abdelmoety & Spiros Gounaris, 2015. "Exporting B2B Solutions: The Impact and Contribution of Using Social Media," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 1(1), pages 23-40, January.
    21. Cartwright, Severina & Davies, Iain & Archer-Brown, Chris, 2021. "Managing relationships on social media in business-to-business organisations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 120-134.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2082-:d:499848. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.