Adoption of Social Media Marketing for Sustainable Business Growth of SMEs in Emerging Economies: The Moderating Role of Leadership Support

Sheshadri Chatterjee, Ranjan Chaudhuri, Georgia Sakka, Balakrishna Grandhi, Antonino Galati, Evangelia Siachou and Demetris Vrontis
Additional contact information
Sheshadri Chatterjee: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
Ranjan Chaudhuri: Department of Marketing, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai 400087, India
Georgia Sakka: School of Business, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus
Balakrishna Grandhi: SP Jain School of Global Management, Dubai 400070, United Arab Emirates
Antonino Galati: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90133 Palermo, Italy
Evangelia Siachou: Department of Economics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens MBA, 10559 Athens, Greece
Demetris Vrontis: School of Business, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: Social media marketing (SMM) plays an important role in business communication, marketing, operations, and other activities. There is a growing interest among researchers, academicians, and practitioners to understand the role of SMM in business sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging economy, like India. Few studies have attempted to understand this role. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the impact of adopting social media marketing for sustainable business growth of SMEs in an emerging economy. The study also investigates the moderating role of SME leadership support on the relationship between SMM usage and sustainable business growth of SMEs. After reviewing the existing literature and technology adoption model, a theoretical model is developed, which is then validated using a structural equation modeling technique to analyze 304 samples of Indian SMEs that use different social media marketing applications in their enterprises. This study confirmed that SMM tools significantly and positively improve the sustainable growth of SMEs in an emerging economy. Additionally, the study also found that SME leadership team plays a vital role in supporting actual usage of SMM tools that accelerate sustainable business growth of SMEs.

Keywords: social media marketing; SMEs; technology acceptance model; leadership support; perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use; behavioral intention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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