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

Wilert Puriwat and Suchart Tripopsakul
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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

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-13

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.

Keywords: social media; technology; adoption; the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology; Thailand (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 (7)

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