Abstract
This paper examines the usage of social media by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have been quick to explore social media for functions such as customer acquisition, perhaps due to greater flexibility and agility than large companies. However, SMEs are also constrained by lack of resources and human capital, limiting the extent to which they can exploit social media usage for strategic benefits. We use a resource-based view of IS capabilities to define the concepts of social media exploration and exploitation. We report on data collected from 65 SMEs. Our findings suggest that SMEs do indeed explore social media platforms extensively. However, they fail to exploit their social media presence to leverage long-term strategic benefits. Our contribution includes ways to analyze social media exploration and exploitation and suggestions to researchers and SMEs on ways to strategically manage social media use.
Recommended Citation
Goel, Lakshmi; Davis, Sean M.; and Slater, Robert, "Social Media Exploration and Exploitation by Small and Medium Enterprises" (2019). AMCIS 2019 Proceedings. 12.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2019/strategic_uses_it/strategic_uses_it/12
Social Media Exploration and Exploitation by Small and Medium Enterprises
This paper examines the usage of social media by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have been quick to explore social media for functions such as customer acquisition, perhaps due to greater flexibility and agility than large companies. However, SMEs are also constrained by lack of resources and human capital, limiting the extent to which they can exploit social media usage for strategic benefits. We use a resource-based view of IS capabilities to define the concepts of social media exploration and exploitation. We report on data collected from 65 SMEs. Our findings suggest that SMEs do indeed explore social media platforms extensively. However, they fail to exploit their social media presence to leverage long-term strategic benefits. Our contribution includes ways to analyze social media exploration and exploitation and suggestions to researchers and SMEs on ways to strategically manage social media use.