Statistically significant Chi-square test of association between calculated final

Variable 1 Variable 2 Chi-square

test p

Chi-square test value Final social media maturity

stages of companies

Hours spent on social media .001 28.360 Having a LinkedIn account .002 14.582 Perceived usefulness of social

media 1

.007 17.603

Perceived usefulness 2 .012 16.349

Top management support 2 .002 21.129

Business goals 1 .040 13.183

Providing training in the company (skills3)

.012 16.382

Financial Resources .038 13.335

SM infrastructure .001 22.578

Table 64 Significant Chi-square test results between the final maturity stage of companies and different variable

Table 64 presents the significant associations between the final calculated maturity score of

companies with other variables. The associated variables with the final maturity stages of

companies include: Perceived usefulness of social media, the availability of social media

infrastructure in the company, the availability of financial resources in the company, providing

social media training to the employee working on social media, the amount of hours dedicated

for social media per week and finally having a LinkedIn account in the company. A summary

of these results is presented in figure 46 where the variables associated with the final social

media maturity of companies are presented with the other variables that are also associated with

the ones in table 64. This will give extra insight into these new associations.

The results show that the perceived usefulness of social media and the availability of

infrastructure are associated with four maturity criteria as well as with the final maturity stages

of companies. Also, the consistency of social media with the overall business gaols of

companies, the availability of financial infrastructure and providing social media training to

with the final maturity stages of companies. In addition to hours dedicated to social media and

top management support which also affect the overall maturity of SMEs.

Other factors associated with the previous factors Factors

associated with the final maturity scores of companies Final maturity score Hours spent on SM

Percieved usefulness of social media, having good skills & knowlege of SM in the comapny

Infrastructure Providing social media training in the company, financial resources, having a website

Percieved

usefulness Age, degree, hours spent on SM, Providing SM training in the company Providing SM

training

availability of financial resources, availability of SM infrastructure, percieved usefulness, sector, competitive

pressure and perceived ease of use Financial

resources Providing SM training in the company Consistency of

business goals

with social media Position, years using social media, Linkedin

5.5.2.4. Stacked bar charts illustrating the chi-square test association between the final maturity stage and demographical and adoption variables

The results of the significant associations between the final maturity stages of companies and

other variables which were presented in table 63 and figure 64 are illustrated in the series of

figures below. The illustration was important for understanding the shape of the associations.

Figure 51 Association between infrastructure and maturity stages _{Figure 52 Association between perceived usefulness and maturity} stages

Figure 50 Association between having a LinkedIn and the maturity stages

Figure 49 Association between business goals and maturity stages

Figure 47 Association between providing training and

5.6. Chapter summary

This chapter discussed the data collection process and results of research activity B survey

which aimed at investigating social media adoption, benefits, obstacles and maturity of social

media in SMEs located in Saudi Arabia. It also intended to explore the associations between

adoption, maturity, obstacles and demographical variables within SMEs. Mainly to answer the

following research questions:

• RQ1b: How can the maturity of using social media be calculated based on the criteria identified in this study?

• RQ2a: Which factors affect SMEs adoption of social media in Saudi Arabia?

• RQ2b: What are the objectives of using social media by SMEs in Saudi Arabia?

• RQ2c: What are the benefits Saudi SMEs gained from using SM?

• RQ2d: What are the obstacles to using SM successfully in Saudi SMEs?

• RQ2e: What are the barriers to social media adoption in SMEs in Saudi Arabia?

• RQ2f: How mature are the SMEs in Saudi Arabia and what factors are associated with the maturity?

The survey received a total of 71 responses from SMEs located in Saudi Arabia. The discussion

of the data was sectioned into three parts:

• Part 1: presented the results of SMEs using social media. A total of 61 Saudi SMEs stated that they use social media in their businesses. Overall, the findings show that

Twitter and Instagram are the most popular and used social media networks by these

SMEs, then comes Facebook in the third place followed by Snapchat. The least used

account is Pinterest, then LinkedIn. In regard to the most effective social media

networks for these companies, 61.8% stated that Instagram is the most useful social

media network for their business followed by Twitter with 60%.The aligned objectives

of why these SMEs use social media matches the following themes identified from the

literature:

• Perceived usefulness of social media

• Creation of brand awareness

• Reach of target market

• Consumer engagement

• leads generation

• Generation of advanced market insights

• Perceived ease of use

• facilitate customer support

• Follow social media market trends

• Increase website awareness

When it comes to the adoption statements, A total of 61 companies answered 21 statements

related to 10 adoption factors using 5 points Likert scale type. The aim was to investigate if the

ten adoption factors identified in the literature affect the Saudi Arabian SMEs. The statistical

analysis on the ten adoption factors revealed that the median for all the adoption statements is

either 2 (agree) or 3 (strongly agree) except for skills3 which is about if the company provides

The three most reported benefits gained from using social media by the majority of the Saudi

companies (40 SMEs) include: Increased exposure to the company, improved sales and

increased number of loyal customers, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that the three

most reported obstacles that inhibit companies from using social media successfully are: not

having a dedicated team to work on social media, lack of time and skills. The obstacles reported

also include: companies` perception that Saudi consumers are not ready to interact with

companies on social media, not measuring their social media performance and not having an

infrastructure for social media in their companies.

• Part 2: presented the findings related to SMEs that do not use social media: 10 companies out of 71 SMEs said they do not have social media accounts.

As part of answering the research question: RQ2e What are the barriers to social media

adoption in SMEs in Saudi Arabia? These companies were asked questions related to 3 areas:

1) Why they do not use social media in their business, 2) are they planning to use social media

in the future and 3) if yes, why are they planning to use social media.

The ten companies non-users of social media were asked to explain the reasons for not using

social media in an open-ended question.Their responses fall into three categories of factors that

were already identified from the literature, these factors are:

• Perceived usefulness of social media

• Lack of knowledge, skills, and expertise in social media

• The type of business activity and sector

The respondents then were further asked the same question, but in a different format using

multiple responses for respondents to choose from, the question was: which of the following

factors is a reason for your company not to adopt social media? The answers made for this

knowledge and expertise and lack of time. And also prove the adoption factors: infrastructure,

the perceived usefulness of social media and the perceived consumers` readiness.

3 out of the 10 companies stated they plan to use social media in the future whereas 5 companies

said they don`t know if they will use social media in the future and only 1 SMEs stated that it

is not planning to use social media in the future.The four companies that said they plan to use

social media were asked why they are planning to in an open-ended question. The responses

fall under 3 themes: the perceived usefulness of social media, Perceived ease of use and external

competition and sector and one was related to supporting the customers.

• Part 3: presented the results of the social media maturity test and the associations of other variables with the overall maturity of companies.

This question aims at investigating the maturity of Saudi Arabian SMEs in the way they use

social media. We used the social media maturity model that was proposed in research activity

A to assess the maturity of the SMEs and to examine the associations between the maturity

stages of companies with other variables which will help in discovering more possible factors

that could play a role in social media maturity. From the results, the Saudi SMEs that

participated in this study are least mature when it comes to the process criterion with a median

and mode showing level 1 on an average. This result is consistent with the question about the

obstacles of which the majority of companies reported not having a dedicated team to work on

social media as an obstacle to success. Regarding the budget and policy criteria, they achieved

the second lowest scores, level 2 in median and level 1 in mode. On the other hand, the SMEs

are somehow mature in the criterion top management support which has a median and mode

both show level 3. In the rest of the criteria (strategy, measurement and measurement tools) the

After calculating the final maturity scores for these SMEs, (52%) are considered level 2 in

social media maturity which is considered not mature. 15 companies (25%) achieved level 3

which is somehow mature, whereas 11 companies (18%) achieved level 1 in social media

maturity which is the least mature form of using social media. And finally, only three

companies (5%) achieved level 4 which is the most mature stage of using social media

according to our proposed maturity model.

As part of investigating how other factors are associated with each maturity criterion and with

the final maturity stages of companies, a Chi-square test of association was performed to answer

this research question. The results presented in table 63 demonstrate the statistically significant

associations between different variables and each maturity criterion. This result is one of the

primary contributions of this research. It is important to note that these associations do not

imply or mean causation. table 64 which presents the Chi-square test association results

between the calculated overall social media maturity stages of companies and other variables,

and which present one of the main contributions of the current research. We can see that the

overall social media maturity stage of the company is significantly associated with the

following variables: Number of hours dedicated to social media per week, Having a LinkedIn

account, Perceived usefulness of social media by the owner , Top management support to social

media in the company, The consistency of social media with the business goals and vision of

the company, Providing social media training in the company , The availability of financial

resources in the company , The availability of social media infrastructure in the company

The next chapter will discuss the data collection process and data analysis and results of

research activity C survey which investigates the consumers` social media readiness for

In document Assessing social media adoption and maturity in small and medium enterprises: case of Saudi Arabia (Page 152-160)