Analysing the factors that influence social media adoption among SMEs in developing countries

Social media penetration is on the rise in developing countries and could be an important channel of growth for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Consequently, many SMEs in developing countries use social media to connect their customers to their products and services. However, there has been limited research on the factors influencing social media adoption in developing countries within Africa. This paper adopts the learning-by-doing concept from economic theory to explore the factors that influence the adoption of social media. This is followed by a primary survey to explore the use of social media among firms in the commercial districts of Kenya and Nigeria. The primary surveys in both countries were combined into a single dataset to analyse the relationship between social media use and learning-by-doing. The results show that the time and knowledge invested in learning how to develop a social media presence increase the likelihood of social media adoption. Smaller firms are more likely to adopt social media to internationalise, whereas larger firms that can invest in social media tend to use more traditional marketing channels.