Effect of social media agility on performance of small and medium enterprises: moderating roles of firm size and environmental dynamism

Abstract

Purpose Despite the increasing numbers of research studies about social media business, the concept of social media agility is still an emerging topic that has been understudied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of social media agility on business performance by using a sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. Moreover, this study explored whether the effect of social media agility on business performance could be moderated by the characteristic of firm in terms of size, as well as the characteristic of market environment in terms of environmental dynamism. Design/methodology/approach The sample of 337 firms was obtained from the business directory using the simple random sampling method, and the model assessment was performed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The data analysis indicated that social media agility positively affected the business performance of SMEs. Moreover, the moderating effect analysis showed that smaller firms tended to gain higher business performance from social media agility than larger firms. In addition, social media agility positively affected business performance to a greater extent when firms operated under low environmental dynamism than when they operated under high environmental dynamism. Practical implications Because SMEs are the key driving of economic development and economic growth, the recommendations from this study could be helpful for the government sector responsible for the competency development of SMEs to offer a development program that might enable entrepreneurial firms to develop social media marketing competencies and enhance their potential to be successful in the digital transformation. Originality/value The authors found new evidence showing that the degree to which social media agility affected business performance depended significantly on the firm characteristics in terms of firm size, as well as the environmental factor in terms of environmental dynamism. These findings provide valuable contributions to the existing literature that still lacks evidence about the moderating conditions that could increase or reduce the benefits that firms obtain from social media agility.