Limited engagement of SMEs with social media: A structuration and sensemaking perspective

Abstract

Despite the worldwide rapidly growing social media use, previous surveys have shown an adoption rate below average among SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). The problem of why and how SMEs engage with social media has received scant attention. Informed by structuration and sensemaking theories, this qualitative inquiry attempts to close this gap by scrutinizing cognitive and collective pre-adoption aspects. Differently perceived technology features, the structural context of the ecosystem, and the triggering conditions as well as their role for individual and collective understanding and decision-making activities form the building blocks of a processual framework and the derivation of further research avenues.