The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic

Patma, Tundung Subali; Wardana, Ludi Wishnu; Wibowo, Agus; Narmaditya, Bagus Shandy; Akbarina, Farida Article The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Patma, Tundung Subali; Wardana, Ludi Wishnu; Wibowo, Agus; Narmaditya, Bagus Shandy; Akbarina, Farida (2021) : The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245093 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Cogent Business & Management ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/oabm20 The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic Tundung Subali Patma, Ludi Wishnu Wardana, Agus Wibowo, Bagus Shandy Narmaditya & Farida Akbarina | To cite this article: Tundung Subali Patma, Ludi Wishnu Wardana, Agus Wibowo, Bagus Shandy Narmaditya & Farida Akbarina | (2021) The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic, Cogent Business & Management, 8:1, 1953679, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Published online: 22 Jul 2021. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 3194 View related articles View Crossmark data MARKETING | RESEARCH ARTICLE The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic Tundung Subali Patma 1 *, Ludi Wishnu Wardana 2 , Agus Wibowo 3 , Bagus Shandy Narmaditya 2 and Farida Akbarina 1 Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed the government to provide a mass restriction policy, and businesses respond to this issue by adopting technology and social media marketing. This study aims at highlighting the determinant factors affecting technology adoption, social media marketing, and business sustainability. The study involved a quantitative approach with partial least squares structural equation modeling to obtain a deep understanding of this phenomenon. The research was incorporated with small and businesses in East Java Provincial in Indonesia employing an online questionnaire. The findings show that the adoption of internet/e-business technology can be explained by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and cost. Furthermore, it has a link between internet/e-business technology, social media marketing, and SMEs’ sustainability. However, the cost variable failed in demonstrating the implementation of social media marketing by SMEs. This work strongly suggests that the adoption of internet/e-business technology and social media marketing successfully explains the mediating role between variables. Despite this work solely conducted in East Java, this research is the initial phase in a study associated with SMEs’ sustainability in the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Tundung Subali Patma ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tundung Subali Patma is an associate professor specializing in Business Marketing at Politeknik Negeri Malang, Indonesia. Ludi Wishnu Wardana is an associate professor at Universitas Negeri Malang, concerning on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. Agus Wibowo is an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Faculty of Economics Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia. Bagus Shandy Narmaditya is a lecturer at the Economic Education Program, Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia. Farida Akbarina is an assistant professor of Business Marketing at Politeknik Negeri Malang, Indonesia. PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Implementing a mass restriction policy as its impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted the marketing model from conventional to online using technology. The need to achieve business sustainability is increasingly compelling by ideas to be more proactive in using social media marketing. This study highlights how perceived usefulness, ease of use, and cost drive internet/ e-business adoption, social media marketing, and small and medium business (SMEs) sustainability. This investigation is essential to provide new insights regarding adopting information and communication technology in Indonesia SMEs’ sustainability. The findings indicate that the adoption of new business technology and social media marketing can be explained by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and cost. This study also shows the nexus between internet/ e-business technology, social media marketing and SMEs’ sustainability. Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 1 of 16 Received: 6 April 2021 Accepted: 4 July 2021 *Corresponding author: Tundung Subali Patma, Department of Business Administration, Politeknik Negeri Malang, Indonesia E-mail: [email protected] Reviewing editor: Usama Awan, Industrial Engineering and management, Lappeenrannan Teknillinen Korkeakoulu: LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland Additional information is available at the end of the article © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Subjects: Management of Technology & Innovation; Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management; Marketing Keywords: Perceived usefulness; Perceived ease of use; Cost; Adoption of IEBT; Social Media Marketing; SMEs’ Sustainability 1. Introduction The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has outspread throughout the world, and it has significantly impacted the economic sector (Fendel et al., 2020; Rebucci et al., 2020). From a macroeconomic perspective, the Covid-19 has impacted a downtrend in economic growth, aggregate consumption, investment, and balance payments (Fang et al., 2021). Meanwhile, from the microeconomic sides, the Covid-19 pandemic has diminished individuals’ consumption and purchasing power due to many people losing their income and jobs (Dang & Nguyen, 2021). Additionally, the majority of people are careful in controlling their financial expenditure due to the vague during the pandemic (Celik et al., 2020). In the Indonesian context, the Covid-19 pandemic has also hampered small and medium business scale (SMEs) performance in their production, market, and revenue (Srikalimah et al., 2020). Despite the 1998 crisis, SMEs were more adaptable than large companies (Juergensen et al., 2020), but the Covid-19 pandemic became a severe external shock and affected the supply and demand side, primarily during the implementation of health distancing policy (Fitriasari, 2020). This condition highlights that the Covid-19 crisis will affect SMEs’ sustainability (Juergensen et al., 2020). Therefore, business owners need to respond quickly and appropriately by changing their sales strategy (Lorentz et al., 2016). To deal with this, SMEs can elaborate on the use of technology and empower social media (Dwivedi et al., 2021). Several preliminary works have documented the importance of social media in improving SMEs’ sustainability (Kang & Park, 2018; Taneja & Toombs, 2014). Social media is not only effective in helping SMEs’ business growth (Dahnil et al., 2014), but also as a consumer media to easily access new products, services, and SMEs’ (Dženopoljac et al., 2016). Social media is also a means for people to be engaged in online activities, market and even become an effective comparison in decision making (Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020). In addition, social media has become a kind of bridge between SMEs’ and the potential consumer community (Abed et al., 2015). In short, Tripopsakul (2018) noted that effective use of social media can enhance productivity and business revenue. However, the technology transformation in the business confronts a new budget allocation for a business. Chatterjee and Kumar Kar (2020) revealed that a budget is required to involve marketing and understand how each platform works. As a consequence, the new model marketing and technology adoption requires an additional cost to be involved in their business. In the involvement of marketing technology using social media and the adoption of IEBT, it will refer to the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) and is robustly generated by perceived usefulness (PEU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). SMEs who have experienced the utility PEU, PEOU, social media marketing (SMM) and technology adoption (IEBT) will not feel high allocating costs for procurement and maintenance and have a positive impact on SMEs’ sustainability. To summarize, this study is purposed to examine the determinant dimension affecting the use of social media marketing. This investigation is essential to provide new insights regarding the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in Indonesia SMEs’ sustainability. We also holistically identified the factors that may impact SMEs’ sustainability and instruments that play a role in their development. We have admitted that several studies mentioning the level of e-commerce approval in developing nations are still inadequate (Makiwa & Steyn, 2020). In Indonesia, these are affected by several critical factors, including erudite resources, awareness, information sources, and may the complexity of using e-commerce (Rahayu & Day, 2017). Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 2 of 16 This study provides three main contributions. First, it provides a contribution to the literature by highlighting what factors are affecting the technology adoption and SMM during the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, this study also attempts to link between technology adoption in SMEs, social media marketing, and SMEs sustainability in Indonesia that are absent in the preliminary studies. Some of the preliminary studies, for instance, Chatterjee and Kumar Kar (2020), A. Q. H. Chung et al. (2017), and Elbanna et al. (2019), have not discussed the relationship between SMEs’ sustainability and PEU, PEOU, and Cost. This research provides a deeper understanding of SMEs’ development and the importance of adopting internet/e-business technologies (IEBT) and SMM. Third, this study in Indonesia and the Covid-19 pandemic is unique due to the massive transformation from conventional to technology adoption and social media marketing as an effort to sustain their business. This paper is presented as follows: Section 1 concerns the background of the study and followed the relevant literature in Section 2. Next, we provide the study design, data collection, and measurement development in Section 3. Then, the findings and discussion of the study are presented in Section 4 and Section 5, respectively. Finally, section 6 informs the conclusion, managerial implication, and study’s limitations. 2. Theoretical review and hypotheses 2.1. Perceived of usefulness (PEU) The perceived usefulness (PEU) occurs in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which is promoted by Davis (1989) and Davis et al. (1989) as the theoretical framework to envisage user acceptance of technology. PEU can be realized when SMEs believe that the involvement of a quality management system will help them promote achievement (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989). Furthermore, when SMEs look at the benefit of using Social Media Marketing (SMM) to lead to better productivity, there is no doubt that they will adopt this method in their business (Kraus, Gast, Schleich, Jones, Ritter et al., 2019). Previous studies by Chatterjee and Kumar Kar (2020); Qalati et al. (2021) found that utilizing SMM will promote the SMEs’ performance. Several preliminary works have also highlighted the significant association of PEU with users’ intentions to engage in new technologies (Akinwale & Kyari, 2020). Recent studies confirmed that the use of social media through the PEU smartphone device has linear connectivity with the adoption of mobile phone technology (Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020; Kim & Chiu, 2019). Thus, the hypotheses are presented as follows: H 1 : PEU has a positive impact on adoption of IEBT H 2 : PEU has a positive impact on social media marketing 2.2. Perceived ease of use (PEOU) The perceived ease of use (PEOU) framework developed by Davis (1989) and Davis et al. (1989) that has been widely used to understand the adoption of new technology in business and other relevant areas. Some literature believes that perceived ease to use has been linked with the adoption of the internet/e-business technology (Taherdoost, 2018; Tripopsakul, 2018). The underlying rationale is that the anxiety in using new technology drives new uses to avoid, while the friendly use of new technology will provide many advantages for the users (Momani & Jamous, 2017). In the business context, entrepreneurs are more likely to adopt new technology when essential for enterprise development and easily implemented (Ojo et al., 2019). The effective use of technology in terms of social media can perform a better accomplishment and revenue. This makes SMEs involve and attempt social media to run the business (Sunday & Vera, 2018). With this condition, innovation is more accessible for users to implement, which results in users being motivated to adopt the technology (Bankole & Bankole, 2017). We believe that PEOU positively drives with the exert of new technology. This belief is supported by previous studies by Chatterjee Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 3 of 16 and Kumar Kar (2020) and Kraus et al. (2019), who documented this relationship. Therefore, the hypotheses are provided as follows: H 3 : PEOU has a positive impact on Adoption of IEBT H 4 : PEOU has a positive impact on Social Media Marketing 2.3. Cost (COS) In economics, the value of the sacrifice that has been made by an economic actor is well-known as a cost. Therefore, all costs associated with a production process should be considered and described in planning the selling price of a product (Teece, 2019). Trade-offs between advantages and opportunities are determined to assess costs (Sculpher et al., 2017). Costs are required to utilize technology by SMEs for their growth (Chittenden & Ambler, 2015). The nexus between cost and technology adoption is often perceived as being value-relevant (Alam & Noor, 2009). Furthermore, insufficient participation constraints, affordable costs, and inadequate levels of IT skills requirements motivate SMEs to adopt quality management systems. In particular, SMEs in Indonesia will not involve SMM when the initial costs are expensive (Derham et al., 2016). This needs to provide space for SMEs to connect with their buyers in such circumstances at an affordable cost (Zhang et al., 2019). A preliminary work by Cassetta et al. (2020) mentioned that engaged adoption of e-business information and communication technology (ICT) in a business company showed that companies investing in various platforms of ICT have a greater placement towards e-business, while the company cites handicaps in linked with cost and delivery acquaintance with lower e-business involvement. Additionally, Orouji and Kafashan (2017) remarked that companies with many advantages over time report, including providing affordable costs and reaching new customers, tend to have higher e-business operations. H 5 : Cost has a positive influence toward the adoption of IEBT H 6 : Cost a positive influence toward the SMM 2.4. The adoption of internet/e-business technologies (IEBT) The adoption of innovation by SMEs is associated with various factors, especially organization, environment, and technology (Ifinedo, 2011). The technology–organization–environment (TOE) blend concept is an incorporative program that combines technological dimensions, conditional organizational elements, and macro-environmental factors (Dwivedi et al., 2020; Chiambaretto et al., 2020). SMEs recognize that innovation takes an important role and increases the advantages of current practices and systems. Consequently, it is forecasted that the engagement of Internet technology and e-business will promote a greater performance (Ifinedo, 2011). Indirect and direct benefits from implementing IEBT can be seen in maximizing existing resources, which can impact profits. Several preliminary studies by Abd Rahman et al. (2017) and Müller and Voigt (2018) have demonstrated that comparable benefit is a robust predictor of IEBT and associated technology in SMEs. In particular, SMEs’ acceptance of IEBT is seen from an alteration viewpoint. H 7 : Adoption of IEBT positively influences on SMM H 8 : Adoption of IEBT positively influences on SMEs’ sustainability. 2.5. Social media marketing (SMM) and SMEs’ sustainability Social presence theory is described as the extent of the importance of other people in interactions and the resultant of interpersonal association (Ahmad et al., 2018). SMM can be regarded as a new Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 4 of 16 section and business practice engaged with promotion stuff, services, and ideas through the latest social media (Dwivedi et al., 2020). Marketing activities undergoing online platforms enable the production of information and connections between members (Yadav & Rahman, 2017) and the use of smartphone and web-based technology to establish synergistic media in which customers and group members share, co-create, discuss, and modify is known as content (Dewnarain et al., 2019). The exploitation of customers generated content has enabled businesses to more accurately predict the future buying behavior of their customers (A. J. Kim & Ko, 2012), increased the popularity of brand posts (Kervin et al., 2012), attracted new customers (Chow & Shi, 2015), establish awareness, enhance sales and promote loyalty (Castronovo & Huang, 2012). In total, 90% of businesses worldwide is categorized as SMEs and have been reported responsible for approximately 70% of global pollution (Singh & Thakar, 2018). However, the literature on sustainable development and corporate innovation concerns primarily on a sizeable scale, such as multinational ventures, while the sustainability diversion endeavored by SMEs is inadequately recognized and documented (Li et al., 2020). Large companies are considered to have an adequate endowment for green motivation, while small- and medium-sized businessess are more likely to face financial issues, human and resource management to support sustainability. A preliminary study by Barbosa et al. (2020) mentioned that small business is confronted to conceptual understanding and equipment to assess and organize environmental results, assuming that sustainability calculates additional costs. Sustainability can be provided as a facet that helps in serving, saving, and maintaining three main accepted elements, such as the environment, community, and the economy (Garbie, 2014). Sustainability enables organizations or companies to gain a competitive advantage in their business (Luthra et al., 2015). Additionally, Raut et al. (2019) pointed out that the application of sustainable operations management (SOM) positively influences companies’ business performance and minimizes side effects on the community and the environment. Gotschol et al. (2014) added that the internal activities in companies have a robust correlation with economic, environmental, social performance, and advantages for the organization in the long term. Companies should contemplate the green issue as an effort in reaching a competitive advantage and enhancing market share today in which highly erudite buyers tend to choose eco-friendly stuff (Deif, 2011). Social sustainability activities allow companies to reach a better social reputation (Marshall et al., 2015). For this reason, it can be concluded that sustainability is crucial for organizational activities, which is promoted through the SOM approach (Shibin et al., 2018). H 9 : Social media marketing has a positive impact on SMEs’ sustainability 3. Methodology 3.1. Research design We adopted a quantitative approach with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLSSEM) to increase understanding of how support for perceived usefulness (PEU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), and cost (COS) for SMEs’ Sustainability, and investigating the mediating role of the involvement of IEBT and Social Media Marketing (SMM) (see Figure 1). 3.2. Participants and data collection The respondents were identified who owned small business scale (SMEs) in Malang, East Java of Indonesia. We proposed 130 questionnaires employing the Google forms platform, which are provided to respondents via WhatsApp and Telegram. We noted that seven questionnaires returned were invalid due to the invalid data provided. This research was conducted from July to September 2020. The participants in this study were asked for their anonymity to ensure ethical issues. The details of respondents are informed in Table 1. Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 5 of 16 Appendix Table A1 provides information about the respondents involved in this study. In general, the majority of respondents operates in micro-scale businesses, while a small percentage performs in medium-scale businesses with various working experiences. From the table, it can be seen that the educational background of respondents was graduates from senior high school with a percentage of 50%. Most of the participants were running the restaurant business and the average income was under 100 million IDR per year. Figure 1. The research framework. Table 1. The characteristics of respondents Categorical Frequency % Gender Female 43 35 Male 80 65 Business area Restaurant 59 48 Service 44 36 Fashion 20 16 Business experience > 10 years 29 24 7–9 years 18 15 4–6 years 29 24 1–3 years 29 24 < 2 years 18 15 Educational Level Senior High School 61 50 Diploma 13 11 Bachelor degree 33 27 Postgraduate degree 9 7 Certificate level 7 6 Number of employees 1–4 94 76 5–19 26 21 20–99 3 2 Average Revenue ≤ 100 million IDR 81 66 > 100–200 million IDR 25 20 > 200–300 million IDR 15 12 > 300 million IDR 2 2 Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 6 of 16 3.3. Instrument development and data analysis We adopted a survey method to attain an understanding of the existing phenomenon of SMEs in Indonesia in using social media marketing and SMEs’ sustainability. The instruments used in this study were adapted from previous studies and literature reviews (see Table A1). The questionnaires were translated from English to Bahasa Indonesia with slight modification to adjust with the Indonesian context. First, perceived usefulness (PEU) was measured by five items from Chung et al. (2020) and Elbanna et al. (2019), while for perceived ease of use (PEOU), it was adopted by Ware (2018) and Rana et al. (2019). To estimate cost (COS), this study formulated five items from S. Chung et al. (2020) and Zhang et al. (2019) and the adoption of internet business technology (IEBT) was adapted by Chong and Pervan (2007) and Ifinedo (2011). Additionally, to measure social media marketing (SMM), we elaborated three indicators from Shareef et al. (2018); (2019). Lastly, SMEs’ sustainability (SS) used five items from Elbanna et al. (2019); Chatterjee and Kumar Kar (2020). The questions asked participants to rate how strongly they agreed with each statement from 1 (strongly disagree) and 5 (strongly agree). The data analysis approach in this work operated partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart PLS (version 3.0). 4. Results and discussion 4.1. The outer model evaluation The initial phase in determining the outer model of partial least square (PLS) aims to confirm that the instruments used are reliable. The criteria to determine the model achieve reliability when composite reliability (CR) and Cronbach’s Alpha are higher than 0.05 (Hair et al., 2014). This study found that the CR value of each construct ranges from 0.797 to 0.951, meaning that to achieve reliability (see Table 2). Additionally, the indicator to perform the convergent validity is accomplished when the average variance extracted (AVE) is greater than 0.60 (Hair et al., 2014). From the calculation that has been provided in Table 2, several indicators, including PEU3, PEOU1, PEOU2, COS3, and IEBT4 need to be omitted, considering the item loading is smaller than 0.7. After the expulsion, all items were above 0.6, and the AVE value for each construct ranged from 0.645 to 0.866 (>0.5), implicating to achieve the convergent validity. In addition to convergent validity evaluation, this study also conducted the discriminant validity using cross-loading factors. Table 3 informs that the value of cross-loading for all variables (PEU, PEOU, IEBT, SMM, and SS) is higher than 0.70, showing that the variables to meet the discriminant validity criteria. 4.2. Collinearity test The collinearity test is intended to know the existing collinearity among variables studied, which is proxied through Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The criteria to consider accomplish the collinearity test when the VIF value is less than 5.00 (Hair et al., 2013). From the preliminary evaluation, all variables involved have the VIF coefficient score ranging from 1.138 to 3.664 (< 5.00), meaning that there is no collinearity among construct variables and decided to be valid. 4.2.1. Hypothesis testing We provided structural equation modeling to test hypothesis in the model. The t-statistic was proposed undergoing the bootstrap, and we presented all data using 500 bootstrapped samples. As illustrated in Table 4, the eight hypotheses proposed in this study have achieved the criteria since the range of t-values for each relationship is 2.238–6.649 (>1.96). However, one hypothesis was rejected, considering the t-value is 0.290 (see Figure 2). 4.2.2. Model fit R-square (R 2 ) model shows the accuracy of the model prediction (Hair et al., 2020). R 2 values that fall at or higher than 0.75 are determined as substantial, 0.50 and 0.25 are categorized as moderate and weak, respectively (Hair et al., 2014). The calculation indicates that PEU, PEOU, and COST account for 49.6% of the IEBT variant, with moderate predictability. Meanwhile, PEU, Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 7 of 16 identifying the persuasive elements in the development of positive attitudes in consumers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 43, 258–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.04.006 Shareef, M. A., Mukerji, B., Dwivedi, Y. K., Rana, N. P., & Islam, R. (2019). Social media marketing: comparative effect of advertisement sources. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46, 58–69. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.11.001 Shibin, K. 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Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication, 8(1), 17–24. https://aejmc.us/spig/wp-content/uploads/ sites/9/2018/07/8.1tjmc-final-Ware.pdf Yadav, M., & Rahman, Z. (2017). Measuring consumer perception of social media marketing activities in e-commerce industry: scale development & validation. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1294–1307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.06.001 Zhang, C., Fan, C., Yao, W., Hu, X., & Mostafavi, A. (2019). Social media for intelligent public information and warning in disasters: an interdisciplinary review. International Journal of Information Management, 49, 190–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.04.004 Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 14 of 16 Appendix Table A1. Indicator of Each Variable Variable Source 1 Perceived usefulness (PEU) A. Q. H. Chung et al., 2017; Elbanna et al., 2019; Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020 PEU1 Social media is useful for business PEU2 Social media is a valuable tool for marketing PEU3 Social media enhances the productivity of the business PEU4 Social media helps better query management PEU5 Social media helps more customer satisfaction 2 Perceived ease of use (PEOU) PEOU1 Overall, it is easy to learn social media marketing Ware, 2018; Rana et al., 2019; Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020 PEOU2 It is easy to identify new customers using social media PEOU3 It is easy to identify customer demand using social media PEOU4 Information retrieval about a customer is easy using social media PEOU5 Advertising products and services on social media platforms are easy 3 Cost (COS) COS1 My cost of dealing with customer enquiries has been reduced using SMM A. Q. H. Chung et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2019; Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020 COS2 Cost of identifying new customer has been reduced through use of SMM Customer awareness and training cost have been diminished by use of SMM COS3 The overall advertising and promotion cost have gone down using SMM COS4 My cost of dealing with customer enquiries has been reduced using SMM 4 Adoption of IEBT IEBT1 Our company makes use of IEBT, very often. Chong & Pervan, 2007; Ifinedo, 2011 IEBT2 Our company uses IEB e-commerce/e-payment, at all times, for its transactions. IEBT3 Our company uses IEB its critical operations. IEBT4 The number of business operations and activities in my company that requires IEBTis high. 5 Social Media Marketing (SMM) SMM1 For advertising my products and services social media marketing is helpful Shareef et al., 2019; Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020 SMM2 Because my competitors are using social media for marketing, I should use it SMM3 Usage of social media marketing technique is good for my business 6 SMEs Sustainability (Continued) Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 15 of 16 © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. Cogent Business & Management (ISSN: 2331-1975) is published by Cogent OA, part of Taylor & Francis Group. Publishing with Cogent OA ensures: • Immediate, universal access to your article on publication • High visibility and discoverability via the Cogent OA website as well as Taylor & Francis Online • Download and citation statistics for your article • Rapid online publication • Input from, and dialog with, expert editors and editorial boards • Retention of full copyright of your article • Guaranteed legacy preservation of your article • Discounts and waivers for authors in developing regions Submit your manuscript to a Cogent OA journal at www.CogentOA.com Table A1. (Continued) Variable Source SS1 My business performance has been increased using social media platform Elbanna et al., 2019; Shareef et al., 2019; Chatterjee & Kumar Kar, 2020 SS2 My sales are above average compared to others using social media platform SS3 My customers feel more connected with my business after using social media SS4 My efficiency to identify the customers’ need has been increased using SMM SS5 Creativity of my employees has been enhanced through use of SMM Patma et al., Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1953679 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1953679 Page 16 of 16