THE ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING BY HOME-BASED BUSINESSES IN SAUDI ARABIA.

Social media applications have revolutionized doing business and attracted the attention of practitioners, scholars, and policymakers. Social media applications offer business owners plenty of benefits as it enables businesses to get exposed, gain competitive advantage, and communicate with customers. However, limited studies have considered measuring the adoption of social media marketing by micro-businesses, such as home-based businesses (HBBs). This research examines social media adoption by home-based companies in Saudi Arabia using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A self-administered online questionnaire is utilized to collect data. A total of 188 home-based business owners completed the questionnaires. Structural equation modeling using SPSS, Amos is utilized for data analysis. The findings show that perceived usefulness and social influence positively impact the Intention to use social media marketing. Ease of use positively influences perceived usefulness. Further, the Intention to use has a subsequent impact on user behavior. The study has implications for policy, decision-makers, and the General authority of SMEs (Monsha’at) in Saudi Arabia. The research results show that social influence is a significant positive predictor of social media marketing usage. Besides, the Intention to use social media marketing has a statistically positive impact on user behavior. The study validates the TAM model in a rarely studied context due to its invisible nature. The authors also describe a profile of HBBs owners in Saudi Arabia by explaining their demographic and behavioral characteristics regarding owners’ gender, age and education, and prior experience. This paper contributes original empirical evidence on the adoption of social media marketing by the HBBs in Saudi Arabia. Given the lack of previous studies on this micro-business sector in general and Saudi Arabia, these findings are essential. The present study demonstrates several managerial implications. First of all, policymakers should consider this microbusiness sector when developing policies and strategies to provide support and support. The government should establish an electronic platform that connects all business owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]