Effects of entrepreneurial orientation on social media adoption and SME performance: The moderating role of innovation capabilities

The increase of social media (SM) has led to continuous deviations in how day-to-day entrepreneurial activities can be carried out. Additionally, studies devoted to SM entrepreneurship and SM are relatively limited and fragmented in their focus. However there is growing interest from scholars, practitioners and academia for upcoming studies and exploration within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) context. This research explores the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on SM adoption and SME performance in developing countries. We employed the resource-based view (RBV) as the foundation for developing the conceptual framework The present study employed a closed-ended questionnaire to collect data from SMEs located in Pakistan. Partial-least-squares-structural equation-modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized for the analysis of 423 responses. The results proved a direct positive link between EO–SMEs performance, EO–SM adoption, SM adoption–SMEs performance, innovation capabilities (IC), and SME performance. Partial mediation was found between EO and SME performance, and the significant moderation effect of IC was found between SM adoption and SME performance. This paper has implications for practitioners and researchers regarding SM adoption in the SMEs. It builds an empirical, multi-dimensional hypothesized model, including mediating and moderating roles affecting the relationships.