The Relationship Between Social Media Marketing Capability, Trust and SMEs’ Performance in Malaysia

• Main Author: Aldeeha, Fawzi Mohamed Hasan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: T58.5-58.64 Information technology; HD60 Small Business.
• Online Access: https://etd.uum.edu.my/10947/1/s93773_01.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10947/2/s93773_02.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10947/

Due to the realization of SMEs' importance to the economy, and the changed happened owing to technology, social media marketing capabilities (SMMC) has been being implemented over the last few years. It aims to develop SMEs and enhance their performance from new technology and resource point of view. Consequently, the objective of this study is to examine the relationship between SMMC and SME’s performance in Malaysia and assesses the mediating of trust on the relationship between SMMC and SME’s performance. Owing to covid19 and the implementation of MCO, the online questionnaire was used to collect data from 387 SME firms in Selangor, Malaysia in August and September 2020, and the 123 of the gathered data was analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS. The high second-order method has been used to conduct the analysis. The results confirmed that there are positive relationship between SMMC and all its dimensions and SMEs performance, the relationship between SMMC and trust is positive as well as between trust and SMEs performance. Moreover, trust positively mediates the relationship between social SMMC and SME performance. All the subhypotheses are positive and significant. The outcome of this study provides new knowledge and essential practical insights for the digital marketing agencies, SMEs agencies such as SME Corp, as well as policy makers. The findings help to look further at the programs and guidelines to empower SMEs with required marketing knowledge and best practice, business owners, and executive management. Finally, further research can provide in-depth explanations by considering all limitations of this study, such as further research with a specific sector, conduct research on other states, or interviewing targeted respondents for more clarification.