The effect of social media on firm performance

© 2017. This study provides a new perspective on the effect of social media use in SMEs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of social media on firm performance with mediating role of marketing capabilities in the UK, hotel industry. In this research, a structural equation modelling method has been employed for data analysis. The survey data has been collected by mail survey from a sample of 384 hotels in the UK. Results from the data analysis demonstrate the positive and significant relationship between social media use and firm performance. However, the findings highlighted that marketing capabilities, namely branding and innovation, positively and significantly mediate the association between social media use and firm performance.

[1]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Software Review: Software Programs for Structural Equation Modeling: Amos, EQS, and LISREL , 1998 .

[2]  Hao Shen,et al.  Technological Capability, Marketing Capability, and Firm Performance in Turbulent Conditions , 2013, Management and Organization Review.

[3]  J. Merigó,et al.  Online social networks as an enabler of innovation in organizations , 2015 .

[4]  M. Candi,et al.  Leveraging Social Network Sites in New Product Development: : Opportunity or Hype? , 2014 .

[5]  Gordon E. Greenley,et al.  THE PERFORMANCE IMPACT OF MARKETING RESOURCES , 2005 .

[6]  Peter O'Connor,et al.  User-Generated Content and Travel: A Case Study on Tripadvisor.Com , 2008, ENTER.

[7]  F. Völckner,et al.  Managing Brands in the Social Media Environment , 2013 .

[8]  F. Jacob,et al.  Measuring the Degree of Corporate Social Media Use , 2015 .

[9]  Margaret A. Peteraf The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[10]  J. Watson Networking: Gender differences and the association with firm performance , 2012 .

[11]  Sharyn Rundle-Thiele,et al.  Marketing capabilities: Antecedents and implications for B2B SME performance , 2011 .

[12]  R. Odoom,et al.  Branding capabilities and SME performance in an emerging market , 2017 .

[13]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[14]  S. Hudson,et al.  The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors , 2016 .

[15]  Neil A. Morgan Marketing and business performance , 2012 .

[16]  P. Pavlou,et al.  Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce: Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model , 2003 .

[17]  S. Hudson,et al.  The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Decision Process: Implications for Tourism Marketing , 2013 .

[18]  N. Michaelidou,et al.  Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands , 2011 .

[19]  Mahmood Hajli,et al.  Social commerce constructs and consumer's intention to buy , 2015, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[20]  B. Pan,et al.  A retrospective view of electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management , 2017 .

[21]  Marc J. Schniederjans,et al.  Enhancing financial performance with social media: An impression management perspective , 2013, Decis. Support Syst..

[22]  Riadh Ladhari,et al.  eWOM effects on hotel booking intentions, attitudes, trust, and website perceptions , 2015 .

[23]  Kevin Lane Keller Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity , 1993 .

[24]  L. Coote,et al.  Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein's model , 2014 .

[25]  Scott R. Swanson,et al.  The effects of perceived service quality on repurchase intentions and subjective well-being of Chinese tourists: The mediating role of relationship quality , 2016 .

[26]  W. Kim,et al.  The impact of social media reviews on restaurant performance: The moderating role of excellence certificate , 2016 .

[27]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research , 2012 .

[28]  Nathaniel Boso,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, network ties, and performance: Study of entrepreneurial firms in a developing economy , 2013 .

[29]  Judie Gannon,et al.  Strategic human resource management: Insights from the international hotel industry , 2015 .

[30]  A. Guizzardi,et al.  Rating hotel quality for corporate business travel departments , 2016 .

[31]  Dhruv Grewal,et al.  Understanding social media effects across seller, retailer, and consumer interactions , 2013, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

[32]  Santiago Melián-González,et al.  A model that connects information technology and hotel performance , 2016 .

[33]  Hyunsun Park,et al.  Effects of various characteristics of social commerce (s-commerce) on consumers' trust and trust performance , 2013, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[34]  Chih-Lun Yen,et al.  International Journal of Hospitality Management Hotel Attribute Performance, Ewom Motivations, and Media Choice , 2022 .

[35]  Ramakrishnan Ramanathan,et al.  Linking operations, marketing and environmental capabilities and diversification to hotel performance: A data envelopment analysis approach , 2016 .

[36]  Rolf Gerritsen,et al.  What do we know about social media in tourism? A review , 2014 .

[37]  L. Harris,et al.  Punching above their weight: the changing role of networking in SMEs , 2012 .

[38]  Analyzing the Effects of Social Media on the Hospitality Industry , 2012 .

[39]  Lixuan Zhang,et al.  Drivers and Outcomes of Brand Relationship Quality in the Context of Online Social Networks , 2013, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[40]  Aikaterini C. Valvi,et al.  Determinants of social media adoption by B2B organizations , 2015 .

[41]  John Fahy,et al.  Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Industries: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions , 1993 .

[42]  Nebojsa S. Davcik,et al.  Marketing resources, performance, and competitive advantage: A review and future research directions , 2016 .

[43]  Chee Yew Wong,et al.  Explaining the competitive advantage of logistics service providers: A resource-based view approach , 2010 .

[44]  Leonidas C. Leonidou,et al.  Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance , 2013 .

[45]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: User's Reference Guide , 1997 .

[46]  Juan A. Martínez-Román,et al.  Innovativeness and business performances in tourism SMEs. , 2015 .

[47]  France Bélanger,et al.  The Value of Social Media for Small Businesses , 2014, J. Inf. Syst..

[48]  Wenhua Liu,et al.  Influence of customer engagement with company social networks on stickiness: Mediating effect of customer value creation , 2017, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[49]  Shintaro Okazaki,et al.  Knowledge Sharing Among Tourists via Social Media: A Comparison Between Facebook and TripAdvisor , 2017 .

[50]  J. Hulland,et al.  Redeployment of Brands, Sales Forces, and General Marketing Management Expertise following Horizontal Acquisitions: A Resource-Based View , 1999 .

[51]  S. Dolnicar,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Segments , 2016 .

[52]  J. Barney,et al.  IS THE RESOURCE-BASED " VIEW " A USEFUL PERSPECTIVE FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH ? , 2001 .

[53]  M. Appelbaum,et al.  Psychometric methods. , 1989, Annual review of psychology.

[54]  Lacy Tite,et al.  Understanding Social Media , 2008 .

[55]  R. Rust,et al.  The Role of Marketing , 1999 .

[56]  S. West,et al.  A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. , 2002, Psychological methods.

[57]  W. Kim,et al.  The effectiveness of managing social media on hotel performance. , 2015 .

[58]  N. Lockett,et al.  Social Media Use in European Hotels: Benefits and Main Challenges , 2016 .

[59]  R. Harrington,et al.  Strategic management: An analysis of its representation and focus in recent hospitality research , 2011 .

[60]  M. Cowling,et al.  What really happens to small and medium-sized enterprises in a global economic recession? UK evidence on sales and job dynamics , 2015 .

[61]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the evaluation of structural equation models , 1988 .

[62]  M. Fleischer,et al.  processes of technological innovation , 1990 .

[63]  M. Durkin,et al.  Exploring social media adoption in small to medium-sized enterprises in Ireland , 2013 .

[64]  Kim K. P. Johnson,et al.  Power of consumers using social media: Examining the influences of brand-related user-generated content on Facebook , 2016, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[65]  A. Tjoa,et al.  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism , 1996, Springer Vienna.

[66]  E. Christou Web 2.0 and Customer Involvement in New Service Development: A Framework, Cases and Implications in Tourism , 2016 .

[67]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Online and social media recruitment: Hospitality employer and prospective employee considerations , 2016 .

[68]  Mercedes Segarra-Ciprés,et al.  Management innovation in the hotel industry , 2015 .

[69]  Fevzi Okumus,et al.  Generating brand awareness in Online Social Networks , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[70]  Rebecca J. Slotegraaf,et al.  Linking marketing capabilities with profit growth , 2009 .

[71]  K. Pauwels,et al.  Effects of Word-of-Mouth versus Traditional Marketing: Findings from an Internet Social Networking Site , 2009 .

[72]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Impact of operational and marketing capabilities on firm performance: Evidence from economic growth and downturns , 2014 .

[73]  Mahmood Hajli,et al.  A research framework for social commerce adoption , 2013, Inf. Manag. Comput. Secur..

[74]  I. Ajzen The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[75]  Miyoung Jeong,et al.  Customer Reviews of Hotel Experiences through Consumer Generated Media (CGM) , 2008 .

[76]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[77]  V. Kumar,et al.  Practice Prize Winner - Creating a Measurable Social Media Marketing Strategy: Increasing the Value and ROI of Intangibles and Tangibles for Hokey Pokey , 2013, Mark. Sci..

[78]  A. Kaplan,et al.  Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media , 2010 .

[79]  M. Hajli,et al.  Developing Tourism Education Through Social Media , 2014 .

[80]  Randal Rosman,et al.  The Implications of Social Media on Customer Relationship Management and the Hospitality Industry , 2013 .

[81]  Marie-Cécile Cervellon,et al.  Facebook Pages Content, Does it Really Matter? Consumers’ Responses to Luxury Hotel Posts with Emotional and Informational Content , 2015 .

[82]  Jeong-eun Park,et al.  How does CRM technology transform into organizational performance? A mediating role of marketing capability☆ , 2010 .

[83]  Lemuria Carter,et al.  Social Media Tools Adoption and Use by SMES: An Empirical Study , 2014, J. Organ. End User Comput..

[84]  Iguácel Melero,et al.  Environmental strategies and organizational competitiveness in the hotel industry: The role of learning and innovation as determinants of environmental success , 2015 .

[85]  Karen L. Xie,et al.  Effects of managerial response on consumer eWOM and hotel performance , 2016 .

[86]  Wantao Yu,et al.  The impacts of marketing and operations capabilities on financial performance in the UK retail sector: A resource-based perspective , 2014 .

[87]  John G. Watson,et al.  Modeling the relationship between networking and firm performance , 2007 .

[88]  Kevin J. Trainor,et al.  Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM , 2014 .

[89]  R. Filippini,et al.  Brand‐Building Efforts and Their Association with SME Sales Performance , 2015 .

[90]  Marianna Sigala,et al.  Investigating the exploitation of web 2.0 for knowledge management in the Greek tourism industry: An utilisation-importance analysis , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[91]  M. Hajli,et al.  A study of the impact of social media on consumers , 2014 .

[92]  U. Gretzel,et al.  Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: Theory, Practice and Cases , 2012 .

[93]  Yubo Chen,et al.  The Role of Marketing in Social Media: How Online Consumer Reviews Evolve , 2011 .

[94]  Morgan P. Miles,et al.  Customer engagement with tourism social media brands , 2017 .

[95]  J. Barney Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? Yes , 2001 .

[96]  F. García-Lillo,et al.  Tourist districts and internationalization of hotel firms , 2017 .

[97]  Richard P. Bagozzi,et al.  Assessing Construct Validity in Organizational Research , 1991 .

[98]  Thomas Ritter,et al.  The impact of network capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation on university spin-off performance , 2006 .

[99]  Tahir M. Nisar,et al.  Brand interactions and social media: Enhancing user loyalty through social networking sites , 2016, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[100]  Hao Shen,et al.  Technological Capability, Marketing Capability, and Firm Performance in Turbulent Conditions. 技术能力、市场能力与企业绩效:基于环境不确定性的研究 , 2013 .

[101]  Ana María Munar,et al.  Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media , 2014 .

[102]  D. Aaker MEASURING BRAND EQUITY ACROSS PRODUCTS AND MARKETS , 1996 .

[103]  Osman M. Karatepe,et al.  An exploration of the factors influencing social media continuance usage and information sharing intentions among Korean travellers , 2017 .

[104]  Financial Crisis and Tourism Activity: Evidence from the UK , 2016 .