The SMEs’ technology acceptance of digital media for stakeholder engagement

Abstract

Purpose: Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly communicating and interacting with stakeholders through digital media. Therefore, this research investigates the SME owner-managers' attitudes toward the pace of technological innovation, and it examines their perceived use and ease of digital media for stakeholder engagement.

Design: The research methodology integrated measuring items from the technology acceptance model, the pace of technological innovation and corporate social responsibility (CSR), to better understand the SME owner-managers’ rationale for using digital media. The respondents were expected to reveal their attitudes toward commercial, ethical and social responsibilities.

Findings: A factor analysis indicated that the SME owner-managers were perceiving the usefulness of digital media to engage with marketplace stakeholders. Whilst, a stepwise regression analysis reported positive and significant relationships between the pace of technological innovation and the SMEs’ perceived usefulness of digital media for communication purposes. The results also revealed that young owner-managers from large SMEs were more likely to utilize digital media than their smaller counterparts.

Originality: This contribution implies that both small and micro businesses are utilizing digital media to improve their stakeholder engagement. This study indicates that the pace of technological innovation, the SMEs’ perceived ease of use of digital media, as well as their commercial responsibility were significant antecedents for the SMEs’ online communication.