Title: Social media practices in Indonesian SMEs

Authors: Yong Dirgiatmo; Zarifah Abdullah; Raja Haslinda Raja Mohd. Ali

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Business, Sebelas Maret University, Jl. Ir. Sutami 36 A, Kentingan, Surakarta, Indonesia ' Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA), Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA), Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper explains the importance of understanding the practice of social media in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of performance enhancement. Data was collected through surveys and in-depth interviews on 220 manufacturing SMEs in the former Surakarta Residency, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Samples are manufacturing SMEs that produce clothing and batik sarongs, furniture and rattan crafts, metal/copper crafts, food and cake industries, leather shoes and bags industries, guitars makers, and herbal medicine industries. Descriptive analysis and qualitative content analysis are used to explain the use of social media by SMEs. The findings indicate that social media are utilised by SMEs to support their business objectives and activities, and have a positive impact on improving company performance both financially and non-financially, although the level of understanding of the benefits of social media use by SMEs is still low.

Keywords: small and medium enterprises; SMEs; social media; company performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2020.109556

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2020 Vol.35 No.1, pp.3 - 26

Accepted: 08 Jun 2019
Published online: 15 Sep 2020 *

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