Abstract:
Social media platforms are evolving rapidly as alternative options for effective
communication in businesses. With communication being the force behind the evolution of
knowledge management systems in organisations, the literature highlighting the potential
of social media to transform the knowledge management systems has risen exponentially.
However, in the small, medium, and micro enterprise context, social media is used
informally in the knowledge management processes, resulting in a high failure rate by
knowledge management systems to achieve their intended outcomes. This study draws
from that observation and proposes a theoretical model for evaluating the effectiveness of
social media on the knowledge management systems of the small, medium, and micro
enterprises in South Africa.
The model was developed using the diffusion of innovation theory to explore social media
characteristics that influence the overall quality of the knowledge management system;
uses and gratifications theory to explore the determinants of using social media to
influence the quality of the knowledge derived in the system; unified theory of acceptance
and use of technology version 2 to explore the support activities that influence the quality of the service provided by the knowledge management system in the small, medium, and
micro enterprises; and the knowledge management system success model to explore the
factors that influence successful adoption of knowledge menagemnt systems in the small,
medium, and micro enterprises of South Africa.
An explanatory sequential mixed-method approach was conducted within small, medium,
and micro enterprises that operate in the information and communication technology
industry, advanced manufacturing industry, and smart industries, located in Gauteng, South Africa to explore the concepts of the developed model. The quantitative research approach
was first conducted in phase one of the study using a web-based survey questionnaire of
227 small, medium, and micro enterprise owners and managers selected at random.
Subsequently, a qualitative study was then conducted using semi-structured interviews of
13 small, medium, and micro enterprise owners and managers selected purposively using
the maximum variance purposive sampling technique to explain the findings of the
quantitative approach.
The findings of the study revealed that compatibility and relative advantage are the two
social media characterestics which positively influence the quality of the knowledge
management system; coordination and immediate access are the two determinants of using
social media which positively influence the quality of the knowledge derived in the
knowledge management system; facilitating conditions provide the necessary support
activities by small, medium, and micro enterprises to positively influence the quality of
service of the knowledge management system; and the system quality and service quality are the two knowledge management system success factors which positively influence
user’s intention to continue using social media to support the knowledge management
system, with user’s intention to use for social media highly influencing the net benefits of
the knowledge management system of small, medium and micro enterprises in South
Africa. The results also revealed that knowledge quality is also a success factor with a
positive influence on user satisfaction of the use of social media to support the knowledge
management system. However, there was not enough evidence to suggest that user
satisfaction has an influence on the net benefits of the knowledge management system.
The developed model serves as guidance to small, medium, and micro enterprise owners
and managers when implementing social media to support their knowledge management
systems. The model also highlights important relationships to be considers by academics
when developing social media and knowledge management adoption models for small,
medium, and micro enterprise.
