Factors affecting the adoption of social media as a marketing tool: A case study of Turkish small and medium-sized enterprises operating in textile manufacturing sector

Within the previous years, Social media has been growing as crucial source of competitive advantage for most business organizations, especially small and medium-sized businesses (SME). Recently, researchers have been widely focusing on social media adoption in developed and developing countries. This study studies and analyzes the factors that influence the adoption of social media in Turkish textile manufacturing SMEs. Inspired by the technology acceptance model as well as other relevant researches in the same area, five factors that influence the adoption of social media in Turkey were classified as follows: Manager's innovativeness , perceived benefits, perceived ease of use, pressure from customers and competition. In order to validate the conceptual model, a number of 208 questionnaires (which were sent by emails) were collected from managers/owners of SMEs operating in textile manufacturing sector in Turkey. The obtained data was analyzed in SPSS and AMOS using the multiple regression method. The analyzed data findings showed that there was a significant positive relationship between the previously mentioned factors and the adoption of social media. Of all the five significant factors, Pressure from Customers has proven to have the greatest influence followed by Competition, Perceived Benefits, Manager's Innovativeness and Perceived Ease of Use. The findings of this research can help managers and businesses improve their customers' loyalty and satisfaction and gain competitive advantage by understanding the needs and expectations of their customers. Keywords: Adoption of Social media, SMEs.