IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSTRUCTION SMEs BUSINESSES IN ABUJA

ABSTRACT

Since the advent of social media in the early 2000s, its influence on the day to day life of people has impacted the way they conduct businesses. The construction industry is not widely perceived as innovative and collaborative as many other industries. The global construction industry is trying so much to change the perception with several short- and long-term strategies. Over the last few years, social media has changed the face of our personal interactions, with an unprecedented rate of adoption that outpaces previous innovations. Social media tools are intuitive to use and allow people to share information, collaborate, discuss common interests and build business relationships. Social media has influenced the corporate and business world as well, today there is an increase in the number of construction businesses joining the social media platforms. They are spending considerable amount of their time, energy and money to build and maintain their social media public pages to improve their standing in both local and global business space. This phenomenon is a relatively new invention to the global business environment, hence the limitation to the studies conducted in this area, majority of them are based on individual’ perspective. This research study focuses on the positive impact of social media on construction industry businesses and its influence on promoting better marketing platform and business relationships. Using both the quantitative and qualitative means, this research study strives to find out how social media has or can further benefit construction product and services organization in optimizing their overall performance through the appropriate usage of this internet phenomenon. However, this research study focuses only on the positive aspects of social media and it’s in depth reach with the customers, suppliers, manufacturers and competitors. This research assesses how social media has been beneficial to the sale and promotion of construction materials, product and services of some organization in the Regional building material market Dei Dei Abuja FCT. Through the questionnaires and semi structured interviews conducted with various respondents in the construction or building material organization we find out how social media has been utilized to foster better business development and establish business relationships with customers and suppliers of construction materials such as doors, tiles, roofing sheets, Laminate sheets for wood work, plumbing materials, paints, Plaster of Paris  materials,  machines,  building technology equipment  etc. The results  obtained through this study show that social media has been able to positively impact the construction organizations in improving their visibility, enhanced customer service, better relationships within the industry and have above all, improved the organizations’ communication with the global construction businesses.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The construction industry is a major and important contributor to Nigeria’s economic growth. It plays an undisputed prominent role as a large employer of people; and also contributes 4.08 per cent in absolute value to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2020 (National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2020). The sector provides an abundance of economic opportunities for SMEs to grow; with abundant business benefits for consumers. SMEs are perceived to be the mainstay of the economy of each country. As a result, governments across the globe are making numerous innovation efforts to enhance the effectiveness of SMEs in order for them to be able to participate more effectively and take advantage of the new business prospects.

However, the world of construction is growing rapidly on a daily basis and competition is becoming more intense. The needs and demands of construction clients are also becoming more sophisticated (Yeshwanth, 2017). As a result, the entire construction industry is under increasing pressure to provide a range of services that are innovative in nature and add value. This pressure is due to the responsibility placed on owners of organizations to map out survival strategies for their businesses in a rapidly changing and hyper-competitive construction business environment (Oyewobi, 2014).

Owning to this, organizations, most especially the SMEs operating within the construction industry have begun to innovate to continuously adapt to the complex and changing business environment (Asad et al.). This is because innovation is considered to be a veritable instrument for improving the competitiveness of organizations by implementing innovative ideas that can reduce the cost of doing business and ensure the continued existence of the organisation. Innovation and creative ideas are generally recognized as a prerequisite for any competitive advantage. In fact, innovation will not benefits individuals, organization but a society at large and is closely linked to any country’s economic growth (Seaden et al, 2003). In addition, innovation contributes to the growth or effective launch of new products or services by bringing changes to organizations through the productive use of novel concepts (Dodgson et al., 2002; Gann, 2004).

However, most companies have since taken the social media as a way of keeping up with developments in the market climate and targeting future customers. A huge pool of customers interacts with the social media. Hsu (2012) viewed social media as a customer information  repository and  serves  as  a platform  for disseminating market  presence information. Today, social media platforms rapidly shift the way company and public relations interact. The focus of these current internet channels has been changed from being consumer-based, to being engaging and relational, thus creating new avenues for engagement between organizations and the public (Henderson & Bowley, 2010). Social media through technological advancement enables individuals to compete better in the market and specifically use social media for managing business operations. In social media, information generated by users will be shared through reviews in real time and customer communities to help business processes (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). It thus assists businesses and customers in manufacturing products together (Parise and Guinan, 2008). The findings of Bernoff and Li (2008) suggested that businesses employ social media technology in every industry sector, including sales and marketing, customer support, and business development, as well as R&D, and business innovation. Organizations that do not engage in social media and ignore the social media opinions of consumers would be at high risk (Evans, 2008; Sin et al., 2012). In addition, efficient networking is an important part of success for every company (Kelley, 2010). In fact, it has been recognised that social media is an essential tool for businesses (Trainor et al., 2014). In spite of these benefits, there is no evidence that construction SMEs particularly building materials merchants have fully tapped into this opportunity to remain competitively relevant in the turbulent environment where they operate. To this end, this study examines the influence of social media usage in improving SMEs’ businesses.

1.2       Statement of Research Problem

Despite improved social media adoption by many organisations, strategic management as well as IT researchers and business managers are still finding it difficult to appreciate the impacts of these new applications in enhancing organizational business processes. However, few studies have shown that the benefit of embracing social media in organizations outweighs an objective understanding of their usage and why they can change specific processes of the organization (Ogaro, 2014). The use of social networking is gaining more attention, and the way people exchange information around the world is being affected. The influence of social networks on businesses is therefore more and more prevalent, ranging from the economy, marketing to the social, and education (Pookulangara & Koesler 2011).

Social media is now a marketing tool. However, there is still a lack of assessment on how an investment in social media will be of benefits to organisations that adopts it. Different studies have examined the use of social networks adoptions by organisations and found that there were many advantages (AlSharji et al., 2018). While previous studies have shown how social media influences businesses most especially hospitality business (Tajvidi, & Karami, 2017), the impact of using social media on the results of SMEs in the construction industry is limited in empirical research.

Almost a few of the latest research focused on the way SMEs use social media platforms, considering its growing importance and potential value for SMEs (Durkin et al., 2013). However, only a few researchers have analysed the implementation of social media to enhance corporate operations and its effect on company competitive advantage in general (Ainin et al., 2015). Few research efforts have examined and provided little information concerning the potential barriers or obstacles as well as drivers to the adoption of social media by SMEs in many sectors (Fatairy, 2013; Jandal, 2013; Al-badi, 2014) yet nothing is understood about its impact on the performance of construction SMEs particularly in the Nigeria.  Durkin et al. (2013) found that SMEs can benefit in particular from the use of alternative management instruments such as social media because of a lack of resources for conventional forms of management. This supported by Trainor et al. (2014) who posited that social media enhance capabilities of SMEs to improve their performance. Despite the enormous benefits of social media for businesses, there are no any known empirical  studies  that  have  examined  how  Social  Media  adoption  can  affect  the performance of SMEs in construction. This study intends to bridge this gap in literature by focusing on building materials merchants use of social media and how usage of social media can be valuable for their sustained performance.

1.3 Research Questions

In order to achieve this, the following research questions would be answered by this study.

1.   What tools are currently being used by the organizations that employs social media to promote business?

2.   What effect does social media have on business-to-to-business (B2B) relationships?

3.   What are the determinants of social media usage in organizations?

4.   What is the impact of social media usage on organizations performance?

5.   To develop a model for enhancing the adoption of social media model to improve organizational performance.

1.4       Aim and Objectives

The research aimed at examining the impact of social media on the construction SMEs performance with a view to develop a model for improving construction businesses. Research Objectives

The following research objectives have been identified:

1.   To identify the most widely used social media tool in the Nigerian construction industry.

2.   To examine how social media usage enhances business to business (B2B) relationships

3.   To identify and examine the factors influencing the usage of social media by organizations

4.   To assess the impact of social media usage on organizations performance.

5.   To develop a model for enhancing organisational performance through the usage of social media.

1.5       Justification of the Study

Since social media has come to be a very close associate with the wider public, it’s now often widely used as an effective instrument for individual customer contact. Many organizations make use of the established order of social media to increase and improve their business position in the industry. Despite of the quantum of studies on social media implementation in organisations, it has not been able to fully assess its overall effect on companies and how businesses use social media to achieve their business goals. Most of the research conducted focused on social media’s benefits, barriers and responsibilities to organisations without discussing their specific influence on organisations. As a result, this study adds to the existing literature on the point to which construction SMEs use social media and its impact on overall company objectives.

The study sought to explain how social media has motivated and modified consumers in terms of their desires and preferences about their goods and services. This study will allow stakeholders and organizations to better exploit and improve awareness of their dynamics and to better mitigate the challenges they are confronted with in the turbulent business environment. This allows company managers greatly to consider the real difference between the involvement of the social media and the business organisation. The study allows managers to recognize that this will go a long way in growing the business experience and client base by offering adequate support from leadership and clarity of vision with low investment and assured long term returns. The data obtained from this study can also be used and used by future researchers to examine more problems in the social media and in contemporary entrepreneurship and in society as a whole, and such work acts as a guide for both academics and practitioners.

1.6 Scope of Study The study is centred on the effect of social media on construction SMEs businesses with a focus on construction materials merchant in Dei Dei regional market in Abuja. This is category of businesses were selected because many of the organizations have embraced and incorporated the usage social media into their business to enhance visibility and patronage of prospective customers by setting up a social a contact point on internet for its customers and stakeholders. The research focused on the way businesses use social networks help in growing their businesses, their benefits and their implications for consumers and stakeholders. The researcher focuses on the effects of social media in the construction market circle, as well as its positive effects on overall organizational performance.

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