Investigating Social Media Marketing Adoption among Homestay Operators in Malaysia

Abstract

The widespread use of social media has revolutionized communication, connectivity quality, and information consumption, making it an indispensable element in human daily lives. As such, social media marketing has emerged as a crucial tool for businesses to promote their products and services. In the case of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, however, found that the adoption of social media marketing remains low, particularly among homestay operators. This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence homestay operators in Malaysia to adopt social media as a marketing medium. By employing a cross-sectional research design, a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect responses from a total of 208 homestay operators in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, and Johor. The results generated by the Structural Equation Modeling revealed that customer pressure and preference, as well as competitive pressure, have a significant impact on social media marketing adoption compared to perceived cost and digital skills. Significantly, this study provides valuable insights to the authorities to understand more about social media marketing adoption among homestay operators in Malaysia so that effective strategies can be highlighted to encourage SMEs in Malaysia to fully utilize new technology for business purposes. Overall, SMEs need to employ new technologies, specifically social media marketing for business growth as it provides extensive and effective connectivity at low cost.