The impact of social media on the business performance of small firms in China

ABSTRACT

In the present research, the researchers conducted an empirical study on the impact of information from social media on the business performance of small enterprises in China. Findings indicate that the information regarding government and industry policies has a significant impact on business performance. In addition, gender and education of entrepreneurs have moderating effects on the impact of information to business performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• information sharing
• business performance
• small firms
• transition economies

Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to the reviewers and editor for the constructive feedback in our revision process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Xiaoqing Li is currently a Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Illinois at Springfield (USA). He earned his PhD in Information Systems from McMaster University (Canada). His current research interests include social networking systems, technology acceptance and adoption, intelligent agent systems, and knowledge management.

Xiaogang He earned his PhD from SUN YAT-SEN University-Guangzhou in 2004. His areas of specialization include strategy management, entrepreneurship and corporate governance. He is currently a Professor of the College of Business at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Yifeng Zhang is an associate professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He received his PhD degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His current research interests include social media, influencer marketing, and agent-based modeling.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [grant number NSFC-71672105], Program for Innovative Research Team of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (IRTSHUFE) [grant number 2016110394], and the Faculty Development Fund from the University of Illinois at Springfield.