The impact of social media marketing for Indonesian SMEs sustainability: Lesson from Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed the government to provide a mass restriction policy, and businesses respond to this issue by adopting technology and social media marketing. This study aims at highlighting the determinant factors affecting technology adoption, social media marketing, and business sustainability. The study involved a quantitative approach with partial least squares structural equation modeling to obtain a deep understanding of this phenomenon. The research was incorporated with small and businesses in East Java Provincial in Indonesia employing an online questionnaire. The findings show that the adoption of internet/e-business technology can be explained by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and cost. Furthermore, it has a link between internet/e-business technology, social media marketing, and SMEs’ sustainability. However, the cost variable failed in demonstrating the implementation of social media marketing by SMEs. This work strongly suggests that the adoption of internet/e-business technology and social media marketing successfully explains the mediating role between variables. Despite this work solely conducted in East Java, this research is the initial phase in a study associated with SMEs’ sustainability in the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia.