Social Networks, Social Media and Absorptive Capacity in Regional Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) in Australia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v23i1.649Keywords:
social media, social networks, regional enterprises, knowledge acquisition, capacityAbstract
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are major sources of prosperity and employment and are viewed as critical to regional development in Australia. A key factor to foster productivity and growth in SMEs is their ability to identify, acquire, transform and exploit external knowledge. This ability, referred to as the ‘absorptive capacity (AC)’ of a firm, depends on formal and informal processes of socialisation by developing relevant and extensive informal networks (also referred to as social networks). This research explores how Australian SMEs in regional areas harness their Social Networks (SNs) and Social Media to acquire external knowledge towards innovation. A qualitative case study research approach is followed to collect data from 12 SMEs in regional South Australia using interviews as the key data collection instrument. Findings suggest that although SMEs draw on informal and formal SNs to acquire new knowledge, 1) this process is intuitive and SMEs should be made more aware of the value of these networks, 2) the use of Social Media to support social networking activities to acquire new knowledge is scant and 3) SMEs require more educational support to enhance their knowledge of the value of SNs and social media in acquiring new knowledge towards innovation.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2013 Rachelle Bosua, Nina Evans, Janet Sawyer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Australian and Internation Journal of Rural Education agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that you indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to The Australian and Internation Journal of Rural Education.
Manuscripts submitted for publication should not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. It is the responsibility of authors to secure release of any copyright materials included in their manuscripts, and to provide written evidence of this to the editors.
Papers are accepted on the understanding that they are subject to editorial revision. The Editorial Committee cannot guarantee that all contributions will be published nor give definite dates of publication. However, contributors will be advised if their papers are not accepted or if there will be a long publication delay.
