Contra críticos y cosmopolitas

Wollan and Smith, 2011, had clarified the importance of having a human capital strategy for social media to effectively grip and benefit from it where it has to be structured around specifying talent needs, realizing sources of talent, and developing talent for ongoing high performance (Wollan and Smith, 2011). In addition, Hernandez and Grayson, 2012, pointed to the importance of having an internal marketing campaign that would help in selling the idea of social media with clear identification of how and why social media will be used to meet specific business goals (Hernandez and Grayson, 2012). Such campaign would help in decreasing the resistance of employees to using the social media. Lack of user acceptance has long been a barrier to the success and realization of new information systems (Davis, 1986). For example, one of the interviewees commented:

“…‎

increasing its use will increase as we will feel its effectiveness in terms of serving more number of customers…” (C6)

141 According to Chang, 2004, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use determine a‎ user‘s‎ attitudes‎ towards‎ usage‎ of‎ a‎ system‎ which‎ in‎ turn‎ determine‎ behavioral‎

intentions and leads to actual system use (Chang, 2004; Davis, 1986). And another interviewee clarified:

“…There is a challenge because the online social media marketing needs new ideas every short period of time....” (C4)

Another retailer stated:

“… We can say that marketing on the social media currently starts to pull the rug out from the TV and you'll see the day that we underestimate the marketing on the television period after period…” (C10)

Training and participation are two crucial organizational factors affecting acceptance of new technology where a properly designed training programs stimulate the end user acceptance of technology, creating feelings of involvement and participation in decisions (Salas and Cannon-Bowers, 2001).

With‎ this‎ evidence‎ in‎ hand,‎ the‎ inclusion‎ of‎ the‎ employees‘‎ technological readiness, measured‎by;‎employees‘‎resistance,‎perceived‎usefulness‎and‎perceived‎ease‎of‎use,‎

as part of the model was crucial in order to uncover the real salience of the human factor.

3.7.2.6 Incentives and Motivation

Paroutis and Al Saleh, 2009, found that employees who were actively participating and using Web 2.0 technologies were those who had identified and achieved encouraging outcomes from using them. On the other hand, those who were unconscious of the benefits, and/or perceived the costs of using these tools to be higher than the benefits

142 were reluctant to using them (Paroutis and Al Saleh, 2009). For example one of the retailers commented:

“… As using social media is seen as a desirable activity, it is really rewarded in our retailing organization…” (C9)

And another interviewee stated:

“…The Company provides all the necessary training for the staff, and there is an appropriate budget for each different marketing method…” (C10)

Outcome‎expectations‎indicate‎the‎expected‎consequences‎of‎one‘s own performance

(Hsu et al., 2007). The importance of outcome expectations in determining the appreciation of use of Web2.0 technologies is coherent with the value-expectancy theory which states that „„an individual‟s conduct is a function of the perceived probability, or expectancy, that his or her behavior will result in an appreciated outcome (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002).‖ Thus, employees would be keen about the adoption of

SMM if they see there is an adequate satisfactory relation between the efforts they exert to adopt SMM and the reward they expect to compensate for their efforts. Consistently, the satisfaction of employees would positively boost the role played by them to enhance the adoption of SMM.

The previous discussion implies that this construct needs to be investigated within the context of retailing organizations, hence the choice to include it in the model.

Adding to this, when respondents were asked about the degree of effectiveness of the online SMM, respondents were split based on their views. C1, C3, C4, C6, C7, C9, and C10 agreed that online SMM is effective as compared to other online marketing tools as e-mail marketing, display ads and search engine ads.

143 As one of the retailers expressed:

“…Internet marketing in general and social media marketing in specific are our important tools used to communicate with our customers, and since a long period, our clients wanted to trace on our page over the net their orders and find the different products that we offer with different classifications. When we found that customers are asking for this we made sure that there is a very effective page on the Internet. Where in most of the calls received by the call center, the customer leaves his opinion about our page and if there is something new. Also we found that Facebook is a very much important tool used by many of our customers…” (C6)

On‎the‎other‎hand,‎C2,‎C5,‎and‎C8‎reported‎that‎they‎don‘t‎see‎SMM‎as‎an‎effective‎

tool especially when compared to other marketing tools. For example, one of the interviewees commented:

“…Generally Internet marketing does not bring new customers or increase sales volume. We care about two things that are important to attract the buyer; first, we rely on the opening of branches in distinct places that are crowded. Secondly we publish offers in the form of advertisements in the newspaper. The performance of the product along with the reputation of the shop and the prices are what makes the buyer looking at us to purchase…” (C8)

When respondents were asked about how they view the future of online SMM, C1, C3, C4, C6, C7, C9, and C10 who have expressed the high effectiveness of online SMM have consistently expressed that its use will increase in the future and even its

144 effectiveness will increase in terms of serving more number of customers. As expressed by C1 and C6 respectively:

“…Today’s attention is to marketing via the social media and 50% to 60 % increase is expected in the near future because all smart phones have many applications that assist customers, and each company especially has a FACEBOOK page…” (C1)

“…As long as the benefits of using this tool are clarified, the probability of increasing its use will increase as we will feel its effectiveness in terms in serving more number of customers…” (C6)

Consistent with their opinion toward the ineffectiveness of the SMM, C5 and C8 stated that neither its use nor its effectiveness will increase in the future.