Selección de la Bomba

Saudi Arabia has the biggest economy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (Capitas Group

in Arab World in GDP with USD 753 billion, backed by oil-based economy accounting for

around 20 percent of global reserves".

Global Media Insight (2018) revealed that social media plays a significant role in the Saudi

Arabian society. And with its rapid expanding use, social media became a powerful force for

social change. Furthermore, the Saudi Government has also been using social media efficiently

to interact with the public and to measure the society`s consciousness. The social media

penetration rate in Saudi Arabia as of 2017 according to Statista (2017) is as follows: WhatsApp

is the most popular social network with 71% penetration rate. Followed by YouTube with 71%,

Facebook with 66%, Instagram with 54% twitter with 52%, snapchat with 39%, google + with

32%, LinkedIn 24% and Pinterest with 16%. Saudi Arabia has the biggest number of Snapchat

users in the middles East according to Radcliffe and Lam (2018) “The app is especially popular

in Saudi Arabia with anywhere between 7 million30 and 8.2 million daily users meaning that

about 21% to 25% of the Saudi population use it each day”. The authors revealed that Saudi

Arabia is largest market for YouTube internationally as it has “The highest YouTube watch

time per capita of any country in the world”. Moreover, it tops the MENA region in using

Twitter.

According to Hootsuite (2017), the total number of the population in Saudi Arabia is 32.45

million. The number of internet users is 22.29 million which means 70% penetration rate. The

number of active social media users is 19 million with 59% penetration while the number of

active mobile social users is 16 million with 49% penetration. Statista (2017) revealed that there

is an increasing use of social media and technology in the country generally due to the low

average age of the population, of which 50% are under the age of 27 (Index mundi, 2018).

The definition of SMEs defers between different official organisations within Saudi Arabia.

medium size enterprise is the one with 21 to 100 employees". On the other hand, for the Saudi

Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), a small enterprise is the one with less than 60

employees while a medium size firm is the one with less than 100 employees.

According to Namankani et al. (2014), SMEs constitute about 95% of the entire number of

enterprises in Saudi Arabia. Outski (2002) stated that they account for 14% of the overall

business productivity. The author states that SMEs contribute about 8% to the total percentage

of goods exportation and they are considered the most prominent sector in the Kingdom. The

oil sector is responsible for 61% of GDP in Saudi Arabia (SME Advisor Arabia, 2015) whereas

SMEs account for only 20% of GDP according to the Small and Medium Enterprises General

Authority in Saudi Arabia (2018). Also, SMEs account for 25% of total employment in the

country; this low contribution is the opposite of the majority of developed nations (Capitas

Group International, 2014). Flow 21 (2010) revealed that Saudi Arabian enterprises have gone

through remarkable growth during the last years, specifically the micro-small enterprises. They

indicate that this sector represents 45.5% of total enterprises at the end of 2009, while small

firms constitute 42%. These data show that the majority of enterprises in Saudi Arabia belong

to the SMEs sector based on the number of employees.

Supporting SMEs in Saudi Arabia can solve some economic and social problems (SME

Advisor Arabia, 2015) as SMEs hold opportunities such as employment creation,

diversification of national income sources, reducing poverty rate and contributing to the

development of local skills and technology. Namankani et al. (2014) pointed out that even

though internet penetration in SMEs rose from 66% in 2007 to 81% in 2009 and the internet

prices are affordable, yet the use of social media is not advanced in Saudi companies. The

media to businesses as well as the absence of systematic guidance on how to use these

affordable solutions in the market.

According to Shalaby (2004), some of the significant issues Saudi Arabian SMEs face include

the lack of one unified definition to SMEs, the shortage of skilled labour in marketing and

technology, the lack of fund, the lack of information as well as the lack of policy and

regulations. According to a study conducted by Al-Hudhaif and Alkubeyyer (2011) aiming at

assessing e-commerce adoption factors in Saudi Arabia, the investigation revealed that among

the top 92 Saudi companies questioned, only 6.5 % of companies are non-adopters, 42.4% are

initial adopters whereas 51.1% are institutional adopters. The study also identified some

dimensions that affect the adoption of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia; these dimensions include

organisation, environment, innovation, and management. The same survey also revealed that

the environmental aspects would affect the early adoption of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia more

than the other factors. Al-Somali et al. (2011) explained that it is agreed that theories and

organisational practices created in developed countries must be re-tested before applied in

developing countries, as they might not be suitable in a different cultural and economic

background. The authors also pointed out that the main problems related to e-commerce

adoption in developing countries include slow Internet speeds, the high cost of Internet service

providers and the poor infrastructure; while in developed countries the problems include

privacy and taxes. The authors mentioned that cultural differences and the approach towards

(ICT) as well as the economic state of a country can influence the implementation of e-

commerce.

After exploring the impact, value and obstacles of using social media in SMEs as well as

section will review the relevant technology adoption theories and existing social media

adoption models.