Title: Business networks, social media and SMEs export propensity

Authors: George Saridakis; Bochra Idris; Jared M. Hansen

Addresses: Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and International Business, Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2-7NZ, UK ' Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship Department, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, B4-7ET, UK ' Marketing and Strategy Department, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, Utah State University, 3535 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-3535, USA

Abstract: Business networks can result in important benefits for entrepreneurs. However, the differentiated benefits of participating in: a) traditional business networks versus; b) social media business networks versus; c) their joint usage on the internationalisation of entrepreneurial ventures has not been examined. In this research, we empirically examine the different network effects using 11,717 telephone interviews of SME owners/entrepreneurs in England and Wales from the UK Small Business Survey. Our results show that while both traditional business networks and social media business networks are each associated with increased SMEs exporting likelihood over the group that does not participate in any business networks, the group of SMEs who use both types of networks simultaneously has an even greater probability of exporting. Also, when differentiating between companies according to their size, the results in the micro and small companies' sub-samples show that traditional business networks have weaker effect on the probability of exporting but engaging in both types of networks has a much stronger effect on it.

Keywords: small and medium enterprises; SMEs; traditional business network; social media business network; internationalisation; export propensity; micro business; resource-based view; RBV.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2024.136945

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2024 Vol.51 No.4, pp.542 - 571

Received: 22 Aug 2020
Accepted: 11 Jul 2021
Published online: 01 Mar 2024 *

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