Business process innovation in the digital economy: Social media implementation in the Thai SME sector

Social media has been used broadly by numerous people internationally. Using social media for business purposes is increasingly attractive for several organisations, particularly in Thailand, to search for and extend business and marketing opportunities. However, the explanation of adopting and implementing social media is neglected.
This research aims to understand the innovation-decision process (IDP) in Thailand's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the digital economy. The researcher uses social media as one of the digital innovations to review and extend Rogers’ model (IDP) (2003), providing another dimension of understanding and knowledge. Rogers explained the tool as an innovation in his study and how to use it. In contrast, this thesis describes how to use social media for business purposes, i.e., publishing and boosting posts and learning how to generate engaging content for the target audience.

This study aims to provide additional evidence of knowledge and understanding of social media adoption and implementation. This researcher provides extra insights of the innovation-decision process that may help academics and practitioners understand the degree of the decision-making process regarding full or partial adoption when they intend to adopt and apply social media in their organisations. The literature review presents previous ideas and knowledge that firms have used for their businesses. The research applies theoretical and practical knowledge to explain social media adoption and implementation in SMEs and their management in a digital economy environment. Moreover, it is interesting to apply single and cross-case studies from two different industries. The researcher uses semi-structured interviews to gather genuine and various information from the interviewees. This aims to answer two research questions related to social media adoption and implementation; (RQ1) How do creative and logistics companies adopt and implement social media? and (RQ2): What are the problems or difficulties of implementing social media?

The research findings show that social media can be helpful for business purposes if it is implemented effectively and used correctly. The key points are creating interesting content to attract social media users and selecting the right targets. Social media is low-risk and affordable, but it is different and more complicated than other innovations that require more time to understand, learn and practice. The implementers should understand how social media works as well as how to reduce the uncertainty of outcomes. This can help companies grow rapidly by increasing the number of followers and engagements from social media users globally. Adopters may change their decisions that have already been made after the implementation stage because it may be difficult to solve social media problems and uncertain results. This is based on relevant factors that affect the degree of adoption.