A literature review on the impact of social media platforms on small and medium enterprise (SMEs) development

Abstract

The paper accesses the impact of social media platforms (networks) on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The contribution of SMEs to the development of many developed and developing countries cannot be overemphasized in job creation and its significance to the contribution to their Gross Domestic Products (GDPs). Social media has taken dominance in the world and has subsequently introduced a new paradigm in the operations of businesses. The introduction of Smartphone has significantly informed the decisions by SMEs to deploy social media platforms (networks) for their operations. Despite growing interest in this area of research, knowledge gaps still exist, providing opportunities for further research to be conducted. A qualitative approach has been adopted in this research as a methodology, specifically, document analysis. The database of SCOPUS, WoS, and Google Scholar was the source of generating scientific papers via keywords search. The theoretical implication of this paper would add to the existing body of knowledge and contribute to filling the existing research gap in this research area. The results provided by this paper would help SME practitioners to obtain adequate information on the various social media platforms available for them to adopt, and how those platforms can contribute to their success. The study provides the basis for further research since it is purely a literature review. © 2020 Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All rights reserved.