RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE EFFECT
OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A MARKET Tool
FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE
IN ETHIOPIA
A case study of Ethiopia’s social media marketing and the effect it has in the
marketing industry of the country
FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF MASTERS DEGREE FROM
ADMAS UNIVERSITY
BY SELAM ALEMU
(PROJECT MANAGEMET SECTION 3 –ID: PGMGP/7237/18)
NAME OF ADVISOR: KIBRET DESSALEGN (ASS.pro)
MARCH, 2019
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................4
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1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................5
1.1. Background of the study.......................................................................................................................5
1.2. Statement of the Problem....................................................................................................................6
1.3. Research objective, Research question and Hypothesis.......................................................................6
1.3.1. Research Objective............................................................................................................................6
1.3.1.1. General Objective...........................................................................................................................6
1.3.1.2. Specific Objective...........................................................................................................................6
1.3.2. Research Question.............................................................................................................................6
1.3.3. Research Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................7
1.4. Significance of the Study......................................................................................................................7
1.5. Scope of the Study................................................................................................................................7
1.6. Limitation of the Study.........................................................................................................................7
1.7. Organization of the study.....................................................................................................................7
Chapter Two................................................................................................................................................8
2. Review of related Literature....................................................................................................................8
2.1. Theoretical Literature Review...............................................................................................................8
2.2. Empirical Literature Review..................................................................................................................9
2.3. Conceptual Framework......................................................................................................................10
Chapter Three............................................................................................................................................11
3. Research Methodology..........................................................................................................................11
3.1. Description of the research................................................................................................................11
3.2. Research Design.................................................................................................................................11
3.3. Target population...............................................................................................................................11
3.4. Unit of analysis...................................................................................................................................11
3.5. Sample size and Sampling technique..................................................................................................12
3.6. Source and Type of Data.....................................................................................................................12
3.7. Method of data collection..................................................................................................................12
3.8. Method of data Analysis.....................................................................................................................12
3.8.1. Operational definition of variables..................................................................................................12
3.8.2. Model Specification.........................................................................................................................13
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3.8.3. Expected outcome of variables.......................................................................................................13
Chapter Four.............................................................................................................................................14
4. Time and Budget Schedule....................................................................................................................14
4.1. Time Schedule....................................................................................................................................14
4.2. Budget Schedule.................................................................................................................................15
Chapter Five..............................................................................................................................................16
5. Ethical Consideration.............................................................................................................................16
Table 1: Source and Type of Data...............................................................................................................12
Table 2: Expected outcome of variables.....................................................................................................13
Table 3 Time
Schedule ................................................................................................................................14
Table 4 : Budget Schedule...........................................................................................................................15
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Abstract
Social media is an online media, where users can easily participate, share and create any
content such as banner, posters, videos and advertisement. These days many companies use
social media as a tool to promote their product to make their customer aware about their
brand and sell their product but, not all companies succeed to market their product. The
purpose of this research is to find the correlation between social media communication
marketing in small and medium enterprises.
The research is explanatory and it will be using both qualitative and quantitative data types with
primary and secondary sources. The primary data will be collected through questionnaires and
interview and inferential data analysis will be used. In addition, this research wants to show
that marketing via social media can give impact to company’s revenue. The summary of this
research is to get significant information about the effect of social media toward small and
medium enterprises s through quantitative and explanative research method due to the rising
of social media.
Keywords: Social Media; Marketing Communication; Online Marketing; Brand Awareness .
1. Introduction
1.1. Background of the study
Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach Prospects
and customers. In a globalized world people are already interacting with brands through
social media, and are speaking directly to their audience through social platforms like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and Pinterest, Social media marketing(SMM), is
a form of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media
networks in order to achieve your marketing and branding goals.
Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos,
and other content that attract and allow audience engagement. Although the terms e-
marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing
is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media
platforms have built-in data analytics tools, which enable companies to track the
progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns.
Social media mar has seen explosive growth over the past decade, and there are very
good reasons to see why this has been the case. As the social media becomes ingrained
in our daily lives and routines, acceptance of social media marketing continues to grow,
and business companies are taking advantage of this.
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in a developing countries like Ethiopia social media marketing imposes the advantage of
communication and interaction with key audiences The bigger and more engaged an
audience is on social media networks, the easier it will be for companies to achieve
every marketing goal on their list.
Social media marketing in Ethiopia is rarely used. Some Ethiopian small and medium
enterprises have started using social media marketing as a marketing tool for selling and
advertising their Product/Service
1.2. Statement of the Problem
In Ethiopia Social Media and Social media marketing has rising in number to a great level
.in the past years and a number of business organization are practicing social media
marketing. However, enterprises in Ethiopia are not using Social media marketing
channel for sharing their service, product or status to the rest of the world.
This research will help to identify the current status of social media marketing in our
country and the impact of not having social media marketing which further can be used
in the future implementation and readiness of social media marketing in Ethiopia
1.3. Research objective, Research question and Hypothesis
1.3.1.Research Objective
1.3.1.1. General Objective
• To understand what social media marketing is and,
• To describe the importance of having social media marketing for small and
medium enterprises as a county.
1.3.1.2. Specific Objective
• To investigate the status of social media marketing in Ethiopia
• To determine the major type of social media’s used by Ethiopian business
companies;
• To discover the disadvantages and impact of not using the social media for small
and medium enterprises
• To identify the possible barriers of using social media marketing for small and
medium enterprises as a tool in Ethiopia
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• To investigate the readiness of small and medium enterprises to use social media
marketing in Ethiopia
1.3.2. Research Question
• What does social media marketing mean?
• What are the major benefits of social media marketing for small and medium
enterprises?
• What is the status of social media marketing in Ethiopia?
• What are the possible barriers of social media marketing in Ethiopia?
• What is the readiness for social media marketing in Ethiopia?
1.3.3.Research Hypothesis
• Ho there is no significant relationship between social media marketing and the
development of small and medium enterprises
• Ha there is a significant relationship between social media marketing and the
development of small and medium enterprises
1.4. Significance of the Study
Even though there are few companies started using social media marketing in
the country there is still no full implementation. This research will help business
entities to understand the current status of social media marketing awareness in
citizens and help to understand the impacts of not having widely used social
media as a tool in the country and it will also contribute to the implementation
of social media marketing in the future.
1.5. Scope of the Study
The study was limited to domestic/international small and medium enterprises within
Addis Ababa. Considering the time and cost the study was restricted to Addis Ababa
geographical area operating in their own.
1.6. Limitation of the Study
• Includes some Existing small and medium enterprises only
• Since social media marketing is dynamic in nature the research does not predict
when the enterprises will be ready to use social media as a marketing tool. But it
will be used as a reference of the current states of the country regarding the
application of social media marketing as a tool.
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1.7. Organization of the study
The research proposal is separated into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the study
by giving the background information on the research, objectives, research question,
research hypothesis and definition of key terms and concepts along with the
significance, the scope and limitations of the study. Chapter two consists of the review
of theoretical and Empirical literature review and conceptual framework. Chapter three
focused on research methodology and how the research will be conducted. The Chapter
four was contains the time and budget schedule for the research. Finally, chapter five
concerned with the ethical consideration in doing the research.
Chapter Two
2. Review of related Literature
2.1. Theoretical Literature Review
Social networking sites (SNSs) has become a tool since Internet become part of the day-to-day
lives of the of the world population, and in this environment in recent years, social Networking
site (SNSs) has. In 21century business development is counting on Social networking sites
(SNSs). social medias part of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) which focus on interaction for
people with similar interest which can be done by sending private message, webcam, posting
comment, group, community, forum or tweeting to inform them for their activities rather than
preferring face to face communication. Moreover, individual groups of people who specifically
relate with small communities or subdivisions can meet others and share information and
experiences (Bennett, Owers, & Tucker, 2010)
Social media marketing is different from other marketing in social media marketing if the
individual is influenced by the content of the advertisement immediately, he shares the
information in the social media, spreading like a virus. This content which spreads like a virus
very quickly from one individual to another, increases awareness about the products or services
even if does not impact the sales of the relative brand, product or services immediately (Dahan
2012).
System Theory, first proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1945 has been used for decades as
an analytical approach to understand how complex physical, biological, economic and social
systems operate. A system may be, typically defined as a set of several independent and
regularly interacting or interrelating units or subsystems that work together to accomplish a set
of pre-determined objectives. Business organizations and their behavior have often been
investigated using what is termed as ‘system’s approach’. The basic advantage of the system
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approach is that it encompasses many concepts of system theory such as inputs, outputs,
boundaries, feedback and control, etc. that are useful in understanding business situations.
2.2. Empirical Literature Review
Preparing this proposal document the researcher reviewed different articles and study reports
related to effect of social media marketing from different perspectives. The following criteria’s
are considered while selecting the studies as Empirical.
• Specific research questions to be answered
• Definition of the population, behavior, or phenomena being studied
• Description of the process used to study the population or phenomena, including
selection criteria, controls, and testing instruments (such as surveys)
• Introduction: sometimes called "literature review"
• Methodology: sometimes called "research design" how to recreate the study
• Results: sometimes called "findings" what was learned through the study
• Discussion: sometimes called "conclusion" or "implications" -- why the study is
important
The researcher took the following studies as Empirical because of the ideas and findings of the
research can be used by the researcher to recreate the study
The first article in the special issue by (HUSNAIN & TOOR, june 2017) the study investigated the
impact of social network marketing on consumer purchase intention and how it is affected by
the consumer engagement as a mediator variable. The results indicated that social network
marketing has significant relation to consumer purchase intention. It was further demonstrated
that consumer engagement acted as a partial mediator within the social network marketing to
impact consumer purchase intention. The study imply that marketers should respond to the
rising importance of social networking sites because of their powerful influence on consumer
purchase intention. This suggestion can be implemented by companies through the continuous
monitoring of consumer concerns by adjusting their online marketing strategies.
The second article by, (kumar, 2018) the study was to examine the level of consumer skepticism
towards the brand claims advertising and how it affected the consumer’s demographic profile.
The results showed that consumer’s gender and age have influence on consumer skepticism
towards the brand advertising on television. The male consumers tend to be more skeptical
than women on the other hand the education of consumer is positively correlated with
consumer’s skepticism towards advertising on TV. But it was not significantly correlated,
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consumers who graduated showed highest level of skepticism than other education categories.
Age has a positive and significant correlation with skepticism towards advertising on TV. the
consumer’s age increases consumer’s skepticism towards advertising on TV tends to increase
too. And lastly the timings of viewing advertisement on television have positive but not a
significant influence on consumer’s skepticism towards advertising on TV.
In the third article by, (Ali, Iqbal, & Iqbal, 2016) The main objective of the study was to analyze
the effects of social media on youth. How they use it in their daily lives and its impact on the
society through different angles like educational learning, entertainment, job opportunities,
health, communication, interaction, enhancing skills, and online shopping. The outcomes
showed that social media plays important role in learning and job opportunities. Teenagers
mostly use social media for communication with friends and families. Results also illustrates
that social media causes health problems and affect our cultures. While using social media,
users have to remember the cultural values, social norms, and Islamic values.
The fourth article by, (Devakirubai, 2018) . The study was confined to youngsters using social
media. It studied the behavior of the youngsters, their response to social media advertisement
and the impact of social media advertisement among youngsters. The objectives of the study
were to find out the attitude, perception and behavior of youngsters towards social media
advertisement and to find out the impact of social media advertisement on youngsters. The
youngsters spend most of their time in social media and majority of the respondents use it daily
through the time spent does not influence them to purchase product advertised. The
respondent‘s perception behavior and attitude are the same for both male and female
youngsters. The impact of advertisement is positive even though they do not purchase the
product they share and mention it in their social networking sites.
Thus, online networking showcasing positively affects the youthful personalities since People
are the transporter of data in web-based social networking promoting henceforth it is critical
for the organization to watch the reason for exchange of data starting with one individual then
onto the next. On the off chance that the advertisers make a positive effect in the youthful
personalities it will be helpful over the long haul of business. ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res.
7(4), 1485-1489 1487
2.3. Conceptual Framework
The theories and reviews in the above sections provided a useful theoretical foundation and
perspective on the technological and developmental aspects of . This Framework tells about
the detail of how social media marketing can affect the performance of small and medium
enterprises. It defines actually how social media marketing is directly related with the
development of business companies.
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Chapter Three
3. Research Methodology
3.1. Description of the research
The specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information
about the effect of social media marketing in the performance of the business entities in
Ethiopia is center of this research paper. While selecting the research methodology the overall
validity and reliability of the study are considered. In this research, the instruments and test and
re-test techniques will be used to validate and check the reliability of research.
3.2. Research Design
The research design is casual or explanatory research. The researcher proposes to use the
descriptive survey design to gather data relating to the effects in the presence of social media
marketing in the overall small and medium enterprises of the country. A descriptive survey aims
at describing the level of understanding of what impacts can bring in using social media as a
marketing tool a population and thereby establishing the facts (percentages and frequencies ).
3.3. Target population
Target population is Addis Ababa, (worldpopulationreview.com website, 2018) explain, total
population of 3,384,569 according to the 2007 census. However, it is believed that this number was
inaccurate when recorded and underestimated the city’s population. The city has through recent years
seen a strong annual growth rate, and population counts as of 2017 are growing closer to 4 million.
3.4. Unit of analysis
It is the main entity that a researcher analyzes in his/her study. The individuals or objects whose
characteristics will be measured are classified as the units of analysis. For this particular research
the unit of analysis includes individual persons- citizens, or small enterprise offices, medium
enterprise offices and government businesses entities.
3.5. Sample size and Sampling technique
A total of 100 small and medium enterprises will be taken from private and government business
entities, citizen and responsible government offices during the study. The study proposes to use
probability and non-probability sampling techniques interchangeably depending on the participant
of the questioner during the study.
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3.6. Source and Type of Data
In doing the research I will be using qualitative and quantitative data types, and the data will be
gathered from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are listed in the following table.
Participants Roles
Small and medium enterprises Will provide information regarding the policy,
guideline, rules and the technology readiness as
well as the impacts it had in the market.
Private technology providers Will provide the information of technology
readiness as well as barriers and impacts of not
having social media marketing in the small and
medium enterprise.
Table 1: Source and Type of Data
3.7. Method of data collection
As specified in the previous subsection both primary and secondary data sources will be used for
the study. The primary data will be collected through questionnaires and interview by setting up
open and close ended questions to the primary sources specified in section 3.6.
3.8. Method of data Analysis
3.8.1. Operational definition of variables
In this research we have two variables, Dependent and Independent. The dependent variable is the
‘the performance growth of small and medium enterprise’ while the independent variable is ‘the
effect of social media marketing’.
3.8.2. Model Specification
In this section the research will identify which dependent and independent variables to include.
In the previous sub section, the dependent and independent variables are defined. So the
following formula (linear regression model) represents the model specification of the research.
Since nature of the dependent variable is continuous and number of sample groups is greater
or equal to three, analysis of variance/ANOVA test will be used.
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Y=β0+β1X1+β2X2+ε1
Where Eε=0. Or equivalently E(Y) =β0+β1X1+β2X2 where β0, β1, β2 are called regression
coefficient β0 is called intercept β1 is called coefficient of X1; β2 is called coefficient of X.
3.8.3. Expected outcome of variables
The following table will be used to analyses the expected outcome of variables, but it will be
updated after further study on the topic.
Serial number variables Variable measurement Expected outcome
Table 2: Expected outcome of variables
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Chapter Four
4. Time and Budget Schedule
4.1. Time Schedule
The duration of the works is presented in the following table, the start and end date will
be updated after the approval of the proposal.
Task Duration Start End date Deliverable
(in days) date
Proposal approval To Be To Be Approved Proposal
5 Defined Defined
Revised thesis and working outline 10 To Be To Be Revised thesis and
Defined Defined workout line
Literature review 7 To Be To Be Reviewed literatures
Defined Defined
Preparation and \approval of 5 To Be To Be Approved questioner
questioner Defined Defined
Primary Data collection 10 To Be To Be Collected primarily data
Defined Defined
Secondary data collection 5 To Be To Be Collected secondary data
Defined Defined
Data analysis 13 To Be To Be Analyzed primary and
Defined Defined secondary data
Draft thesis report writing 10 To Be To Be Draft research result
Defined Defined
Incorporating comments from advisor 10 To Be To Be Revised final research
Defined Defined result
Submission final report 5 To Be To Be Submitted research paper
Defined Defined
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Total number of days 80
Table 3 Time Schedule
4.2. Budget Schedule
Chapter Five
5. Ethical Consideration
This study will take into consideration appropriate research Ethics during the process of doing the
research. The respondent has the obligation to provide truthful information and has the right to
his/her privacy, the right not to be deceived and the right to be informed about all aspects of the
research. The researcher has the obligation to explain the purpose of the research clearly and keep
its objectivity as well he/she should protect the right and confidentiality of the subject and Client,
and analyze the data honestly.
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