The impact of social media adoption on innovative SMEs’ performance

ABSTRACT This paper empirically investigates Social Media adoption as a driver of firms’ performance. Specifically, we focus on the relationship between the embracing of Twitter and Italian Innovative Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) profitability over 2011–19. Although Twitter is perceived as a low-cost and effective communication channel, the main results show that Innovative SMEs adopting Social Media appear to have lower profitability than those without social network implementation. An interpretation of this evidence can rely on the difficulty of innovative SMEs in overcoming barriers to Twitter adoption related to the human capital required to maintain relationships with the online community of consumers in the Italian context.