Research Article: 2019 Vol: 18 Issue: 5
Hairul Faiezi Lokman, National University of Malaysia
Fariza Khalid, National University of Malaysia
Nurfaradilla Mohamad Nasri, National University of Malaysia
Social media is a 2.0 Web application based on an internet medium that allows people to communicate virtually. In the ever-increasing globalization environment, the field of management is simultaneously using the social media medium as a strategic step to aid and enhance the organization's success. This study is a meta-synthesis study to see the effectiveness of using social media in management. A total of 10 articles in 2018 were selected in this study. The findings are outlined through themes derived from the synthesis of selected article readings. The findings show that social media has aided the process of marketing management, delivery of information and enhancing the relationship between management organizations and customers. In addition to that, social media has also increased the popularity and boosted the sales performance for an organization.
Organization Management, Social Media, Strategic.
The use of today's borderless information technology is very essential in all matters, especially on the strategic scope of work and day-to-day management (Aggelidis & Chatzoglou, 2009). Technology is becoming increasingly substantial by providing amenity and access in a variety of areas, especially in terms of day-to-day working management by providing many benefits (Ali et al., 2016). The use of this medium of information technology is not a complement but it is a requirement to commence work management within an organization (Hollebeek et al., 2014).
In this new millennium, work management requires technology-based tools such as computers and unlimited internet access (Hincapie et al., 2014). Any information, data, reporting and more scope on the job will become easier with the use of information technology (Hoque et al., 2016). The use of this information-based technology as well as simplifying the process and travel of an organization in many cases.
This is due to the strategic management organizations today that have been using social media applications as a medium that can help to improve efficiency and quality. Social media apps used such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Geissinger & Laurell, 2018). This study will look at some previous studies to see the effectiveness of the use of social media in the field of management.
The Purpose And Objective Of The Research
This study is designed to look at some researches that have been done on the use of information technology in management. The objective of the study was to identify the effectiveness of the use of this information technology in the management world.
This study is a systematic meta synthesis study that is arranging a number of previous studies on an issue and in this study the selected issues are about the use of information technology in management. A search engine that is only used in this study is called Scopus. Keywords used to find some of the past studies are - information technology in management. The scope of the publication year is focused on the current year's writing of this article in 2018. Limitation is also done by finding subject areas of management and administration. Only journal status articles are selected in this study. After being seep through, several selected journals were used as research findings.
The selected article will then be analyzed to codify the codes and keywords before the theme is formed. The findings are derived from the keyword of the study, the findings of the study and the overall discussion of the study. After the codes are listed, then the themes are derived for this meta-synthesis study.
The findings were split into two parts, namely the Selection of Journal Articles and the Meta Synthesis Theme.
Selection of Journal Articles
After permeating an article search, there were 26 articles obtained on the search webpage. However, after evaluating only 10 articles that are significant to the question and objective of the study are selected. The ten articles are attached in Table 1 on the side.
| Table 1: Selection Of Journal Articles | |||
| No | Author | Title of the Article | Date of the Published Journal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Garrido-Moreno, A., García-Morales, V.J., Lockett, N., & King, S | The Missing Link: Creating Value With Social Media Use In Hotels. | International Journal of Hospitality Management, 75, 94-104. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.03.008 |
| 2. | Holsapple, C.W., Hsiao, S.H., & Pakath, R. | Business social media analytics: Characterization and conceptual framework. | Decision Support Systems, 110, 32-45. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2018.03.004 |
| 3. | Yan, Q., Zhou, S., & Wu, S. | The influences of tourists’ emotions on the selection of electronic word of mouth platforms. | Tourism Management, 66, 348-363. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2017.12.015 |
| 4. | Nicolas Alarcón, C., Urrutia Sepúlveda, A., Valenzuela-Fernández, L., & Gil-Lafuente, J. | Systematic mapping on social media and its relation to business. | European Research on Management and Business Economics, 24(2), 104-113. doi:10.1016/j.iedeen.2018.01.002 |
| 5. | Toffoletti, K., & Thorpe, H. | The athletic labour of femininity: The branding and consumption of global celebrity sportswomen on instagram | Journal of Consumer Culture, 18(2), 298-316. doi:10.1177/1469540517747068 |
| 6. | Han, W., McCabe, S., Wang, Y., & Chong, A.Y.L. | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: An effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? | Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(4), 600-614. doi:10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442 |
| 7. | Li, Z., Wang, C., Emrich, C.T., & Guo, D. | A novel approach to leveraging social media for rapid flood mapping: A case study of the 2015 south carolina floods. | Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 45(2), 97-110. doi:10.1080/15230406.2016.1271356 |
| 8. | Zhou, L., Zhang, D., Yang, C.C., & Wang, Y | Harnessing social media for health information management. | Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 27, 139-151. doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2017.12.003 |
| 9. | Valacherry, A.K., & Pakkeerappa, P. | Customer knowledge management via social media: A case study of an indian retailer | Journal of Human Values, 24(1), 39-55. doi:10.1177/0971685817733571 |
| 10. | Geissinger, A., & Laurell, C. | Tracing brand constellations in social media: The case of fashion week stockholm | Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 22(1), 35-48. doi:10.1108/JFMM-12-2016-0115 |
The Theme Meta Synthesis
Meta synthesis is derived into ten articles which is done to see the effectiveness of social media use in management. As a result of the meta-synthesis shows, social media has given a variety of impacts in the area of management:
1. Social media facilitates marketing management
2. Social media can deliver information
3. Social media can connect customers with management organizations
4. Social media increases popularity
5. Social media increases sales performance
Social Media Facilitates Marketing Management
Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many other applications play a role to enhance the marketing strategy of a product offered as well as reinforce management processes (Holsapple et al., 2018). Alarcón et al. (2018) exposed research findings on 185 studies through the publication of Web of Science that one of the social media's interests in management is marketing. Social media is used as a marketing tool and its function is very efficient to extend the network of a business. One of the most popular apps for young people today is Instagram (Jamari et al., 2017). Toffoletti & Thorpe (2018) made a study of five female sports stars that make Instagram a marketing platform to promote products. By using Instagram, promoted products can be popular whilst increasing sales results. The use of social media has expanded the brand of a product, thus enlarges the industrial market (Geissinger & Laurell, 2018).
Social Media Can Deliver Information
Various information can be delivered quickly using social media (Chawinga, 2017). Li, Z et.al (2018) in his study on the use of social media in flood mapping shows the effectiveness of social media is very helpful in management. In the case study of Li et al. (2018) makes twitter applications a social media tool. The research report shows that the Twitter app is effective as a medium of dissemination of information to local authorities regarding the mapping of flooded areas. In addition, the Twitter app also provides consistent and correspondent projection of flood conditions in the near future, which is essential to raise awareness of the situation during flood events. The study by Zhou et al. (2018) considers the management of health information to clarify that social media has been used to generate, share and disseminate information on the ideas and experiences of some health issues to the community.
Social Media Can Connect Customers with Management Organizations
As an organization and management sector, social media becomes a space to link the relationship between the organization and the customer indirectly. Using social media, an organization maintains good relationships with customers (Garrido-Moreno et al., 2018) and provides a good image to an organization indirectly (Holsapple et al., 2018). Yan et al. (2018) in his study of the tourism industry explained that social media has provided guidance to other travelers to visit through the information and info display that has been uploaded through social media. As a new and evolving organization, social media is important as it is a platform to know consumer feedback on products that are traded by retailers. This feedback can be used as a guide to improve the product or any other business process (Valacherry & Pakkeerappa, 2018).
Social Media Increases Popularity
In an organization, the field of management requires the effort and the idea of introducing the organization to the public. In the modern world, the use of social media is the best tool. Using social media, an organization can upload and provide information about the organization to the public quickly and easily (Yakin & Tinmaz, 2013). These well-rendered images enhance reputation as well as extend popularity by using the power of social media (Yan et al., 2018). Han et al. (2018), in his research on environmental management and the tourism sector explained that social media has helped create a sense of love for the environment by promoting the environment-based tourism sector as well as increasing the number of tourists to a destination. As such, the power of social media has helped to boost the popularity of an organization easily and efficiently. When an organization has succeeded in increasing popularity, the number of users will increase as well as the marketing of an organization will spike more (Geissinger & Laurell, 2018).
Social Media Increases Sales Performance
The use of social media has been successful in improving the sales performance of an organization while also raising the profit rate (Garrido-Moreno et al., 2018) when social media becomes an advertisement dashboard accessible to all users around the world. The use of social media as an open marketing medium also makes it easy to recognize a product like the Toffoletti, & Thorpe's (2018) research on sports product sales by international level athletes. Promotional results using this social media, the product has managed to make an influence on the world's many profits.
The use of social media has had a good impact on organizational management. Various social media efficiencies make an organization manageable, deliver information, create good relationships with customers, organizations can be recognized and improve the performance of an organization. This meta synthesis study has featured 10 journal articles to be analyzed regarding the efficacy of using social media in management. Most of the articles obtained deal with businesses in which the use of social media has had an impact on organizational management. However, some articles also feature social media functions in other areas such as environment, health and safety. This suggests that the power of social media is vast in managing an organization in a variety of subject areas. Social media that has a wide network of access networks enables an organization to exploit its functions and uses in various matters such as advertising medium, information delivery, reply to comments and views and other functions that can be used to facilitate the management process.
The use of social media can therefore be manipulated by organizational management to remain strategic and competitive. Organizational management should make social media as an opportunity for them to disseminate the various functions and its benefits so that the organizations can apply. In a world without boundaries, social media use is an accessible and acceptable access by society in a variety of spaces and scopes. Organizational management should evolve by making social media as a channel and intermediate network in various functions and tasks. In line with the concept of borderless world, the use of social media is a set of links that every organization's management needs to do nowadays.