Critical Factors Influencing Social Media Utilisation for the Survival and Growth of Rural SMMEs During the Covid-19 Crisis in KwaZulu-Natal: Toward a Conceptual Model

Pre-Covid-19 crisis, rural SMMEs faced challenges including insufficient infrastructure and internet connectivity, further exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, with government lockdown measures leading to some South African rural SMMEs closing down temporarily, numerous permanently, with others declared technically insolvent. This study, investigated rural SMMEs growth and survival, focusing on factors affecting their use of social media as driver to ensure their continued existence during the Covid-19 crisis, enabling them to survive and grow in future crises. The study employed quantitative approach through using a questionnaire, personally administered to 374 rural SMMEs. A quantitative research design was employed to collect data from 374 SMMEs in rural KZN. The collected data was analysed by means of statistical social sciences software 27.0. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and correlation analysis. Key findings include a positive relationship between social media awareness and government support as factors that affected rural SMMEs social media use for survival and growth, where r = 0.745, p <0.001). It was found that the environmental factors had a huge negative influence on rural SMMEs social media use as driving tool to survive and grow during Covid-19 crisis. These findings were used to design and propose a social media model, as a survival and growth driving tool for rural SMMEs during crises, such as the Covid-19 crisis within KwaZulu-Natal.