SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND SME PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA: DO DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION, DIGITAL LITERACY, AND ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY MODERATE THIS RELATIONSHIP?

This study examines the effect of social media use on SME performance, focusing on the quasi-moderating roles of digital entrepreneurial orientation, digital literacy, and organizational ambidexterity. A total of 232 SME owners in the retail and wholesale industry in Lagos State, Nigeria, were purposively sampled. Using the partial least squares method (PLSM), the cross-sectional data obtained with a well-structured questionnaire were analyzed for hypothesis testing. Based on the PLSM results, the study found that social media use significantly elevated SME performance. At the same time, entrepreneurial orientation, digital literacy, and organizational ambidexterity enhanced SME performance. The study also found that entrepreneurial orientation and organizational ambidexterity significantly moderated the effect of social media use on SME performance. But this was not the case for digital literacy, whose effect was insignificant. The findings confirmed the quasi-moderating roles of digital entrepreneurial orientation and organizational ambidexterity because they interact significantly with social media use while directly enhancing SME performance. The study concluded that the utility of social media for performance improvement is contingent upon the degree to which SMEs perceive themselves as demonstrating strong digital entrepreneurial orientation and organizational ambidexterity.