Author(s)

Moses Chundu^1*, Patricia Chigombe², Tolbert Mucheri³

¹Department of Economics and Development, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
²Africa Leadership and Management Academy, The National University of Science and Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe.
³University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

The study examined the extent of social media usage by construction industry MSMEs in Harare guided by Chaffey’s theory. A sample of 119 was drawn from CIFOZ and SMEA, using systematic and purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaires and interviews were used for collection of data which was analysed using SPSS and Nvivo. The instruments had a Cronbach alpha index of 0.72 implying validity. The findings showed that there was greater appreciation and motivation towards adopting social media tools among the participants and the MSMES in the construction sector in Harare. The study, therefore, concludes that knowledge, skills and motivation towards social media marketing tools are abundant among MSMEs in the construction sector contrary to apriori expectations. The results also show that social media marketing offers the opportunity for a high number of social interactions for businesses to expand product/brand awareness as well as offer a feedback mechanism. The study, therefore, concludes that social media has a diverse and plethora of benefits that can be enjoyed by construction MSMEs in accentuating and perpetuating the growth of MSMEs in the construction sector in Zimbabwe. It is recommended that firms invest in the training of their staff on social media skills as well as in the acquisition of technology infrastructure for the adoption of social media marketing. It is further recommended that MSMEs take the next step in digital use by creating measuring tools to enable them to measure the contribution of social media marketing to the growth of their businesses.

Social Media Marketing, MSMEs, Technology Adoption

Chundu, M. , Chigombe, P. and Mucheri, T. (2022) Extent of Social Media Marketing Use by MSMEs in the Construction Industry in Harare. Case Study of CIFOZ and SMEA Members. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 12, 1185-1203. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2022.127064.