Motivations and outcomes of social media utilisation by small and medium enterprises: a case study of the Gauteng gourmet food truck industry

Abstract

The unemployment rate in South Africa is reported to be at twenty-seven percent (27%) and has been rising steadily in recent years. Entrepreneurship is said to be the solution to this high unemployment rate. However, despite the pressure to grow entrepreneurship in the country there are still challenges that inhibit entrepreneurs from achieving success and growth in their businesses. Among these challenges is market access, which is often inhibited by the inability of the entrepreneur to promote his/her business. These inabilities are often the result of limited financial resources. These challenges pose a critical problem for South African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Approximately fifty percent (50%) of all new SMEs fail within the first three years and eighty to ninety percent (80 to 90%) fail within five (5) years. It is therefore in the interest of the local economy as well as that of existing and budding entrepreneurs to find a solution to the challenge of market access and limited resources that is faced by entrepreneurs. Social media marketing is a relatively new phenomenon that is said to be a solution for SMEs to promote their businesses at a low cost and in a way this allows them direct access to their market via a two-way engagement platform. This study explores the relationship between social media and entrepreneurship in South Africa and seeks to understand what the key motivations for adopting social media are and what outcomes have been achieved using social media. In order to explore the relationship between entrepreneurship and social media, this study has selected the gourmet food truck movement as a case study. The gourmet food truck movement is said to have started in the United States of America in 2008. The motivation behind its inception is said to have been the recession of 2008, which saw talented chefs losing their jobs and starting their own businesses by introducing their gourmet style cooking to mobile food vending and using social media as a promotional tool to broadcast their location to their followers. This trend has become a worldwide phenomenon and South Africa itself has experienced growth in the number of gourmet food trucks in recent years. This study explores the use of social media as an instrument of marketing communications in the context of the phenomenon of gourmet food trucks in South Africa. The study is based on the gourmet food truck movement in the Gauteng province and it seeks to determine the reasons why the gourmet food truck owners use social media and also seek to discern the outcomes that they experience. The aim is to determine the effectiveness of social media to help these businesses constraint as the food truck owners are also the food truck managers and are often too busy to conduct a lengthy interview for academic research purposes. Recommendations for future studies are discussed in this study and they include; spousal partnerships in the food truck business which was a key finding in this research as both spouses had often ventured into the gourmet food truck business together. However, there is not much research as to the motivations behind this decision as well as the implications of the partnership on their personal relationship; as well as the benefits and the pitfalls that it has for the business itself. Another recommendation for future research is the metrics for measuring social media. Due to the qualitative nature of this research the findings are based on the experiences of the participants which, as such cannot be quantified scientifically. Therefore, the recommendation of this study is for future research to employ quantitative methods to explore the metrics with which to measure the impact of social media on business performance, particularly in the South African context.

accomplish their operational goals of growing sales revenue, managing costs and increasing profits. The study employed a qualitative research methodology and used the interpretivism approach as a research paradigm, as well as the case study methodology of design. Interpretivism was used as an appropriate research paradigm for this research, as it enabled the drawing of information from participants as a function of their day to day experiences. The case study approach was utilised, and it was based on the gourmet food truck movement which stands as a proxy for the SMEs in South Africa. This was decided upon, based on gourmet food trucks having the characteristics that describe an SME in the South African context, as well as being prominent users of social media. As discussed in this study, gourmet food trucks are classified in the Trade and Accommodation segment of the South African SME sector which is the largest segment. As such, it serves as a representation of the SME industry in South Africa. Gauteng province has the largest concentration of food trucks in South Africa. The study used the semi structured interview as a method of data collection. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Responses were coded and a causal map was used to determine the relationships between the codes and certain outcomes. Findings affirmed that the assertions made in the literature that the gourmet food truck movement emanated from the recession of 2008 were indeed applicable. This scenario manifested itself in one of the eight (8) cases in our study whereby a chef was demoted from his sous-chef position, due to the recession. However, most of the subjects indicated that their motivations were driven by a desire for independence as well as a zeal and passion for food and business. The reason for using social media was not only the low cost of social media; although this was a great and welcome advantage. The other motivation was found to be the broad reach of social media. The popularity of the social media platform enabled the respondents to reach a broad market, to gain market access. The findings also indicated that social media not only provided access to a broad market but also created an environment which enabled growth in sales and profits. The challenges of using social media were deemed to be negligible in comparison with the benefits of using social media. As such most respondents recommended the use of social media as a marketing tool. Key limitations of this study pertain to a small sample frame resultant from the relatively smaller size of the gourmet food truck industry in South Africa. Time also presented a