Purpose Online social media has become an important marketing communication tool for entrepreneurs and their customers because of its ability to simplify various constraints in the communication process. Online social media allows entrepreneurs to access customers, suppliers, partners and other necessary resources that were not easily reachable before at significantly lower costs. Therefore, the current study aims to examine entrepreneurs’ motivations, expected benefits and intentions to use online social media in an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach to investigate the entrepreneurs’ online social media use behaviors. Data are collected from n = 368 entrepreneurial organizations using structured questionnaires and personal interviews. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) along with structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model. Findings Results from the data analyses show that entrepreneurs’ perceptions about efforts needed, performance expectations and various social influences helped explain a significant proportion of the variation in entrepreneurs’ intentions to use online social media. All hypotheses tested in the study were confirmed. Research limitations/implications Efforts need to be spent on developing positive entrepreneurial attitudes toward online social media usage. As social media becomes more integrated with personal and business life, entrepreneurs need to use social networking sites to build relationships with existing customers or to reach new customers. A larger and more representative sample would have improved generalizability of the findings about entrepreneurial use of online social media. Future research studies should consider using additional independent measures to validate the study results. Practical implications This study contributes to the entrepreneurial literature by providing empirical evidence for the link between entrepreneurs’ perceptions and attitudes about social media and their intentions to use it in an emerging market. Additionally, entrepreneurs need to expend more effort in understanding and effectively using social media and should develop positive attitudes toward online social media. Entrepreneurs’ feelings, perceptions and efforts need to be nurtured through support from online social media providers, educational institutions and local chapters of business organizations (i.e. SBA, Chamber of Commerce) alike. Originality/value This research is one of the few studies that has attempted to examine the effects of various antecedent factors in the context of entrepreneurs’ intentions to use online social media for business purposes in an emerging market. This study contributes to the entrepreneurial literature by providing empirical evidence for the link between entrepreneurs’ perceptions and attitudes about social media and their intentions to use it in an emerging market. Additionally, this study contributes to our understanding about the role of social influences, effort and performance expectancies on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions to use social media.

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新兴市场中企业家在线社交媒体的使用行为

目的在线社交媒体由于能够简化沟通过程中的各种限制，因此已成为企业家及其客户的重要营销沟通工具。在线社交媒体使企业家可以以较低的成本访问客户，供应商，合作伙伴和其他以前难以获得的必要资源。因此，本研究旨在考察企业家在新兴市场中使用在线社交媒体的动机，预期收益和意图。设计/方法/方法这项研究使用定量方法来调查企业家的在线社交媒体使用行为。使用结构化问卷和个人访谈从n = 368个创业组织中收集数据。验证性因子分析（CFA）与结构方程模型（SEM）一起用于测试概念模型中的假设关系。数据分析的结果表明，企业家对所需工作，绩效期望和各种社会影响的理解有助于解释企业家使用在线社交媒体的意图的很大一部分差异。研究中检验的所有假设均得到确认。研究局限性/含义需要花大力气发展对在线社交媒体使用的积极企业家态度。随着社交媒体与个人和商业生活的融合越来越多，企业家需要使用社交网站来与现有客户建立关系或吸引新客户。更大且更具代表性的样本将改善有关企业家使用在线社交媒体的发现的一般性。未来的研究应考虑使用其他独立措施来验证研究结果。实际意义这项研究通过为企业家对社交媒体的看法和态度与他们在新兴市场中使用社交媒体的意图之间的联系提供经验证据，为企业家文学做出了贡献。此外，企业家需要在理解和有效使用社交媒体上投入更多的精力，并且应该对在线社交媒体形成积极的态度。需要通过在线社交媒体提供商的支持来培养企业家的感觉，看法和努力，教育机构和商业组织的本地分会（即SBA，商会）都一样。原创性/价值这项研究是尝试在企业家意图将在线社交媒体用于新兴市场中的商业目的的背景下，研究各种先前因素的影响的研究之一。这项研究通过为企业家对社交媒体的看法和态度与他们在新兴市场中使用社交媒体的意图之间的联系提供经验证据，为企业家文学做出了贡献。此外，这项研究有助于我们理解社会影响力，努力和绩效期望对使用社交媒体的创业意图形成的作用。原创性/价值这项研究是尝试在企业家意图将在线社交媒体用于新兴市场中的商业目的的背景下，研究各种先前因素的影响的研究之一。这项研究通过为企业家对社交媒体的看法和态度与他们在新兴市场中使用社交媒体的意图之间的联系提供经验证据，为企业家文学做出了贡献。此外，这项研究有助于我们理解社会影响力，努力和绩效期望对使用社交媒体的创业意图形成的作用。原创性/价值这项研究是尝试在企业家意图将在线社交媒体用于新兴市场中的商业目的的背景下，研究各种先前因素的影响的研究之一。这项研究通过为企业家对社交媒体的看法和态度与他们在新兴市场中使用社交媒体的意图之间的联系提供经验证据，为企业家文学做出了贡献。此外，这项研究有助于我们理解社会影响力，努力和绩效期望对使用社交媒体的创业意图形成的作用。