Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating effect of learning capacity in the relationship between the social media usage by the construction of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their business performance in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative survey technique was used to collect data from the owner/manager of construction SMEs in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation modeling was used in the assessment of the measurement model and structural model to assess the validity and reliability of the measures and to evaluate the hypotheses proposed in the conceptual model.

Findings

Empirical findings indicated a significant positive relationship between learning capacity and performance of SMEs. Similarly, the use of social media is significantly and positively associated to the business performance of SMEs. It has also been shown that learning capacity is a mediator of the relationship between social media and SME performance.

Research limitations/implications

The data for the study is are all from a single industry and a related line of business, so it could be more interesting to include more companies across sectors or industries. The finding contributes to the ongoing debate on the effect of social media on business performance. It also defined the need for the owner/manager of SMEs to understand and appreciate the effect of social media through the organization's learning potential to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Practical implications

There are a number of theoretical and practical implications for academics and practitioners who are interested in further studies of organizational social media. The research presents a quantitative study on the effect of social media adoption on the organizational performance of the construction industry. This study confirms the mediating role of learning capability in the relationship between the use of social media and performance of SMEs operating in the construction industry.

Originality/value

This study empirically examined the relationship between social media adoption and the SMEs learning capability and business performance by evaluating a hypothesized conceptual framework to establish the relationships.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体采用和业务绩效：组织学习能力 (OLC) 的中介作用

目的

本文旨在探讨学习能力在尼日利亚中小企业（SMEs）建设社交媒体使用与其经营业绩之间关系中的中介作用。

设计/方法/方法

使用定量调查技术从尼日利亚建筑中小企业的所有者/经理那里收集数据。偏最小二乘结构方程模型用于测量模型和结构模型的评估，以评估测量的有效性和可靠性，并评估概念模型中提出的假设。

发现

实证结果表明，中小企业的学习能力和绩效之间存在显着的正相关关系。同样，社交媒体的使用与中小企业的经营业绩显着正相关。研究还表明，学习能力是社交媒体与中小企业绩效之间关系的中介。

研究限制/影响

该研究的数据都来自一个行业和一个相关的业务线，因此包括更多跨部门或行业的公司可能会更有趣。这一发现有助于关于社交媒体对企业绩效影响的持续辩论。它还定义了中小企业的所有者/经理需要通过组织的学习潜力来了解和欣赏社交媒体的影响，以获得可持续的竞争优势。

实际影响

对于对进一步研究组织社交媒体感兴趣的学者和从业者，有许多理论和实践意义。该研究对社交媒体采用对建筑行业组织绩效的影响进行了定量研究。本研究证实了学习能力在社交媒体使用与建筑行业中小型企业绩效之间的关系中的中介作用。

原创性/价值

本研究通过评估一个假设的概念框架来建立关系，实证检验了社交媒体采用与中小企业学习能力和业务绩效之间的关系。