Joo Y. Park, Chang Soo Sung,

From Digital Culture & Society

Article: Joo Y. Park, Chang Soo Sung, and Il Im. (2017) Does Social Media Use Influence Entrepreneurial Opportunity? A Review of its Moderating Role. Sustainability (2071-1050), 9(9), 1593.

doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su9091593

Contents 1 CONTEXT 2 OVERVIEW 3 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES 4 ASSESSMENT

[edit] CONTEXT

Social media plays an important part in business for entrepreneurs. The opportunities provided in online environments are vast which is beneficial to entrepreneurs as they begin their ventures, "Social media offers opportunities to reach target customers and generate new ideas for starting a business" (2017, pg.1). An entrepreneur requires strong social capital and social networks. These connections help with identifying opportunities as well as encourage people to become entrepreneurs.

[edit] OVERVIEW

Park, Sung, and Im (2017) focused on social media as a tool for entrepreneurs. The authors touch on previous research as there has been interest in social networks and activities and how they effect the opportunities taken from entrepreneurs. In this study the ways in which social media use effects these opportunities. The authors had multiple hypotheses which were stated on page 5, H1-1 Prior knowledge is positively related to the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity. H1-2 Prior knowledge is positively related to the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity. H2 Prior knowledge is positively related to entrepreneurial alertness. H3-1 The entrepreneurial alertness is positively related to the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity. H3-2 The entrepreneurial alertness is positively related to the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity. H4-1 Social media use positively moderate the relationship between prior knowledge and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity. H4-2 Social media use positively moderates the relationship between prior knowledge and the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity. H4-3 Social media use positively moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity. Hypothesis 4-4 (H4-4). Social media use positively moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity.

The study was conducted on entrepreneurs that have created companies and those that work for these companies. They were asked to complete a survey questionnaire. The survey measured on a 7 point Likert scale, and questions we taken and advanced from previous research. Majority of the respondents were CEOs and team leaders that worked in a recent entrepreneurial firm (2017, pg. 7). This sample is good for the study as these respondents can identify opportunities. The study was set to examine factors that impacted entrepreneurial opportunities such as prior knowledge, alertness, and social media.

The hypothesis were supported except for H4-1 and H4-2. Social media usage results differed from existing research and in order to understand this additional post hoc interviewers were conducted on four people. The interviews led to the discovery that in terms of social media the information provided is hard to trust and that there is too much information given that it can be distracting (2017, pg. 11). This all means that it can be hard to identify and choose entrepreneurial opportunities. These results are not to dismiss the pre-existing benefits of social media. The study points out that social media is good for creating opportunities once alertness and knowledge is already sustained. �

[edit] STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

The article focuses on alertness, prior knowledge, and social media use and their influence on entrepreneurial opportunities. Within the text a basic description of each factor is given enabling the reader to understand why these factors were chosen. The analysis itself was adequate as precautions were taken to avoid coercion in the respondents questionnaires. The steps taken to ensure this began with protecting the respondents anonymity, pre-testing survey questionnaires and separating questions ( 2017, pg. 7). The results of social media having a negative moderating relationship was further examined by interviews. This strengthens their study because the authors refused to leave open ended results. They sought to understand why their results differed from pre existing research. Providing figures into their article assists the readers in understanding the results of the study.

The study only examined those in a relatively new entrepreneurial firms, only those under five years. It would be beneficial to examine whether older entrepreneurs utilize the internet and social media for their gain. Within their analysis of social media, the depth of social media was not considered as the questions pertaining to this topic were "'I often use social media to obtain work related information and knowledge”, and “Using social media (e.g., Facebook, blogs) for work is effective" (2017, pg.8).

[edit] ASSESSMENT

The research conducted in this study adds to the literature on social media and entrepreneurial opportunities and encourages further discussion. The analysis into social media could have been more as the title suggests the study will be solely on social media use. The way in which entrepreneurs can self brand and market their business should have been mentioned as it is one the the top benefits of social media can provide.