THE PERCEPTIONS OF SMMES OWNERS/MANAGERS TOWARDS ADOPTING AND USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SMMES SURVIVAL AND GROWTH DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN RURAL KWAZULU-NATAL
The Covid-19 crisis has posed critical challenges on survival and growth of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) worldwide, particularly in rural areas such as KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). This study investigated the influence of perceptions of rural SMMEs owners / managers regarding adoption and usage of social media as a tool for survival and growth during the Covid-19 crisis. The quantitative design was adopted, and data was collected from 374 rural SMMEs in KZN by a questionnaire. The study employed convenience, purposive, and quota sampling techniques. The data collected were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) (version 27.0). The study revealed that rural SMMEs had a negative perception in adopting and using social media during the Covid-19 crisis. The recommendations of the study suggested that rural SMMEs should use social media to network with more customers and SMME owners /managers need to adopt social media strategy implementation to reduce management perceptions constraints led to business failure regarding rural SMMEs survival and growth during Covid-19 crisis.
SMMEs, Social Media, Covid-19 Crisis, Survival, Growth, Rural KZN, SMMEs Perceptions.