Entrepreneurs of Social Media: How Social Media Influencers differ from other Social Media Users
2019 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Background: Over the years, traditional entrepreneurs started businesses due to either pull or push factors within their environments. Research has been carried out in profiling different types of entrepreneurs and their characteristics. The social media influencers are new forms of entrepreneurs who recently appeared due to changes in the technological environments. The existence of social media platforms has enhanced the possibility of entrepreneurial activities online. The platforms are available for everyone, but some have more entrepreneurial orientation or characteristics than others.
Purpose: The aim of this research is to measure the entrepreneurial orientation and the characteristics of social media users, compare social media influencers with other social media users, to determine if differences exist.
Methods: This research uses the Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation scale (Bolton & Lane, 2012) and the Individual Personality Traits measuring scale (Al Mamun, Bin Yusoff, & Ibrahim, 2018). This is a deductive study, testing the above-mentioned theories on social media users, and a quantitative study aided using data collected from online survey.
Conclusion: The results of this study show that Social Media Influencer have higher entrepreneurial traits than non-Social Media Influencers. The result also supports the three-factor structure and satisfactory reliability of the IEO scales and subscales. Subsequently, I found out that non-SMIs do create online contents and carry out entrepreneurial activities online too.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2019. , p. 70
Keywords [en]
Social media influencers; SMI; Social media users; Entrepreneurship; EO; Entrepreneurial Orientation; IEO; Individual entrepreneurial orientation; personality traits; Entrepreneurship; Social media entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurs
Keywords [sv]
SMI; Social media influencers; EO
National Category
Social Sciences Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-45665ISRN: JU-IHH-FÖA-2-20201232OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-45665DiVA, id: diva2:1345094
Subject / course
JIBS, Business Administration
Presentation
2019-08-15, B3053, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, 15:00 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
2020-09-172019-08-222025-10-13Bibliographically approved