Summary and Reflection of Systematic Review Analysis

1 Summary and reflection of Systematic Review Analysis – SCOPUS, EBSCO and WoS

1.1         Year of Publication

The research articles in the systematic review ranged from 2010 to 2022 in order to ensure that most recent insight about social media innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be obtained. For the SCOPUS analysis, most of the research articles considered in the review were published after 2016, while for EBSCO publication year ranged from 2013 to 2021. For the WoS database articles most of the articles were published after 2017. The reason for focusing more on recent years lies in the notion that social media has changed significantly over the past decade and organizations are constantly revisiting the ways in which social media-based innovation can be adopted and implemented. Therefore, insight from recent years can provide more relevant understanding of the phenomenon.

1.2         CABS Journal Ranking

The effort was made to include the research articles in systematic review with Chartered Association of Business School (CABS) ranking. The CABS rankings are based on peer review, editorials and expert reviews which shows quality of the research articles. The 30 of the total research articles (from SCOPUS, EBSCO and WoS) considered in the following review were taken from the journals with CABS ranking of 1. Likewise, 32 taken from journals with CABS ranking of ‘2’, 22 were from CABS ranking of ‘3’ and only 2 were with ‘4’ CABS ranking. The consideration of more research articles with 1, 2 and 3 CABS ranking journals show that systematic review is based on high quality research that is valid and generalizable.

1.3         Research Methodology Used

In terms of research methodology, the selected research articles were highly diverse. Their research methodology included qualitative, quantitative, mixed research methodology and conceptual research methodology. Total of 24 research articles (11 from SCOPUS, 3 from EBSCO and 10 from WoS) had made use of qualitative research methodology, whereby interviews, focus group discussions and observations were used as mode of data collection. On the other hand, total of 42 research articles have used quantitative research methodology. The larger proportion of research articles from systematic review have used quantitative research methodology which indicates that review is based on valid empirical findings which are derived from concrete information and are generalizable to wider settings. Moreover, 14 research articles used mixed methodology which combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods. It is said to supplement the in-depth insight of qualitative research methodology with validity of quantitative methodology, making it suitable for the review. Finally, 6 research articles were written on conceptual grounds thereby explaining theoretical stances on the underlying research phenomenon. The inclusion of research articles with diverse methods has made this systematic review highly valid and reliable.

1.4         Type of Data Used

The research articles were also assessed based on the type of data used for analysis. The reliance was maintained either on primary, secondary or both types of data sets. 37 research articles combined from three databases have used primary data, whereby collecting fresh hand data from the enterprises about their social media adoption and implementation mechanism for innovation purposes. The usage of primary data has made these articles relevant to the context for generating recent insight. On the other hand, 23 research articles have used secondary data, whereby existing data from research articles, books and published Government Reports is used to draw conclusions about the usage of social media for innovation of SMEs. The secondary data is said to be highly dependable based on its validity and reported reliability, therefore, these articles are considered highly suitable for including in systematic review. Finally, some research articles also used both primary and secondary data as part of their research design, making up total of 26.

1.5         Data Collection Method

The research articles that relied on primary data have used multiple designs to collect data, such as mail survey, self-administered survey, door to door survey, online survey, case studies and interviews. The research articles taken from the SCOPUS have used case study, e-surveys and telephonic interviews, email surveys and interviews, observation and consultation, web-based surveys and telephonic reminders. The EBSCO research articles used survey via Whatsapp and telegram, case studies, surveys and semi-structured and unstructured interviews. One of the EBSCO research articles has also taken data from Internet enabled platforms and external Australian database. Finally, the articles taken from WoS database have also used diverse designs of data collection of which multiple case study method was differentiated design. Other designs were survey, interviews, exploratory research-based case studies from small firms and closed questionnaires. The analysis of data collection research design shows that diverse approaches of data collection were used in the chosen research articles, showing that data used in this systematic review was highly inclusive of various approaches and contexts. The review of articles enriched with multiple research design approaches show that review is based on reliable research design and data. Therefore, the conclusions of this research about social media usage for innovation purposes of organization is based on high quality data insights.

1.6         Theory Used

The theoretical basis of the research articles is of huge concern while considering them for systematic review of literature. The analysis shows that multiple theoretical perspectives are being used to investigate the association of social media adoption and innovation potential of organization. The SCOPUS based research articles have used contingency theory, customer engagement theory, customer relationship management, descriptive process theory and diffusion of innovation theory among others. The theories related to digitalization, innovation, information processing, knowledge creation, social media networking, organizational learning, organizational capability and organizational behavioural theories were also used in research articles to explain the capability and potential of organizations to use social media as innovation fostering vehicle. The articles from EBSCO used media richness theory, network externality, knowledge theory, configuration theory and boundary theories to explain that how organizations can utilize knowledge obtained from external world to combine with their internal capabilities to support their innovation mechanism. The WoS based research articles have also used multiple theoretical concepts to explain the knowledge creation and utilization by organizations through social networking and social media. The reflection on theoretical standings of the research articles shows that underlying systematic review was based on diverse concepts. The insight from multiple theories has enabled the researcher to view the same phenomenon from the lens of different concepts making the review highly inclusive of diverse ideas. The researcher has become able to understand the linkage of social media with organizational innovation based on several mechanism and variables which are being highlighted through diverse theoretical conceptualizations. The findings of the review have become highly dependable as they are based on combination of variables and unveil many different paths through which social media can assist the organizations to realize their innovation potential. Moreover, as reliance on well formulated theoretical concept makes the research valid, thus the findings of this review are generalizable to wider societal context.

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1.7         Market Sector Targeted in the Research

Further moving to the analysis of research articles, the chosen articles for the review have done the research in the context of different markets or sectors. For instance, the research was either carried out in the context of Business to Consumer (B2C) or Business to Business (B2B). There was only one research article that was studied in the context of Consumer to Business (C2B). While reflecting on the market context of research, it is important to consider that social media usage is effective for organizations irrespective of their business models. The organizations that are directly dealing with consumers can improve their customer relationship management and can innovate their processes to support their customers in efficient manner. Likewise, the organizations dealing with retailers and other businesses can use social media generated analytics and data to ensure that they approach the right businesses and maintain long lasting relationship with them. Social media is indeed an essential success ingredient for all organizations irrespective of their business models. However, the social media strategy might be slightly different for B2C, B2B and C2B businesses, however it can enable them to generate knowledge and learning to strengthen their innovation potential. Therefore, the articles included in the underlying systematic review were inclusive of different business models and findings are wholesome to generalize for different organizations.

1.8         Internal or External focus of study

When it comes to innovation of organizations, both internal and external contexts of organization hold equal significance. The research articles taken in the current systematic review have focused on either internal capabilities or approach of organization to use social media for innovation or focused on external pressure to use social media. There are fewer studies that have addressed both the contexts in single research article. While reflecting further, the internal context of organizations is considered in terms of leadership, employees, resources, knowledge base, learning potential, capabilities to innovate and networking infrastructure of organization among other factors. All the internal factors of organizations enable it to adopt and implement social media for utilizing it to realize the innovation potential of organization. However, organizations never operate in isolation and thus impact from external factors cannot be overlooked. In terms of external consideration, the research articles have studied the role of customers, competitors, market forces, technology, Government and socio-economic dimensions of the society. For instance, the continuous technological development and breakthrough revolutions are considered as motivational factors to adopt social media. Likewise, when competitors are already reaping the benefit of social media to support their innovation drive, then the external pressure becomes even enormous. Therefore, the research articles considered in systematic review have considered multiple factors from inside and outside of organization to show the mechanism of social media-based innovation in organizations.

1.9         Focus on General/Department Level Disciplines

In terms of disciple level research, the research has been conducted in several disciplines. For instance, most of the SCOPUS based articles has performed research in the context of marketing, highlighting the role of social media in innovating marketing activities of organizations, such as branding, promoting, customer relationship management, customer loyalty management and enhancing brand competitiveness. The other disciplines included business research, economics, engineering management, entrepreneurship, information technology, strategic and operations management, technological forecasting and social change, innovation management, business networking, commercialization, planning and production and tourism and hospitality. The research was indeed conducted in diverse organizational contexts, covering multiple disciplines. It shows that social media is not limited to sales and marketing but has the potential to support several business areas. The systematic review has thus used research articles about diverse disciplines and presents evidence about usefulness of social media in diverse divisions.

1.10     Focus of Research of Explicit Development of Theory

Further, the research articles included in systematic review were also analysed in terms of their ability to explicitly build theory. It was observed that most of the research articles have contributed in explicit development of theory and added in the extant literature on the subject. The theoretical significance of the research is highly important measure to gauge the quality of research, whereby adding in existing theoretical knowledge is highly significant for research. Moreover, some research articles do not explicitly developed theory (as shown in analysis of articles), however they still presented evidence of knowledge which is usable by practitioners and researchers to guide the social media usage for innovation potential of organization.

1.11     Level of Analysis

The level of analysis of research defines its scope and reflection shows that research articles have used different levels of analysis, including individual, firm level, industry level, country level, business innovation, regional, SMEs and global SMEs. Most of the research articles from SCOPUS have based their research on country, industry and firm levels. From EBSCO database, most of the research articles were based on country level research while for WoS, industry and SMEs level research analysis were high in proportion. The consideration of level of analysis is important, as it provides insight of whether research can be generalized in the context of firms, industry or country, for instance. The consideration of research articles with different level of analysis shows that research insight from diverse level of analysis is encompassed in the current systematic review of literature and thus inclusive evidence is presented about the role of social media in defining innovation potential of organizations.

1.12     Unit of Analysis

Furthermore, the unit of analysis is also important while carrying out review of literature, as it identifies whether the research is carried out to highlight the role of individual figure (leader or entrepreneur), group of individuals (management) or whole organization in utilizing social media for innovation purposes of business. The data from entities, such as SMEs, is also taken on regional and country levels to confine the scope of the research. The instances of individual units of analysis from chosen articles include the owners and managers of SMEs, customers of SMEs, entrepreneurs and crowdfunding investors. Likewise, the employees of SMEs, technical managers, sales managers and marketing managers are group of individuals who were used as unit of analysis while collecting data about social media utilization in businesses for innovation. While taking countries and regions as instance of analysis unit, SMEs of UK, SMEs of Italy, SMEs of Malta, SMEs of Czech Republic, India and Poland are used in different articles. The systematic review clearly includes insights from several regions and countries including views of personnel from different levels of organizations. Thus, the views of strategic formulators, decision makers, managers and employees are all considered regarding the usage of social media for extending innovation potential of organizations. It can be mentioned that data considered in review is highly comprehensive.

1.13     Countries studied in Research Articles

Next the analysis of research articles is performed based on the country of research. It was noted that data was taken from multiple countries ranging from highly developed to developing countries. Few instances of countries of research are USA, UK, Canada, Australia, China, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Israel, France, Norway, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Iran, Ghana and Indonesia among others. The reflection regarding origin of research indicates that social media usage is not confined to specific regions. The income and technological development of countries are though influencing the extent of social media usage for innovation purposes, however the social media is universally adopted and implemented within organizations. The insight of literature from different countries has enabled to understand any differences across the countries, regarding the utilization of social media for supporting innovation of organizations.

1.14     Analysis Format of Research

The last section of analysis has focused on the format of data analysis which forms the basis of validity of research findings. The research articles were divided in terms of different forms of analysis, such as; empirical analysis, literature review, theory development, special issue identified, empirical and literature and literature review and theory development. It was noted that majority of research articles (59 in total) from three data bases were based on empirical format, which makes them valid and generalizable to wider context. Moreover, the literature review and theory development also made substantial proportion of research articles formats, which provides in-depth insight of underlying research phenomenon. The reflection of analysis format shows that systematic literature review is mainly based on articles that were empirically analysed by using statistical methods and thus their findings can be considered as dependable and valid.

2 Gaps found for the three databases

The research has not well addressed the perceptions of people about impact of online and offline networking in the context of tourism sector (Lee & Hallak, 2020). Likewise, the study of Candi et al. (2018) revealed that previous researchers did not address the firms’ actions in relation to social strategy and its role in enhancing relationship with clients in different sectors. The gap was also highlighted about the awareness of antecedents of business model innovation and how leadership approaches collaborate to manage these antecedents to apply social media for realization of business potential (Brink, 2017).The perceptions of SMEs owners related to crowdfunding and the mediating role of social media management in establishing a link between entrepreneurial orientation and crowd funding was left somehow unattended in the existing research (Sahaym, Datta & Brooks, 2021; Datta et al., 2019). The researchers also left gap in terms of analysing the role of social media in different domains and mainly using cross sectional data (Nijssen & Ordanini, 2020). Maintaining focus on customers who use social media and ignoring the impact on cultural and social factors on customers’ attitude in terms of social media usage was also a gap highlighted in the study of (Cheng & Shiu, 2019). Moreover, the gap also exist with respect to contextualization of new product development in terms of social media usage, combining it with customers’ empathy focus (Rakshit et al., 2021). Another gap in the research included the implementation of cross-sectional data (Hassani et al., 2022) and considering the views of only owners and managers of SMEs which questioned generalization of the findings (Rozak et al., 2021). Dey et al. (2019) study only emphasized on apple chat box and cannot be generalized in wider context. Furthermore, Zhang & Zhu (2021) have considered low end disruption in the context of manufacturing sector only and used cross sectional data which limited its scope and generalizability. Focusing only on owners of manufacturing firms in Spain was considerable gap in study of Soto-Acosta et al. (2017). The insight about the innovative growth and transformational impact of digital and social phenomenon and tools in SMEs was also an important aspect needing consideration of researchers (Scuotto et al., 2017). The study of Dotsika F., Patrick et al. (2013) has also left gap by considering only one framework for guiding SMEs knowledge enhancement and did not validate the framework from industry experts. Qalati et al. (2022) and Fang et al. (2021) have only focused on Pakistan and none of other developing or emerging countries were considered (Balakrishnan & Das, 2020), which limits their generalization to other emerging countries. Scuotto et al. (2020) did not considered insight of all creative industries, while Freixanet et al. (2021) have only considered external data in Spanish context which limit implacability of their findings. The study of Valaei & Rezaei (2017) is considered to lack the realistic context as it was conducted online. Shaltoni et al. (2018); Kwon et al. (2021) and Papa et al. (2018) only focused on quantitative methodology and might lack in terms of in-depth insight. Like Kwon et al. (2021), the research in Braojos-Gomez et al. (2015) was also conducted only in US context and cannot be generalized beyond that context.

The study of Quaye & Mensah (2019) lacks in terms of providing integrated view of resources and capabilities of SMEs with respect to social media innovation. Likewise, the study of Brown et al. (2019) has lacked in terms of quantitative analysis and inclusion of cultural assets in terms of innovation. The studies of Gagliardi (2013), Pérez-González et al. (2017) and Odoom & Mensah (2021) were conducted in limited geographical context and cannot be generalized beyond UK, Spain and Africa respectively. The study of Hassan et al. (2021) was based on the survey conducted 6 years ago and thus it missed the recent context, while Tajvidi & Karami (2021) was only performed in the context of one industry. The focus of Hussain et al. (2020) was only on SMEs, whereby overlooking the factors which could be linked with size of organization and influence the innovation of SMEs. The reliance on theoretical model without evidence of testing was the identified gap in the study of Yu et al. (2021). The study of Ebrahimi et al. (2021) was only conducted in Iranian context and careful consideration is needed while generalizing the results. Abedin (2016) only considered Facebook while studying the implications of social networking sites for customers’ engagement. Additionally, the technological contexts such as digital transformations in the context of SMEs need consideration to unveil how social media can assist the organizations in this process (Bouwman, Nikou & de Reuver, 2019). Franco et al. (2016) focused on limited industrial contexts and left behind multiple sectors while Evans & Bosua (2017) was only performed in Australia and Rodrigues et al. (2018) was conducted in one region of Brazil which limits their generalizability. The same gap was identified in Crammond et al. (2018), whereas the study of Nurliza & Oktoriana (2021) was performed in the industries which already have lack of skills, capital, resources and innovation and thus results are viewed as biased. The qualitative nature of study was considered as gap in the study of Hutter et al. (2013), Hitchen et al. (2017) and Bouwman et al. (2018). Seow et al. (2021); Sun & Liu (2021) and Ohliati et al. (2021) were also lacking in terms of generalizability as they focused on specific regions. Benedic (2022) has only considered potential gains of LinkedIn. Finally, from SCOPUS data research of Alhaimer (2021) had included limited SMEs from Kuwait which was not sufficient to provide the detailed insight.

Likewise, the gaps exist to conduct the research only in the context of COVID 19 and under the fear of upcoming wave, limiting the generalizability of study (Sultan et al., 2020; Yeon et al. 2024). Use of cross-sectional data and lack of consideration for big corporations limits the scope of Aziz et al. (2013) research. Delerue et al. (2015) has relied on secondary data from database lacking the real-time context while Glavas et al. (2019) only considered 13 firms which limits the scope of findings about internet enabled experience. The lack of understanding of crowdfunding in the age of social media (Datta et al., 2019) and gap in B2B literature in terms of innovation is identified (Hardwick et al. 2019).

The study of Holland et al. (2018) has made reliance on panel data to determine strategic intent of management teams and thus its generated conflicting findings about strategic group intent. The study of Wang & Fatima (2020) was not able to make country level inference and focused on diverse industry contexts which made redundant analysis. The research of Matarazzo et al. (2021) has limited generalizability based on pilot study design and Mitrega et al. (2021) only relied on perceptual measurement of company’s performance. The study of Tassabehji et al (2019) has limited sample size and Hassani et al. (2022) was exposed to variance bias based on cross sectional design. The study of dk8 did not provide insight into the attitudes of SMEs towards SNS and general technology. The focus on behavioural, emotional and cognitive dimensions was maintained only and consideration to other dimensions was not given (Jafari et al., 2015). The focus only on Chinese context with respect to offline and online technologies was limitation of Ram et al. (2021), while presentation of adoption model and not testing it in real scenario was limitation of Alford et al. (2015). Furthermore, the study of Camilleri et al. (2018) was exposed to managerial bias as it did not focus on diverse stakeholders’ expectations.

Additionally, the gap related to the role of customers in assisting firms in social media realization for innovation (Cheng & Shiu, 2019) and the role of social media in supporting disruptive innovation potential of SMEs is also highlighted in the chosen research articles. Moreover, one study has highlighted gap related to the lack of consideration of SMEs attitude towards social networking sites and its usage in innovation (Michaelidou et al., 2011). The knowledge management and creation are also highlighted in the research along with the benefits of ideas and information sharing (Scuotto et al., 2017; Pratono et al., 2018), however, gaps remain that how social media networks can help to transfer the knowledge for innovation development of organization. The consideration of social media usage in the context of open innovation was also lacking aspect of existing research (Iglesias-Sanchez et al., 2020; Iglesias-Sanchez et al., 2020).

Likewise, focusing on smaller sample size (Tassabehji et al., 2019), too much focus on theory description and exploratory study design (Fready et al., 2022; Fready et al., 2022) were also considered gaps across three databases. The insight from specific geographical regions and specific industry context (such as craft industry in study of Harel et al. (2019) and Tobiassen et al. (2022) focuses on Norwegian context) have also been regarded as gap which restricts validity of the findings. Finally, data was taken only from generation Y in the study of Belas et al. (2021), leaving gap about the views of generation X.

3 Future research for the three databases

The future researchers are suggested to include in-depth measures of entrepreneurs’ engagement practices in online social sites, such that understanding of behaviour related to online social capital is understood (Lee & Hallak, 2020). The value of knowledge gained through social media should also be explored in the context of firm’s performance (Candi et al., 2018). Likewise, the opportunity exists to understand the antecedents of business model innovation, collaboration of leadership approaches and transparency required to bring business model innovation through social media utilization (Brink, 2017). The future research is encouraged to understand the role of social media-based innovation in crowdfunding context along with drawing comparison with the traditional innovation (Sahaym, Datta & Brooks, 2021). The future studies can expand the use of social media to different industries, levels, countries and markets (Nijssen & Ordanini, 2020; Rakshit et al., 2021; Zhang & Zhu, 2021; Gaglio et al., 2022; Bell & Loane, 2010; Qalati et al., 2022; Scuotto et al., 2020; Odoom & Mensah, 2019; Sun & Liu, 2021). It is no doubt that contemporary customers also play active role in organizational innovation and thus future researchers are encouraged to explore the extent to which customers can help organizations use social media for innovation purposes (Cheng & Shiu, 2019). The incorporation of longitudinal design of research (Rozak et al., 2021) and to triangulate data from multiple sources (Dey et al., 2019) are also important avenue for future research. Supplementing the research methods with open ended survey, interviews and mixed research methodology are also suitable opportunities for future researchers (Zhang & Zhu, 2021; Scuotto et al., 2017; Shaltoni et al., 2018; Fang et al., 2021; Kwon et al., 2021; Seow et al., 2021). The consideration to aspects of knowledge management in the context of social media is also needed (Dotsika & Patrick, 2013). Study of Freixanet et al. (2021) and Valaei & Rezaei (2017) suggested adding more variables to understand the role of social media in innovation.

To study the digital transformation in the context of multinational firms (Balakrishnan & Das, 2020) and to understand the role of social media capabilities in firms’ knowledge management (Braojos-Gomez et al., 2015) are also important aspects for future researchers. Likewise, to study the role of social media-based innovation in different retail sectors such as fashion, pharmaceutical and food is recommended (Brown, Foroudi & Hafeez, 2019; Papa et al., 2018). To understand the theoretical insights of adopting web 2.0 is also important (Gagliardi, 2013; Hutter et al., 2013) and investigation is also needed to understand the role of external factors of organization to adopt and implement cloud computing and social media networking for innovation purposes (Hassan et al., 2021). To study the notion of social media based innovation in the context of larger corporations is also important (Pérez-González et al., 2017; Ebrahimi et al., 2021). The role of leadership style in impacting innovation success is also important avenue for future studies (Hussain et al., 2020). The notion through which social networking sites serves as the way of managing customer relationship needs to be studied (Abedin, 2016). The business model innovation concept can also be linked with social media based innovation (Bouwman, 2019). The changes in methodology of research are also suggested to supplement the cross-sectional design with more comprehensive longitudinal research design such that changes in innovation pattern of organization can be seen over the extended period (Tassabehji et al., 2019; Franco et al., 2016). The use of RCIDTA model for improving innovation sustainability of firms is also important concept to be explored (Crammond et al., 2018).

The linkage of disrupted innovation and open innovation with social media usage are also important avenues for future researchers (Cheng & Shiu, 2019; Iglesias-Sanchez et al., 2020; Alhaimer, 2021). The future researchers are also invited to understand the transformational impact of digital and social media platforms, such that innovation mechanism can be guided well (Scuotto et al., 2017; Iglesias-Sanchez et al. 2020). Likewise, the impact of social media capabilities can also be investigated in the context of knowledge management to understand innovation related processes of SMEs (Braojos-Gomez et al., 2015). To include the insight of whole Indonesian sector in terms of social media marketing success is suggested in the study of (Patma et al., 2021). To use real time data (Aziz et al., 2013) and to conduct interviews with SMEs owners from multiple industries (such as Pharma) and regions is also recommended (Delerue et al., 2015; Glavas et al., 2019). It is also suggested to study the internet-enabled experience in the context of firms’ innovation and success (Bocconcelli et al., 2017).  The nature of value creation process is needed to be understood in the context of social media-based innovation (Holland et al., 2018). Further, the future studies can be conducted to investigate the role of DMCs in branding, market adaptation and further technologies like 5G and AIs (Wang & Fatima, 2020). DK5 has set grounds for future studies based on mean-risk analysis, while the notion of knowledge donation and collection in manufacturing and healthcare context should be explored (Tassabehji et al., 2019). The link between social media and collective intelligence should also be explored by future researchers (Hassani et al., 2022).

The upcoming researchers are recommended to implement the theoretical concepts related to social media-based innovation in the context of more regions, industries and firms (Tobiassen et al., 2022). The studies that have collected data from smaller sample and only considered owners of SMEs as participants (Wang & Fatima, 2020; Rodrigues et al., 2018), should be replicated in wider context with larger sample (Fready et al., 2022) and by adding more case studied (Matarazzo et al., 2021) such that more generalizable findings can be generated. To explore the phenomenon in more recent context is also an important direction to follow by future researchers (Patma et al., 2021), such that post COVID insight is generated. Moreover, further content analysis or quantitative analysis can help to understand if factors like target audience, branch, number of Facebook followers or the different choice of words influence the participation rate (Kraus et al., 2019). Alford et al. (2015) recommended to conduct e-survey in multiple sectors, companies and countries. Inclusion of small businesses in different sectors (Harel et al., 2019) and comparison between two sectors based on multi-method research (Scuotto et al., 2017) is suggested. The inclusion of information technologies turbulence as moderating variable to determine customer relationship management is suggested (Pratono, Aluisius & Hery, 2018). Overall, several gaps were highlighted across three databases, and it is expected that future researchers can lay their hands on the opportunity to strengthen knowledge base on social media related innovation for SMEs.

4 What factors lead to adopt/use social media in SMEs

The articles from three databases have highlighted numerous factors that explain adoption of social media in SMEs. The need of information integration in SMEs (Holland et al., 2018), need of strengthening digital market relationship and market-sensing capabilities (Wang, 2020) and digital transformation to improve capabilities and resources of organization are some leading factors highlighted in WoS database (Matarazzo et al., 2021). The competition is also increasing at higher speed and in order to cope-up with increasing competitive forces knowledge creation through social media is deemed important by SMEs (Mitrega et al., 2021; v et al., 2018). Moreover, social media is also considered by SMEs as value adding tool which enables them to improve connectivity through collection of quality information (Michaelidou et al., 2011). Similarly, the research has realized the potential of online customer engagement, specifically in the times of COVID 19 whereby unprecedented restrictions need alternate mode of communication with customers (Fready et al., 2022; Ahmed et al., 2016).  Likewise, the strategic culture of SMEs is transforming, whereby need of open innovation is arising for SMEs through integration with external world (Rozak et al., 2021; Dey et al., 2019, Bell & Loane, 2010). Social media has also triggered innovation landscape, which offers greater opportunity for organizational learning and allows SMEs to seek competitiveness through customer focus (Scuotto et al., 2017).

The needs and demands of customers are also changing (Rakshit et al., 2021) and enhanced customization is obtained through social media adoption in SMEs (Jafari et al., 2015). Moreover, as SMEs has limited resources based on their size and scope, thus digital transformation through social media enables them to comply with innovation requirements of market (Quaye & Mensah, 2019). The improvement in firms’ profitability and productivity (Patma et al., 2021), ensuring sustainability through social media-based marketing (Bocconcelli et al., 2017), upgrading and innovating the selling processes (Glavas et al., 2019) and realizing the crowdfunding potential through collaboration (Datta, et al., 2019) are also some important factors behind social media adoption of SMEs.

5 What the factors lead to adopt/using innovation in SMEs

The innovation adoption in SMEs is driven by the changing needs and demands of consumers and market (Rakshit et al., 2021) and to realize the strategic goal of organization to become highly innovative business within marketing (Rozak et al., 2021). The societies are also undergoing change, whereby technological development is introducing new and innovative technological tools (Scuotto et al., 2020) that demand higher level of integration with external knowledge (dn17) and thus open innovation serves as the way for SMEs to connect with the global business (Dey et al., 2019; Zhang & Zhu, 2021; Gaglio et al., 2022; Bell & Loane, 2010). Moreover, SMEs are engaged in the continual quest of knowledge and learning, such that change in market is accounted and new products and services are offered to customers (Dotsika & Patrick, 2013). Additionally, the performance of SMEs is based on their potential to innovate, which requires them to implement new and innovative technologies, such that new products can be introduced at increasing speed with better quality and customer focus (Balakrishnan & Das, 2020; Brown et al., 2019). The value-cocreation with customers (Jafari et al., 2015) effective management of customer relationship (Alford et al., 2015) and to imply research and development for better value creation for customers are also some significant factors behind innovation of SMEs.

COVID 19 pandemic has also been considered an important realization for SMEs to innovate, as traditional ways of operating were irrelevant in the presence of pandemic restrictions (Yu et al., 2021). The research also highlighted that industries are no more confined, and globalization demands organizations to adopt and implement open innovation model, such that collaboration can be fostered for efficient commercialization of products and services of SMEs (Iglesias-Sanchez et al., 2020; Amoah et al., 2021; Maghsoudi et al., 2019). To sum up, survival of SMEs is based on their ability to innovate and reliance on social media based innovation is easier and cost effective for SMEs.

6 What types of innovations (like product innovation/service innovation etc.)

The research articles from three databases have made reliance on several types of innovation, which were either related to development of new product (Jafari et al., 2015; Boulocher-Passet et al., 2019) or service (Ram et al., 2021) for the customers or to adopt new technology for improvement of existing processes and procedures of SMEs. The acquisition of knowledge and using it for benefiting the consumers and society is also innovation stance of some SMEs (Scuotto et al., 2017). The study of Matarazzo et al. (2021) has for instance considered the innovation of SMEs through adoption of big data, artificial intelligence and reliance on 4.0 machines innovation. Such innovations assist the SMEs to improve communication efficiency and do business in more efficient manner. Efficient storage and access of data and information has been addressed as innovation type in study of Tassabehji et al. (2019) and Hassani et al. (2022). Another aspect of innovation was mentioned about business-customer interaction, business-customer cocreation, innovated customer relationship management and service marketing investment (Fready et al., 2022, Kraus et al., 2019). The enhancement of pricing capabilities and selling capabilities through social media branding was also a highlighted aspect of social media based innovation in SMEs (Happonen et al., 2022, Pratono et al., 2018).

Other aspects of innovation included the social media marketing (Aziz et al., 2013), use of social media in health and biotechnology (Delerue, 2015), incremental and radical innovation (Datta et al., 2019), strategic innovation (Alhaimer, 2021), technological innovation (Seow et al., 2021), cultural innovation (Yu et al., 2021), business model remodelling and re-strategizing (Kesting & Günzel-Jensen, 2015), business innovation (Dotsika & Patrick, 2013) and skill and performance innovation (Rozak et al., 2021).

7 What are the keys components of innovation (e.g., Knowledge sharing and management…etc)

The perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, e-business adoption and SMEs sustainability were some of the key aspect of social media adoption and innovation (Patma et al., 2021). The information resources supported by social media are highly attractive for SMEs and it has provided new hybrid element of promotion mix for SMEs, which made it highly attractive to adopt social media networking (Aziz et al., 2013; Delerue & Cronje, 2015).  The ability to foster knowledge utilization by IT and virtual platform was one of the key motivational factors behind social media driven innovation in SMEs (Candi et al., 2018). Likewise, crowdfunding and strategic planning were considered as key innovation components in the research articles (Datta et al., 2019). The knowledge sharing and active customers interaction based on the changes brought by COVID 19 pandemic was one component of innovation highlight by Tobiassen et al. (2022) and Fready et al. (2019).

Some of the other innovation components highlighted in the chosen research articles were linked with business model generation, networking and opportunities for the cashflow generation (Brink, 2017; Soto-Acosta et al., 2017; Gaglio et al., 2022). The customer feedback, customer relationship management and knowledge integration from effective customer management were also considered important innovation components (Nijssen & Ordanini, 2020; Cheng & Shiu, 2019). Moreover, social media based innovation has also enabled SMEs to improve organizational agility through ICT utilization and knowledge integration (Rozak et al., 2021). Likewise, by using social media SMEs have become able to realize the potential of open innovation, whereby using external knowledge for strengthening innovation of products and services (Freixanet et al., 2021). In conclusion, the key innovation components highlighted in most of the articles are related to acquisition and utilization of knowledge for the purpose of seeking SMEs sustainability, agility and competitiveness.

8 Business performance through COVID 19 (how the business doing through the crisis)

SMEs have the limited resource base which made it highly vulnerable to pandemic related restrictions and they were most affected in contrast to larger corporations (Yu et al., 2021). The pandemic has caused economic downturn and caused major shifts in investment and consumption patterns, along with shifting the marketing model from conventional offline to online (Patma et al., 2021). This shift was not confined to large corporations only, but SMEs were most influential groups of businesses by this marketing model shift.

Due to inability of businesses to perform their routine operations and to interact with consumers in traditional manner, COVID pandemic has exerted pressure on SMEs to adopt social media tools to comply with rapid changes across industry and market (Kwon et al., 2021, Wang et al., 2020). The social media has become essential for businesses during the pandemic and thus market requirement was the major force behind adoption of social media during pandemic (Rakshit et al., 2021). In order to deal with the changes brought by pandemic, SMEs are compelled to improve their techno-skills, such that compliance with market related changes can be generated (Qalati et al., 2022, Fraccastoro, Gabrielsson & Chetty, 2021). Moreover, the study of Fready et al. (2022) has mentioned that digital interaction based on social media channels are considered more effective than traditional B2B platforms and thus SMEs have continued the use of social media even after ease-up of pandemic related restrictions. Finally, in order to deal with the business performance loss caused by pandemic, SMEs adopted social media tools to engage in communication with consumers and to continue business operations through pandemic (Happonen et al., 2022).