ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Business survival is one of the major challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the Tellian District of Mukah, Sarawak, following the COVID-19 pandemic. Early observations indicate that despite considerable efforts by entrepreneurs, they still exhibit lack dependency behaviour on social media for the sake of business survival. Hence, the study has two main objectives: 1) To examine the determinants of dependency on social media, and 2) To analyse the moderating effect of effort expectancy between determinants and dependency on social media among entrepreneurs in Tellian District. This study mainly applied the UTAUT theory as a foundation. The questionnaire was designed and collected from 51 entrepreneurs in the Tellian District. Partial Least Squares -Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied as the main analysis tool in this study. The findings of this study indicated that social influence, facilitating conditions, and price value have a significant impact on social media dependency behaviour. In addition, effort expectancy has significantly weakened the relationship between social influence and dependency behaviour, and effort expectancy significantly strengthens the relationship between price value and dependency behaviour. The findings of this study will serve as a guide for policymakers at the Municipal Council and State Government in addressing issues related to dependency behaviour and business survival. Furthermore, this study advances the theory by testing effort expectancy as a potential moderating variable in the UTAUT theory, adding to its novelty.
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