BARRIERS TO SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTION IN ROMANIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
BARRIERS TO SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTION IN ROMANIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Summary/Abstract: According to the latest Eurostat statistics, Romania ranks the 28th (last position) amongst all EU countries, in terms of using social media: only 9% of the Romanian enterprises are using two or more of the following channels: social networks, enterprise's blog or microblog, multimedia content sharing websites, wiki-based knowledge-sharing tools. Social media is the least used in companies from the constructions industry: 34,7 % of the companies in EU and 22,5% of the Romanian companies. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers at different construction companies to investigate social media adoption. This research addresses how Romanian managers in the construction sector view the rise of the Internet 2.0, what their level of social media understanding is and their perceptions of the benefits or drawbacks for their organization. The outcomes of this research show that reasons for avoiding the use of social media are nuanced and highly varied. A major finding points out that Romanian managers in the construction industry still consider the website as the central tool for communication with customers and the printed brochures for advertising their products and services. The lack of digital skills and the lack of personal use of social media are also indicators often mentioned during the interviews. The sample was limited to only one European country, Romania. Ideally, the study should be followed by new ones including more countries. Understanding why these Romanian companies are not using social media might be a starting point in understanding the similar situation in different European countries.

• Details
• Contents