SOCIO-TECHNICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTION IN BUSINESS A Semiotic Perspective

Web 2.0 technologies, commonly referred to as social media (SM), have become important tools within the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) in the last few years. SM tools such as blogs, wild and other services which are widely used by individuals also have an effect on business activities. SM tools can change the mode and intensity, at which a business connects, collaborates, cooperates and communicates. However, SM tools have not yet to be fully utilised as value-adding tools in improving business relationships. Different scholars have proposed various socio-technical approaches to study organisations and information systems (IS) analysis, modelling and implementation. This paper identifies the social and technical factors that influence SM adoption in a business environment. The Organisational Semiotics (OS) approach, specifically the 'organisational onion' model and the semiotic framework, has been used to understand and analyse SM at different abstraction levels and through a scoping study.