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Student mentors: aiding tourismbusinesses to overcome barriers tosocial mediaVikki Schaffera

a Faculty of Arts and Business, University of the Sunshine Coast,Sippy Downs, Queensland, AustraliaPublished online: 07 Apr 2014.

To cite this article: Vikki Schaffer (2014): Student mentors: aiding tourism businesses to overcomebarriers to social media, Current Issues in Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2014.904847

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2014.904847

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Student mentors: aiding tourism businesses to overcome barriers tosocial media

Vikki Schaffer∗

Faculty of Arts and Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland,Australia

(Received 20 December 2013; final version received 27 February 2014)

Increasingly tourism businesses are attempting to interact and communicate withconsumers using a variety of social media tools. However, many are struggling tocontinue to effectually and effectively engage with an interactive audience so willingto openly speak their minds. Adoption barriers exist that limit the effective use ofthese and other new innovative technologies. This study confirms that the mainbarriers to the use of information communication technologies are also reflected inthe active use of social media. These include a lack of skill, knowledge, time andresources. Despite confirmation in this and other studies, there is limited research intohow businesses can overcome these barriers to more productively utilise social mediatools and technologies. This paper investigates the synergistic relationships betweenuniversity students and small, tourism-related businesses, and how a student-industryproject can aid in reducing the barriers of engagement with social media. Onlinequestionnaires collected anonymous responses from participating businesses in 2010and 2011. It transpired that businesses gained confidence, skills and informationwhile simultaneously providing real-world student experiences that extended beyondthe classroom into the wider community. This opportunity offered tourism businessesa point of entry for understanding and utilising these new technologies.

Keywords: tourism; small business; student-based projects; overcoming barriers; socialmedia

Introduction

Micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are essential employment generators thatfacilitate socio-economic expansion (Wolcott, Kamal, & Qureshi, 2008) central to econ-omic growth (Fosso, Wamba, & Carter, 2013). These types of firms accounted for 65%(9.8 million) of the 15 million net new jobs created in the USA between 1993 and 2009,making up 99.7% of US employer firms (Small Business Advisory Office of Advocacy[SBA], 2012). Further, 96% (4.6 million) of UK businesses employ between 0–9people, accounting for 32% of employment and 20% of turnover (Rhodes, 2013). InAustralia, SME’s constitute 95% of all actively trading businesses (Connolly, Norman, &West, 2012). Small tourism businesses are a key distinguishing feature of the tourism indus-try, have been described as fragile with unorthodox business structures) and are perceived tobe powerful agents of social, economic and political transformation, individually andcollectively, within multiple contexts (Morrison, Carlsen, & Weber, 2010).

# 2014 Taylor & Francis

∗Email: v.schaffer@usc.edu.au

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It is vital that these businesses have access to technologies such as social media but alsoassistance and support in how to use them. Although high on the agenda for today’sbusinesses many awkwardly navigate their way around the increasing number, type andfunctionality of social media tools. Information communication technology (ICT) usage,understanding, acceptance and adoption vary between businesses. Within tourism, infor-mation technology usage, uptake and the consequences of usage/non-usage have receivedconsiderable attention in areas such as marketing, hospitality and entrepreneurship(Thomas, Shaw, & Page, 2011). Huang (2008, p. 645), within a study of UK B&B’s, deter-mined those businesses that effectively marketed themselves using e-commerce had a dis-tinct advantage while only those ‘who successfully adopt an e-commerce developmentmodel can thrive in this highly complex electronic market’.

Broadly, the term social media describes the collaboration and connection generated viatechnology-based systems (Joosten, 2012). The outcome of using social media is user-generated content. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development suggeststhis is content published on a publicly accessible website or a social networking site acces-sible to a selected group of people (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop-ment [OECD], 2007). However, this information has the potential to spread beyond theinitial targeted group. Social media tools and technologies are continuously evolving andto date include social networking sites (such as Facebookw, Twitterw and LinkedInw),photo-sharing sites, blogs, Instagramw, Flickrw, Google+w and more. Social media toolscan be used to create personal and business profiles, and develop content via the sharingof information and opinions (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Social media is a pervasive sourceof information that provides new market access, reduced transaction costs and improvedcommunication (Abid, Rahim, & Scheepers, 2011), the potential to enhance value(Culnan, McHugh, & Zubillaga, 2010), and may facilitate customer and business relation-ships. One study found that 70% of the global consumers surveyed explored social media atleast once a month to hear about others’ experiences, and 65% sought to learn more aboutbrands, products and services, while half visited to express concerns or complaints (Nielsen,2012).

Much of the available content is user-generated and includes peer-to-peer communi-cation and, as such, information shared about products and services is no longer controlledor generated solely by businesses (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). This highlights the need forbusinesses to know how to effectively respond in an environment where people can speakso freely (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and place their trust or distrust in information providedby online ‘friends’ such as other consumers, peers and reviewers (Weinberg & Berger,2011). Social media has expanded the opportunities for smaller businesses to connect toand with their target markets. Those who are not able to communicate using onlineavenues may miss business opportunities that can be exploited by more agile andforward-looking competitors (Shepherd, 2011). Social media investment has been occur-ring faster than for any other type of online marketing (Lacho & Marinello, 2010). Engage-ment with social media by small businesses increased from 14% to 27% between 2010 and2011 (Sensis, 2012) and expenditure is estimated to reach $3 billion by 2014 (Lacho &Marinello, 2010). Despite these statistics, only 30% of Australian small businesses areusing these platforms (Sensis, 2013) with SME’s being considered to be technology lateadopters (Darwell, 2012) who have not fully understood how to engage in this new tech-nological world (Milano, Baggio, & Piattelli, 2011). As Facebookw realised an average727 million daily active users in September 2013 and an average 1.19 billion monthlyactive users as at 30 September 2013 (Facebook, 2013), it is advantageous for businessesto learn how to effectively join these conversations.

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Though small businesses have leaner governance structures that can make decision-making quicker, they are constrained in the uptake of new innovations and approachesby their level of knowledge, and the availability of technology and resources (Deo,2013). It has been found that technology adoption by small businesses is inhibited bypoor processes and low levels of skill and expertise (Fernando, Deegan, & Ratsch,2013), a significant barrier to uptake (Michaelidou, Siamagka, & Christodoulides, 2011;Pippen, 2010; Thompson, Williams, Thomas, & Packham, 2010). The lack of financialcapacity to invest in potentially expensive, professional IT and social media services todevelop and maintain social media accounts, further influences uptake (Deo, 2013). Thiscan be mitigated when managers are able to learn from their network contacts or seek gui-dance from mentors (Deo, 2013).

Mentoring involves the support and provision of ones expertise to less-experiencedindividuals in order to enhance their knowledge and skill, and/or build their networks.This process provides a means of supplying people with information when it is neededand reflects the sort of strategies small business people use to garner information(Barrett, 2006). Learning from experience or through action-learning facilitates mentoringand individualised intervention, a learning approach preferred by small business ownersand managers (Laister, 2012). Through network enhancement the sense of isolation feltby many small business owner/managers can be reduced (Barrett, 2006). Mentoringoffers the opportunity to learn through collaboration and can lead to increased knowledge,abilities and self-confidence, and contribute to the expansion of new ideas (Barrett, 2006).This can be extended beyond face-to-face collaboration by using social media tools as amedium for communication between communities of practice, where issues can bedebated, problem solving undertaken and expertise shared (Shepherd, 2011). Consequently,in addition to being a marketing and communication tool, social media offers the opportu-nity for people to partake in and contribute to tutelage, training and professional develop-ment on increasingly individually defined terms (Fiehl, 2012).

In keeping with the process of mentorship, a more personalised approach can be gainedfrom enlisting a trusted facilitator or an IT (social media) champion with the knowledge andskill to aid in navigating the complexity of the Internet and social media (Doiron & Fleet,n.d.; Fleet, 2012). The adoption of social media by small businesses is influenced by cham-pions who are able to strategically align an appropriate strategy with business goals(Fernando et al., 2013). Providing key users, personal assistance or mentors as supportcan result in continuous attainment of social media initiatives (Zeiller & Schauer, 2011).This is further enhanced by building on the existing knowledge of each of the individualsinvolved whereby continuous use and growing skill and confidence perpetuate the process(Gligorijevic & Leong, 2011).

These social media adoption-related barriers raised the question: How can a [university]student-based project aid in reducing the barriers to social media usage by small-medium[tourism-related] businesses? It is hypothesised that universities can take a facilitation roleto aid SME’s businesses to develop their confidence and skill in using social media toolsand technologies. There exists a synergistic opportunity whereby students can aidowners and managers while simultaneously gaining real-world business experiences viareciprocal mentorship and network enhancement opportunities.

Social media tools have been employed in universities to communicate in the classroomand across courses by academics and students. However, the embedding of these tools inassessment has received little attention. The research involving social media and tourismhas focused on consumer behaviour, usage, and the influence on business and destinationimage (Milano et al., 2011). Although today’s university students grew up with the Internet

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and employ multiple social media tools in their everyday lives, few are familiar with theutilisation of these tools and technologies within a business context.

Bishop, D’Este and Neely (2011) found business–university partnerships providedbusinesses with assistance in problem solving but trust can be a barrier to partnership devel-opment. By developing positive levels of trust the barriers to interaction between univer-sities and industry can be reduced (Bruneel, D’Este, & Salter, 2010). This can be timeintensive as high levels of interaction to build trust require face-to-face contact and sus-tained, repeated interactions using a wide range of interaction channels (Bruneel et al.,2010).

Social media and tourism

The Internet has facilitated possibilities for single-operated and managed tourismbusinesses in remote regions to compete alongside larger, city-based businesses. A goodunderstanding of the mechanisms for communicating online is necessary for tourismowner/managers as consumers demand real-time information (for example, availabilityand booking). The effective utilisation of online tools and technologies can be influentialin directing consumer choice and managerial decision-making (Miguens, Baggio, &Costa, 2008).

Tourism is all about experiences. Social media allows for the sharing of travel and lifeexperiences via photos and stories, even as they are happening – real experiences sharedin real time. Tourism Australia has the largest Facebookw page in Australia and the largestdestination page in the world largely because ‘people are passionate about travel and loveto share their holiday experiences via social media’ (Tourism Australia, 2012, para 5).Miguens et al. (2008, p. 2) reiterate the need for tourism businesses to implement anonline presence based on user-generated content. Widespread uptake by consumers andthe influence social media content has on traveller decision-making requires SME’s to effec-tively engage in this arena (Yoo, Gretzel, & Zach, 2011).

Methodology

Sample and data collection

This paper focuses on participating businesses within a student-based, work-integratedlearning project. These were not internship projects whereby students work in an organis-ation or business for an extended period of time. As assessment-based projects, students didnot work in the businesses but with the business owners/managers. Over the semesters, 78%of business owners/managers met with students two or three times for face-to-face meet-ings. These were interspersed with regular email or telephone communication with 36%of respondents indicating they exchanged between three and five emails and 56% statingthey exchanged between 6 and 10 emails.

Tourism-related businesses partnered with undergraduate students. As part of assess-ment requirements, students developed, managed and monitored one social media tool:Facebookw, Twitterw, Blogging or LinkedInw as selected by participating businesses. Avariety of businesses took part including accommodation providers, adventure tourismand leisure providers, transport (buses and cruises) and community not-for-profit groups.The business–student group partnerships involved in the projects worked together forseven weeks during semester in 2010 and 2011 as part of a tourism course in a tourism pro-gramme. In each year, different student cohorts were involved; however, some of thebusinesses were involved for more than one offering. At the end of each semester,

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businesses were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire. A total of 50(86%) responses were provided. Qualitative and quantitative responses were collected. Inmid-2013, a follow-up online questionnaire was administered to all businesses who hadpreviously participated.

Results

The majority of respondents had less than 10 employees (98%) and were from a variety ofprofit and non-for-profit businesses/organisations. Respondents were predominantly speci-alty accommodation providers (43%), followed by transportation/tours (14%) and not-for-profit community-based organisations (9%).

In 2010, 43% of respondents had not applied any social media tools for business pur-poses and in 2011 this had reduced to 22% of respondents. Of those offered, Facebookw

was the social media tool most often developed by respondents prior to participating inthe project. Despite this, in 2010 98% of respondents requested students work withFacebookw and similarly, in 2011 92% of respondents chose to engage with Facebookw.

Respondents indicated they joined the student-based project to ‘gain a better under-standing of the benefits of Facebook for my business’, ‘to find out how to increase ourprofile’, ‘to get some help to set up a page’, ‘to get up to date on social media trends’and ‘learn more about how to use [social media]’. The main barriers to respondents becom-ing active users of social media prior to participating in the social media project were a lackof skill (67%), lack of knowledge (55%), lack of time (44%) and a lack of resources(money) (11%). More than half (57%) indicated these barriers were reduced followingtheir involvement in the project. When asked what they had learned most regardingsocial media, the majority stated – how to use social media more effectively (40%).Further, respondents felt more confident using social media after being involved in theproject, with the majority stating they had put this new, professional knowledge to use.When respondents were asked what the best part of participating in the project was,responses focused on the gaining of confidence (64%), learning how to be more time effi-cient (57%), the opportunity to be involved in useful learning experiences (31%) and theexposure to ‘fresh viewpoints and ideas’ (19%). Business respondents expressed theyhad gained an additional sense of confidence as they were also able to ‘assist the studentswith their learning’ and provide ‘opportunities for the next generation to hone their skills ina practical way’. Business respondents felt they had become more aware of the importanceof social media and the need to continually update their knowledge of these tools and tech-nologies. All business respondents moderately to strongly agreed that the project outcomeswere useful to their business (average 5.5/6 point scale).

A network of learning was established between the course lecturer, participating stu-dents and businesses: and extended beyond the classroom. Responded said they sharedthe information gained and skills developed from being involved in the project withbetween two and six other people. Seventy-one per cent of those who responded saidthey shared the information gained and skills developed with staff and colleagues. Respon-dents also stated they shared with other business contacts (42%) and family (14%). Conver-sely, respondents also sought information regarding social media from others outside theproject. These included staff and colleagues (57%), other business contacts (28%), industrygroups, friends, family and others (10%, respectively).

Network extension further occurred with two businesses revealing they shared theirnew knowledge with other businesses in semi-formal, group settings. Eighty-seven percent of respondents indicated using social media had extended their business networks

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with other local businesses with 40% forming new cross-sector business relationships and31% using social media as a tool to communicate with other local businesses. Respondentsindicated they had also made new connections with other businesses outside of their localarea (12%), with industry-related stakeholders (11%) and with government (9%). Forty-oneper cent attended industry or local government social media-related courses and workshopsas a follow on from their involvement in the project.

After the project was completed, business respondents stated they had a positive attitudetowards social media revealing a variety of constructive outcomes, including improvedcommunication with customers, increased avenues for marketing and access to newmarkets. Overall, respondents agreed to strongly agree that being involved in thestudent-based project assisted them in learning more about the use, and effective appli-cation, of social media in their business. The time-consuming nature of social mediausage was the only negative aspect highlighted with 57% spending between two andfour hours per week posting on social media sites.

The majority of respondents stated they had continued to actively use the social mediatools developed during the project (71%). Currently, the social media tools being employedmost frequently are Facebookw (78%), Twitterw (42%), LinkedInw (14%) and Google+w

(14%). These tools are primarily being used to communicate with consumers (36%) and tomarket the businesses (26%). Finally, in reflection, respondents overwhelmingly stated thatit was advantageous to the business to have assistance and support from a university student(average 6.3/7 point scale).

Discussion and conclusion

This study sought to better understand how to assist businesses to reduce their barriers tosocial media adoption. The focus was on student-based, work-integrated learning projectswith predominantly small tourism-related businesses. There was not a large amount of timecommitment required from the businesses and all respondents said they did not feel theirlevel of commitment was excessive. All projects had a zero dollar budget. This immediatelyaddressed some of the barriers and demonstrated to business owners/managers that theycould utilise social media effectively with minimal cost in time and money.

It is recognised that small tourism businesses are heterogeneous with different require-ments and ways of learning which may influence social media adoption. To date there hasbeen limited research into how best to overcome such adoption barriers specifically associ-ated with social media. Research into IT adoption and use are driven by the need to identifypredicating factors leading to successful application (El-Gohary, 2010; Lynn, Lipp,Akgun, & Cortez, 2002). The extent, quality and effectiveness of external support can influ-ence uptake with financial incentives and government support identified as preferred avenuesfor small owner/operated businesses to undertake new technologies (Matlay & Westhead,2007). In other contexts, training programmes have been used to enhance e-commerceadoption for small- and medium-sized businesses (Caskey & Subirana, 2007; Kuttainen &Lexhagen, 2011), influence greater uptake and provide technical expertise to assist potentialadopters (MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2005). However, these programmes must be relevant to thecharacteristics, and address the needs, of small business (Matlay & Addis, 2003). The resultsof this study support previous ICT research that the key barriers to the uptake and effectiveuse of social media focus on the lack of knowledge, skill, time and money (Matlay &Westhead, 2007; Mehrtens, Cragg, & Mills, 2001; Street & Meister, 2004).

The results presented have relevance for practitioners by highlighting an approach forsmall businesses to address these issues. Here is an opportunity to gain skill and knowledge,

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and share skill and knowledge, in a time and cost-effective manner. It would be expectedthat working with a university would provide some benefits. Much research exists intothe student aspect of this type of learning particularly in the area of internships. Untilnow, there was less understanding of how smaller, assessment-based projects could be ofbenefit from the business’s perspective, particularly in the approach applied here. A keyoutcome for small businesses was derived from co-operative learning, a useful avenuefor actually overcoming the barriers to the effective application of social media.However, social media is not a one size fits all strategy. Consideration needs to be givento the relevance and suitability of this form of marketing communication within thebroader strategy.

The applied approach facilitated opportunities for extending learning beyond thosedirectly involved in the project to create additional network connections. Field (2003pp. 1–2) stated that ‘relationships matter’ and central to this is that ‘networks are a valuableasset’. It has been found that effective networks increase the efficiency of information dif-fusion and actions between stakeholders while reducing transaction costs (Putnam, 1993).Several studies have discussed the various advantages of using social media for the buildingof networking opportunities (Culnan et al., 2010; Gligorijevic & Leong, 2011; Michaelidouet al., 2011). Within this study, networks for enhancing learning were purposefully createdfor participating learners to develop their knowledge by sharing, communicating and col-laborating with others. A network that facilitated knowledge transfer and opportunitiesfor communication between students and their lecturer was initiated (Tosh & Werdmuller,2004) which was extended to the participating small business owners/managers. Of furtherinterest was the extension of the network beyond those directly involved as respondentsshared what they had learned with others. As more people gain new skills and knowledge,there is the potential for the capabilities of the industry and community to also be enriched.

Business owners/managers indicated the benefits of participating included the opportu-nity to form a relationship with the host university, the opportunity to evaluate futureemployees and to participate in their preparation as up and coming industry professionals,an increased awareness of new and innovative ideas, the gaining of assistance and expertise,as well as the confidence to connect with other stakeholders within industry and govern-ment to learn more about using these and other tools and technologies. In competitiveand challenging times, these additional benefits can aid in identifying effective solutionsand opportunities.

A special kind of mentoring relationship evolved within the project. Students were men-tored by the business owners/managers and students reciprocated by providing mentorshipto each other and their business supervisors (participating owners/managers). Mentoring isdefined as ‘a particular mode of learning wherein the mentor not only supports the mentee,but also challenges them productively’ (Smith, 2007, p. 277). Within an educational setting,the relationship is based on a ‘mentor [who] acts as a facilitator and a catalyst for learningrather than as a teacher’ with learners being responsible for their own learning and thementor being ‘responsible for supporting, facilitating and learning with the learner’(Kehoe, 2007, p. 6). It is often assumed that the mentor/mentee relationship is a somewhatunbalanced hierarchical relationship with the mentor being more experienced and providingmore knowledge and skills (Aladejana, Aladejana, & Ehindero, 2006; McCormack & West,2006). While aspects of this hold true for this relationship, the mentorship role transposedthroughout the project. This supports the premise that each individual is being challengedand is taking responsibility for their own input to the learning process as well as for thelearning outcomes of others within and beyond the project. Barrett (2006) suggested thatmentoring is a positive experience for the participants, leading to an increase in self-

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confidence, knowledge and skills, as well as the development of new ideas and the appli-cation of newly learned skills and knowledge. All of these were experienced here. The role,function and structure of mentoring in these types of relationship would be an area forfuture research. In addition, a network study of the links and the extent to which the infor-mation is shared would add validation to the relevance of this type of learning opportunityas a conduit for capacity building within the industry and community.

Much care was required to embed theory into practice. It is interesting and exciting forstudents to be able to work with businesses and to apply new technologies such as socialmedia but these need to be carefully tied to learning outcomes and objectives. As high-lighted by Bruneel et al. (2010), although this was a time-effective approach for businesses,the micro-managing required meant it was a time-consuming approach for the academicdue to high levels of interaction, face-to-face contact and sustained, repeated interactionswith students and businesses. Despite this, the technique of combining student skills, aca-demic support and small business operators facilitated the provision of practical and rel-evant outcomes. The application of an industry project featuring social media is aninnovative approach to learning that extends learning outside the classroom. Althoughthis study is in the context of tourism and social media, there are synergistic opportunitiesin the students/industry nexus to reduce the barriers and build knowledge and skill in a cost-and time-effective manner in a variety of other industries using various innovative tools andtechnologies.

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