Date
12-4-2025
Department
Graduate School of Business
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Chair
Santoshia Oggs
Keywords
social media, social media barriers, small retail business owners, antique industry, diffusion of innovation theory
Disciplines
Marketing
Recommended Citation
Korolewicz, Mitchell Edward, "Determining the Internal and External Barriers That Small Antique Retail business Owners in East Texas Face, Which influence Their Decisions to Underutilize or Not Adopt Social Media As a Promotional Tool" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7675.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7675
Abstract
The specific problem addressed in this study was that some small antique retail business owners in East Texas are potentially underutilizing or not adopting social media as a promotional tool, resulting in possible decreased competitiveness. The purpose of this flexible design, single case study was to determine the internal and external barriers that small antique retail business owners in East Texas face, which influence their decisions to underutilize or not adopt social media as a promotional tool. Rogers’s (1962) diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and its innovation decision process (IDP) model provided the theoretical foundation for this study. Data were collected through 26 semi-structured interviews with small antique retail business owners in East Texas. Using Braun and Clarke’s (2023) thematic analysis process, the researcher analyzed the qualitative data to identify four key themes: limited social media knowledge, industry norms, minimal concern for reputational risk, and time constraints. These findings answered the three research questions by revealing that a lack of social media knowledge and competitor pressure were barriers to social media adoption for small antique retail business owners in East Texas; however, threats to brand reputation were not. Instead, a lack of time emerged as an internal barrier to social media adoption. The researcher proposed three specific application strategies to address the internal and external barriers to social media adoption faced by the participants: attending social media training workshops, organizing social media support groups for small antique retail business owners, and hiring marketing interns from local high schools and colleges.
