Triangulating Moderate Impact of Social Media Marketing Communication Between Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy and Social Influence on Business Performance in Cashew Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abstract The theoretical triangulation (TT) in social media marketing communication and business performance is rare to observe. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the contributions of multiple theories of performance expectancy theory (PET), effort expectancy theory (EET), and social influence theory (SIT) and explain whether social media marketing communication (SMMC) moderates the relationship between those theories and business performance (BP). A sample of 218 cashew salespeople from Sri Lanka were surveyed, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) through AMOS 26.0. The finding of the SEM analysis indicated that PE, EE and SI have significant positive relationship with potential sellers’ business performance. The moderation effect results showed that SMMC was a poor moderator of the relation between the EE and BP, as well as the SI and BP, nevertheless, the result showed that SMMC is a partial moderator of the relation between the PE and BP. The current study method necessitates caution in generalizing the findings. More variables may be introduced in future studies to explore the moderation effect between the predictor and BP of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework. The current study helps cashew sellers widen their horizons while evaluating the practical results of academic research. The findings of this study not only demonstrate that the TT appears to be acceptable in explaining predictors and BP in the cashew industry, but also indicate the resilience of the TT’s ability to predictors and BP in a different research context. Through SEM analysis, this study attempts to add SMMC as a moderator in the UTAUT framework and investigate the moderating effect between predictors and BP. In order to that this study aims to bridge the gap between these moderating effects and how salespeople in SMMC impact BP.