Research Report: Social Networking's Role in Business Operations

This report investigates the role of social networking in business operations, aiming to identify its advantages and disadvantages through both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The study explores the use of social networking in various business functions such as marketing, recruitment, and brand expansion, supported by a literature review that highlights both the benefits and risks associated with these platforms, including cyber-attacks and data breaches. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, utilizing literature reviews, questionnaires, and interviews to gather data from employees in different industries. The findings suggest that while social networking enhances business efficiency and performance, effective implementation requires skilled employees and appropriate training. The report recommends that companies invest in employee training and hire skilled personnel to leverage the full potential of social networking tools.

Running head: RESEARCH 0
[Type the document title]
RESEARCH 0

Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................1
Project Objective:.......................................................................................................................1
Project Scope:.............................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................2
Research Questions/Hypothesis:................................................................................................3
Primary Question...................................................................................................................3
Secondary Questions..............................................................................................................3
Research Design and Methodology:..........................................................................................3
Qualitative research................................................................................................................4
Quantitative research..............................................................................................................5
Research Limitations..................................................................................................................5
Time Schedule (Research plan).................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Reference List:...........................................................................................................................7
Appendix....................................................................................................................................9

Introduction:
Most of the organisations these days use technological tools to make their function
prominent. Most of the functions of the companies like recruitment, marketing, advertising
etc. are practiced with the help of digital tools (Abeza, O’Reilly and Reid, 2013). This draws
the attention towards implementation of the social networking tools in the companies these
days. Social networks are used by most of the companies in order to hire the people for
marketing purpose such as market research, communication etc. some of the companies like
Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dominos etc. are using various social network tools very efficiently. As
it provides various advantages to the companies, there are many risks associated with the
same such as cyber-attacks etc. This report focuses on the research methods and the analysis
that has been conducted in order to research about the advantages and disadvantages of the
social networks for businesses.
Project Objective:
The primary objective of this research is related to the role of social networking in different
organisations.
 To understand the concept of social networking
 To understand how the companies make use of social networking
 To identify the advantages of social networking in some of the business functions.
 To identify the demerits of suing social networking in businesses
Project Scope:
This research proposal is effective in analysing the examples of various companies who make
use of social networking in their business functions (Liamputtong and Serry, 2013.). The research
is supported by various theories and thus it helps in understand the basic concept of social
networking and its role and impact on the business organisations. This project not only helps
in analysing the advantages of using social networking but also helps in identifying the
disadvantages of the same for businesses.

Literature Review
Summary of literature review:
As per Trusov, Bodapati and Bucklin (2010), social networks are the online mediums that
serve the users with various facilities such as connecting with their friends and relatives who
are living at distance, accessing the data and information present on internet etc. with the
advancement in the social networking field, its uses have increased and now it is not just
restricted to the use of individuals. It has been suggested by Williams (2017) that there are
around 3 million social networking sites and Facebook is amongst the sites which are most
popular (Cheung, Chiu and Lee, 2011). As far as the advantages are concerned, it has been
analysed that most of the companies like Amazon, Facebook, etc. are doing their business
online and are successful in their strategies (Safko, 2010). Thus, social networking is
providing too many benefits in terms of marketing of the products and conduction of market
research as well. In addition to it, there are various other forms in which the social
networking is proved to be very advantageous such as recruitment and hiring, brand and
business expansion, communication with the customers etc (Kietzmann, Hermkens,
McCarthy and Silvestre, 2011). the companies have started using the social networking
mediums for the purpose of marketing their products (Lin and Ye, 2009). But, later on they
realised that they can interact directly with the customers and make their brand stronger by
analysing the opinions of the customers directly. This also develops brand loyalty as well
because the customers feel more connected with the company (Bell, 2013). After marketing
department, the recruitment process also takes place on social networking sites by contacting
the candidates through social networks (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). This is because more
and more people are engaging themselves with social networking and thus it becomes easy
for the companies to source the people, and also for the people to look for the opportunities
available for them (Rowlands, Nicholas, Russell, Canty and Watkinson, 2011). As there are
many advantages of using social networking, it also brings many demerits such as cyber-
attacks, copying of the strategies, online data corruption and threats, etc. According to
Goolsby, Shanley and Lovell (2013), social networking is a sensitive approach of doing
business as it becomes easy for the hacker to hack the data and information.
Literature gaps and opportunities:

The literature review is very supportive in analysing the advantages and disadvantages of
social networking for business. It has been analysed from the literature that most of the
companies are using social network in their business operations. However, there are several
gaps in the literature as well. It does not allow the scholar to analyse the growth and evolution
of social networking since times. Moreover, it also does not explain the recommended
strategies for the companies in order to use social networking for businesses effectively.
Research Questions/Hypothesis:
Primary Question
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of social networking in business?
Secondary Questions
 What are the basic concepts of social networking?
 What are the benefits of social networking in businesses?
 What are its demerits for the business?
 What are the strategies used to overcome the challenges raised by the demerits?
Research Design and Methodology:
Research design is the part that helps in analysing the methods and the strategies that has
been used in the research process to conduct the study(Neuman, 2013). It has been analysed
that there are different elements of research design that are described below:
Qualitative research
It is the type of research that helps in analysing the qualitative aspects of research. This is
done to help the researcher to understand the theoretical concept of the topic and the reasons
behind the concept (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2013). Literature review is one of the best
methods for the above research to conduct the qualitative study (Fowler, 2013). Following is
the process that should be followed for a general qualitative research.
 Identification of topic

 Reading so many related articles and prior studies
 Development of conceptual framework
 Findings
 Conclusion
Validity and reliability: in terms of validity, it has been analysed that the data collected in the
qualitative research and the result concluded from such research are assumed to be valid for
long time but cannot be reliable. This is because of the non-inclusion of numerical facts and
figures.
Sample size and sampling: sampling helps the researcher to select the segment of the
population on which the research has been done. In this case the sample size is 50. 50
employees from different companies of different industries have been selected to conduct the
research with the method of random sampling.
Data collection: the data collection method that can be used is literature review. This is the
best source to collect the data. It is the secondary data source that helps in analysing various
studies that has earlier been conducted on the topic.
Data analysis: the analysis tool that has been used in this case is content analysis as the
method that has been used for collecting the data is literature review. Content analysis helps
in analysing the content and understanding its various aspects.
Variable specification: in this case, the industry selected can act the variables as the uses of
social networking changes as per the industry.
Quantitative research
It is the method of conducting the research that considers numerical values in it (Saunders,
2011). This study or research is more effective in nature because the quantitative research
helps in conducting research on the facts and figures.
Step for research:
 Identification of topic
 Data collection
 Data analysis
 Findings
 Conclusion
Validity and reliability: as it is the quantitative research thus it help in analysing the facts and
figured as well as numerical data. This is more reliable than the qualitative research. As far as

the validity is concerned, it has been analysed that the data can be valid only till the statistics
remains same.
Sampling and sample size: sampling can be defined as the process to select the group of
sample from the overall population. The sampling method that has been used in this case is
cluster sampling method and the size is 100.
Data collection method: questionnaire and interviews is the most important and the reliable
data collection method. In this case of quantitative research, primary data collection method
has been used to collect the data. The data collected in this case is more real and the
reliability of the data is more.
Data analysis method: as there are two data collection method used thus the data can be
analysed through two types of methods such as statistical data analysis method and content
analysis. Content analysis is used in the case of interviews and statistical is used in the case of
questionnaire.
Research Limitations
The research that has been conducted in this case is basically on analysing the advantages and
disadvantages of social networking in the business functions. This research can be made more
effective if some of the limitations would have been removed. The first limitation that has
been found in this research is that of sample size. The sample size is too small which
somehow manipulates the results or the outcomes and the outcomes cannot be implied on
overall population. As per this case, another limitation is found to be the industries chosen.
There are only 5 industries chosen to conduct the research and thus the results of the research
are only about those industries and the companies operating in those industries.
Time Schedule (Research plan)
Activities involves in the research plan:
1. Identification of research objectives: the most important stage is to develop the
objectives for the research.
2. Development of research questions: research questions are developed in order to
answer the same in the need to conduct the research. These questions are made as per
the objectives of the research.

3. Designing of the research: in this step or activity, all the methods of conducting the
research has been decided. This is the most crucial part of conducting the research and
it requires the researchers to be very intelligent in selecting the methods.
4. Data collection: this step requires the researchers to collect the data by some of the
relevant methods
5. Data analysis: analysis of data is done in order to identify the results.
6. Results and findings: this requires the researcher to conclude the overall research
7. Limitations: this step of research limitations is conducted to find out the limitations
of the research that can be improved in future
Gantt chart (Appendix 1)
Conclusion
This is the research that has been conducted on the social networking usage and its merits and
demerits for the businesses. The research has been conducted by two methods that are
qualitative and quantitative. The results of both the research is as follows:
Qualitative: it has been conducted by the literature review. The literature review supports the
arguments that social networking has ant metrist and advantages to different businesses such
as in functions like marketing, recruitment, brand extension etc. some of the demerits that has
been analysed from the literatures is related to cyber-attacks and crimes. It has been analysed
that it becomes easy for the hackers to jack the company’s data online.
Quantitative: this research has been conducted by two of the data collection methods that are
questionnaire and interviews. The statistical analysis of questionnaire suggests that 60% of
the employees believe that social networking has improved the efficiency of their
performance and the business functions. There are some disadvantages but the merits are
more comparatively. As far as the content analysis of interviews is considered, it has been
analysed that training of skills related to social networking is required to make their effective
use and if they get the same they can make better use of the social networking tools available
in the company. Thus it is recommended to the companies to train the employees and hire the
skilled employees for the purpose of using social networking in business functions.

Reference List:
Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N. and Reid, I., 2013. Relationship marketing and social media in
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Bell, T., 2013.Establishing Brand Loyalty through Social Media. [Online] Texas Tech
University. Available at: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/comc/research/outpost/blog/brand-
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Cheung, C.M., Chiu, P.Y. and Lee, M.K., 2011. Online social networks: Why do students use
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Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K., 2013. Research methods in education. Routledge.
Fowler Jr, F.J., 2013. Survey research methods. Sage publications.
Goolsby, R., Shanley, L. and Lovell, A., 2013. On cybersecurity, crowdsourcing, and social
cyber-attack.OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH ARLINGTON VA.
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), pp.59-68.

Kietzmann, J.H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I.P. and Silvestre, B.S., 2011. Social media? Get
serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business
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Liamputtong, P. and Serry, T., 2013. Making sense of qualitative data. Research methods in
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Lin, F. and Ye, W., 2009, May.Operating system battle in the ecosystem of smartphone
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Symposium on (pp. 617-621). IEEE.
Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Pearson education.
Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Russell, B., Canty, N. and Watkinson, A., 2011. Social media use
in the research workflow. Learned Publishing, 24(3), pp.183-195.
Safko, L., 2010. The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success.
John Wiley & Sons.
Saunders, M.N., 2011. Research methods for business students, 5/e. Pearson Education India.
Trusov, M., Bodapati, A.V. and Bucklin, R.E., 2010.Determining influential users in internet
social networks. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(4), pp.643-658.
Williams, B., 2017. There are now over 3 billion social media users in the world — about 40
percent of the global population. [Online] Mashable. Available at:
http://mashable.com/2017/08/07/3-billion-global-social-media-users/#xuskr05uaaq7
[Accessed on 17/01/2018]

Appendix
1. Gantt chart (time schedule)
Activity Time (in months)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Identification of
objectives
Development of
research questions
Research design
Data collection
Data analysis
Results and findings
Limitation findings