Abstract
Recently, digital marketing has become one of the basic tools that companies rely on to achieve growth and expansion in markets. Digital marketing is widely used in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where it contributes significantly to improving their performance. However, these companies face multiple challenges in adopting and implementing digital marketing effectively.
This study aims to study the factors affecting the performance of digital marketing in SMEs in developing countries. More precisely, this research studies the impact of technological, organizational, environmental, individual, and cultural factors on the performance of digital marketing in these companies. The research proposes a model that can help SMEs improve their digital marketing performance and increase their competitiveness in the market.
The study used quantitative research, which includes a questionnaire designed to measure the impact of the study factors on the performance of digital marketing in SMEs. Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire from 240 SMEs in Sana’a City, Yemen, as a case study. The data were analyzed, and the hypotheses were tested using the statistical program SPSS. In addition, a proposed model was designed to study the impact of these factors based on the integration of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, and the model was validated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through the statistical software SmartPLS 4.
The study results showed that there are key factors affecting digital marketing performance in SMEs. The most influential factor was facilitating conditions, followed by perceived need and top management support. In contrast, other factors such as perceived awareness, relative advantage, and attitudes had a weak impact. Moreover, the findings indicated that behavioral intention, despite being strongly influenced by ease of use and perceived usefulness, did not have a strong direct impact on digital marketing performance.
Keywords: Digital marketing; small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); TAM model; TOE model.
