Too much of a good thing: information overload effects on customer engagement in SMES

Author

Shaoor Ahmed

Degree

Master of Science in Management

Faculty / School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Department

Department of Management

Date of Submission

Fall 2021

Supervisor

Dr. Amer Iqbal Awan, Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi

Committee Member 1

Dr. Amer Iqbal Awan, Supervisor, Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi

Project Type

MS Management Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Customer Analytics, Social Media Analytics, Information overload, Customer Engagement

Abstract

Business Analytics is one of the fastest growing areas in research, many researchers have highlighted the importance of business analytics. Along with benefits, business analytics have challenges too because of attributes of big data. SMEs are using analytical tools, that lack empirical testing. Within limited IT and human capital resources, these analytics tools for SMEs can create a negative impact on performance due to information overload effects. Particularly, we used customer analytics and social media analytics and checked their impact on customer engagement in Small and medium sized restaurants and also, we tried to figure out, if there are any sources of information overload, while using customer analytics and social media analytics. We used online survey form, containing close ended questions and received responses form owners, marketing managers and social media managers. Our results are based on 127 responses from different restaurants. By using simple regression, we have tested the hypotheses. The findings of our study are suggesting that customer analytics and social media analytics help in increasing customer engagement. Using curvilinear relationship, we found that information overload effect is not caused by large volume of data either for customer analytics or social media analytics and by using interaction term we found, diversity of sources of data, that is through customer analytics and social media analytics, is causing information overload that resulted in negative impact on customer engagement.

Recommended Citation

Ahmed, S. (2021). Too much of a good thing: information overload effects on customer engagement in SMES (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mgt/1