SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY USE AND MANAGERS PERCEPTION. A PRELIMINARY STUDY IN THE ITALIAN WINE INDUSTRY

This preliminary study contributes to enrich the empirical eviendences on the role and impact of SM technology adoption in the Italian wine sector. In particular, the aims are to (i) understand the reasons that guide entrepreneurs to adopt SMs, (ii) identify the usefulness of SMs in the various business activities and (iii) examine the perception that the implementation of these tools has on the company's economic and organizational performance. In order to collect these ifnromation an electronic survey has been conducted among Sicilian wineries. Our findings show that the main raisons driving entrepreneurs to adopt SMs technology are the need to promote corporate image and to exploit a new communication channel. These tools are used to monitoring comments in order to understand both the attitudes towards purchasing and buying preferences and how messages are perceived by customers. Results confirm a positive effect of SM adoption in terms of corporate image and customer relationship management. This research has some theretical and practical implications. If appropriately used our results can support the entrepreneurial choices taking into consideration that these tools allow to improve the customer relationship management and in particular the corporate image of the firm into the market.