This study aims to examine how digital business capability (DBC)—a firm’s ability to strategically manage digital resources and technologies—shapes social media capabilities (SMCs) and drives social media performance.
Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), a conceptual model was developed and empirically tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on survey data from 150 firms actively engaged in social media initiatives.
This study highlights the central role of digital business capability (DBC) in shaping firms’ social media capabilities and enhancing performance outcomes. The empirical results show that DBC has a significant positive effect on social media analytics, engagement and strategy, reinforcing its position as a foundational digital capability. Moreover, social media engagement emerges as the most influential predictor of social media performance. These findings suggest that firms that invest strategically in digitalization and cultivate adaptive, customer-focused engagement practices are better positioned to leverage social media for superior performance.
This study is limited by its cross-sectional design, sectoral concentration and potential conceptual overlap among capabilities. Future research should refine the measurement of SMCs, use longitudinal designs and adopt broader sampling strategies to capture contextual variations across industries, firm sizes and levels of digital maturity.
To maximize social media impact, managers should invest in digital infrastructure and tools to strengthen DBC, providing a solid foundation for analytics, strategy and engagement. They should prioritize customer-centric practices that actively engage audiences and adapt content based on feedback, while ensuring all efforts are aligned with strategic goals and guided by data insights. This coordinated, adaptive approach positions firms to drive superior social media performance.
This study provides novel evidence on the mechanisms through which digital capabilities are translated into performance gains. In doing so, it extends DCT by identifying critical dynamic capabilities in the digital context. From a practical perspective, the findings move beyond the prevailing focus on technology adoption and demonstrate how firms can achieve superior outcomes by strategically leveraging social media platforms.
