Factors Influencing the Use of Social Media to Access Market Information among Small-Scale Chicken Farmers in Arusha City, Tanzania

The study determined the level of use and factors influencing the use of social media to access market information among Small-Scale Chicken Farmers (SSCFs) in Arusha City. Data were collected from 260 SSCFs between June and August 2022 through interviews with key informants and a questionnaire. The data were descriptively analyzed to determine the level of use of social media. In addition, a binary logistic regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the use of social media in accessing market information. The study found that SSCFs had a high level of use (more than 16 times monthly) of WhatsApp as compared to Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (all at less than 16 times monthly). Furthermore, the study identified the following factors as influencing the SSCFs use of social media to access market information: the perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job-fit, attitude, relative advantage and outcome expectations, perceived ease of use, and complexity. Others include social factors and innovative image, perceived behavioural control, facilitating conditions and compatibility, and ownership of smartphone. The study revealed that perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job-fit, attitude, relative advantage and outcome expectations, perceived ease of use and complexity, social factors, innovative image, and ownership of smartphone have a positive influence on the use of social media among SSCFs. Conversely, perceived behavioural control, facilitating conditions, and compatibility have a negative influence on the use of social media among SSCFs to access market information in the study area. The study recommends that the government should create a supportive environment to ensure that factors that have a positive influence on the use of social media platforms to access market information among SSCFs are maintained. Moreover, facilitating conditions, as factors with negative influence on the use of social media to access market information, need to be improved to enable SSCFs to use social media.

Introduction

The use of social media has been increasing in different sectors worldwide. Accordingly, using social media as a platform for business has become a necessity nowadays [1], and globally, the trend shows that social media users have been increasing annually. For example, the number of users increased from 4.50 billion in 2021 to 4.76 billion in 2022 and 4.80 billion in April 2023 [2]. In 2023, social media users were categorized based on their age and reason for using the media. In this regard, social media users with the intention of finding products to purchase were 25.5% at the age of 16–24 years, 27.2% (25–34 years), 26.5% (35–44 years), 25.1% (45–54 years), and 22.6% (55–64 years) [2]. DataReportal revealed further that among the categories of social media users, 11.4% were from Africa, and among these 1.1 and 0.1% were from East Africa and Tanzania, respectively. An increase of users of social media each year implies that information sharing based on various categories of social media users across continents is becoming fast and simple. A study by [3] in India found that the respondents used social media to share information and innovate practices. The study revealed further that the most popular social media in agricultural marketing were Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Twitter. According to [4] in Tanzania, in the order of usage, the five social media networks mostly used are Facebook (GB 2.59 billion), YouTube (1.91 billion GB), WhatsApp (1.58 billion GB), TikTok (999 million GB), and Instagram (531 million GB).

Studies indicate that the level of use of social media depends on the user’s socioeconomic status [5], [6]. As observed by [7], the level of use of social media varies: this is largely influenced by such factors as age, sex, and education level of the farmers. Reference [7] reports further that young farmers were relatively more familiar with social media and recorded a higher level of usage. According to [8], in Nigeria, as the age of young farmers increases, the probability of having a high level of usage of social media for sourcing agricultural information decreases. This means that age as a social demographic factor inversely relates to the use of social media. Similarly, [5] found that farmers’ occupational status, experience, stock size, and the production system are the influencing factors of social media use. Studies by [6] and [9] on the use of social media in local governance revealed that the use of social media to access information, in general, is influenced by socio-cultural and social media-related factors such as the level of e-participation, population size, citizens’ income, and indebtedness.

A study by [1] on factors influencing the adoption of social media among SMEs found that that interactivity, compatibility, and cost-effectiveness have a significant influence on the use of social media. In a similar study [10], revealed that user’s ability to install social media platforms, the accessibility of the platforms, and their perceived comfort critically influenced the use of social media in the learning process in Tanzania and Malaysia. Furthermore [11], revealed that teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills and the school culture influenced primary teachers’ use of digital technology.

Studying the determinants of the adoption of social media by B2B Organizations in the UK [12], concluded that organizational innovativeness and perceived usefulness were the critical determinants. In this respect, various factors have been reported to influence the use of social media, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions [13].

Reflecting on the above review, it is evident that most of the studies on social media have focused on determining factors influencing the use of social media generally, and little has been done on the use of social media in accessing agricultural marketing information among small-scale farmers. In view of the proportion of the population drawing their livelihood from the agricultural sector and the need to ensure effective market information sharing to access profitable markets, a study on this research problem is critical. As [14] observes, the use of social media in the marketing of agricultural products significantly increases marketing efficiency, and so is the turnover as a result of increased demand. Therefore, the study aimed to establish the level of use and determine factors influencing the use of social media in accessing market information among the SSCFs in Tanzania.

The Context of the Study

The study from which information for this article is drawn is informed by the activities of an NGO based in Arusha, northern Tanzania, called ‘Kuku Uchumi (Kuku uchumi is a Swahili phrase that literally means ‘poultry is economy’). The main objective of the organization is to ensure SSCFs are connected to market information through social media and are able to access information related to chicken farming activities. It further aims at linking SSCFs directly with ultimate consumers instead of using intermediaries, which reduces business profit. The NGO information can be accessed through Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube with the name “Kuku Uchumi.” Since 2018, the NGO has been carrying out extension services on chicken farming, mobilization of SSCFs to use social media to access information related to chicken farming and linking farmers to the market. The establishment of the organization is one of the many initiatives around the globe with the goal of building the capacity of farmers and individuals in the agricultural sector through social media. Since its establishment, 130 SSCFs have been served physically and others virtually.

The organization’s main methodology for delivering services involves organizing SSCFs into social media groups, which are linked to available marketplaces, as well as sharing updated market information, products, market conditions, chicken farming practices, and technologies.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

In this study, social media is defined as web-based tools of electronic communication that allow users to interact, create, share, retrieve, and exchange information and ideas in various forms, including text, pictures, and video [15]. On the other hand, the use of social media involves applying social media platforms to access and share information and facilitate interaction among users. This study is guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and the Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory by [13]. The theory postulates that four constructs: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions play a significant role as direct determinants of user acceptance of technology and user behaviour, as described in Table I. The theory was adopted for this study because it focuses on technology and, more importantly, examines the factors influencing the use of technology. However, UTAUT has faced criticisms with regard to its inability to explain behavioural intention in different settings [16]. Regardless of these limitations, the theory was considered suitable for this study. The theory has been used to study factors influencing the use of technology in various fields, such as the learning systems [17]–[19] and in health [20], [21].

Table I. Constructs Postulated by UTAUT and Corresponding Operational Definition

SN	Construct	Definition	Operational definition/sub-constructs
1	Performance expectancy	The degree to which an individual believes that using the system will help him or her to attain gains in job performance	Perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job-fit, attitude, and relative advantage and outcome expectations
2	Effort expectancy	The degree of ease associated with the use of the system.	Perceived ease of use and complexity
3	Social influence	The degree to which an individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system	Social factors and innovative image
4	Facilitating conditions	The degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support the use of the system	Perceived behavioural control, facilitating conditions and compatibility

The conceptual framework for this study is presented in Fig. 1. In this context, market information refers to information related to chicken price, egg tray price, the number of chickens needed in the market, the number of egg trays needed in the market, and the chicken market status. This is influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. The arrows from the independent variables (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions) to the dependent variable (use of social media to access market information) indicate that there is a relationship existing between the variables. Other arrows from intervening variables sex, marital status, age, education level, farming experience, respondents’ status, that is, either Kuku Uchumi or non-Kuku Uchumi beneficiary, and smartphone ownership to the arrows directed from independent variables to the dependent variables imply the relationships between these variables may be affected by the intervening variables.

Fig. 1. Conceptual framework for the relationship between factors influencing the use of social media to access market information (Adapted and modified from [13]).

Methodology

The study on which this article is based was conducted in Arusha City, Tanzania, between June and August 2022. Arusha City was chosen because of the presence of Kuku Uchumi. A cross-sectional research design was adopted because it is suitable for gathering data from a selected sample at a single point in time to acquire information on a group of people’s preferences, attitudes, behaviours, and interests toward a specific problem [22]. Small-scale chicken farmers in the study area, both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Kuku Uchumi, formed the study population. For non-beneficiaries, the researchers, in collaboration with Ward Executive and Livestock Officers developed a sampling frame of 276 SSCFs keeping between 100 and 1000 chickens in the target wards during a preliminary visit and 130 SSFCs were randomly selected. The study sample consisted of 260 SSCFs, of which 130 were all beneficiaries of Kuku Uchumi and 130 were non-Kuku Uchumi beneficiaries.

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a questionnaire and key informant interviews, respectively. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended and open-ended questions. The former was set to gather information on the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and the level of use of social media in accessing market information. Open-ended questions, using the Likert scale, were set to gather information on perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job fit, relative advantage, attitude, and outcome expectations for the performance expectancy factor; the perceived ease of use and complexity, and effort expectancy and facilitating (centered on perceived behavior control, facilitating conditions, compatibility, and economic factors). The scale constituted five levels: 1: strongly agree; 2: agree; 3: uncertain; 4: disagree; and 5: strongly disagree. It is important to note that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions as main constructs were measured based on the sub-construct scores. The sub-constructs were used to define the main constructs as per [13]. The data were later entered into the model to examine the influence of each on the use of social media to access market information.

Descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model were used to analyze quantitative data. Binary regression mode was used because of the nature of the dependent variable (use of social media), which is binary. Median was used to determine the level of use of social media to access market information. The median value formed a medium, whereas a value below the median formed the low level and a value above the median formed the high level of use of social media among the SSCFs. In this study, the median was used because it gives a good cut-off point between the levels of social media among the SSCFs.

The Binary Logistic Regression model is expressed as: (1)Logitp(x)=Log[p(x)1−p(x)]=α+β1X1+β2X2+β3X3+βnXn+ε

where Logitp(x) = Natural log of the odds of using social media to access market information;

p(x) = Probability of using social media;

1 − p(x) = Probability of not using social media;

α = Constant of the equation;

β₁ – β_n = Coefficients of predictor variables;

X₁, X₂…X_n are predictor variables entered in the model;

e = The precision error, which is 0.05.

The predictor variables are: X1= Performance expectancy X2= Effort expectance X3=Social influence X4=Facilitating conditions}

measured by using a Likert scale as stipulated above.

The predicted variable is the use of social media to access market information.

In addition, qualitative data were analyzed following thematic analysis procedure [23]. The data were then transcribed from audio and translated from Kiswahili to English, and then extracts were developed. This method involved breaking down the textual data into digestible categories, patterns, themes, and linkages for meaningful interpretation. It also involved examining all components of the data set to clarify concepts and constructions. To validate the themes and patterns, a list of themes was produced, then relooked against the literature and study objectives to produce the final themes.

Results and Discussion

Demographic Characteristics

Study findings (Table II) show that over 60% of the respondents were females. This indicates that females dominate the business of chicken rearing. This may be because many of them spend their time at home. Further, findings show that slightly above 30% of the respondents were aged between 30 and 39 years. This means that SSCFs under this age category can use social media to access market information. Regarding marital status, the findings show over 77% were married (Table II). On the level of education attained, the findings show that slightly above 38% of the respondents had attended secondary school. The majority of the respondents had between 1 and 10 years of chicken farming experience and owned a smartphone. However, non-Kuku Uchumi beneficiaries do not use social media platforms on their smartphones to access market information as compared to Kuku Uchumi beneficiaries.

Table II. Demographic Characteristics (n = 130)

SSCFs served by Kuku Uchumi			SSCFs not served by Kuku Uchumi
Variables(n = 130)	Frequency	Per cent	Frequency	Per cent
Sex
Male	49	37.7	41	31.5
Female	81	62.3	89	68.5
Age
20–29	11	8.5	16	12.3
30–39	49	37.7	43	33.1
40–49	35	26.9	40	30.8
50–59	21	16.2	24	16.9
60–69	13	10.0	9	6.9
70 and above	1	0.8	0	0.0
Marital Status
Single	9	6.9	15	11.5
Married	118	90.8	101	77.7
Divorced	3	2.3	8	6.2
Separated	0	0.0	6	4.6
Education level
No formal education	0	0.0	4	3.1
Primary education	39	30.0	48	36.9
Secondary education	57	43.8	50	38.5
Tertiary	34	26.2	28	21.5
Chicken farming experience (years)
1–10	122	93.8	113	86.9
11–20	8	6.2	14	10.8
21–30	0	0.0	3	2.3
Ownership of ICT Device
Smartphone	118	90.8	111	85.4
iPad	4	3.1	3	2.3
Laptop	1	0.8	3	2.3
Desktop	0	0.0	0	0.0
Not using any of the  ICT devices)	7	5.3	13	10.0

Level of Use of Social Media Among the SSCFs to Access Market Information

Median as a measure of central tendency was employed to establish the level of use of social media among the respondents. The number of uses below 16 was considered low, while the number of uses above 16 was considered high (Table III). It was established that social media was used 16 times monthly in accessing market information, ranging from 0 to 30 times. Zero means that a small-scale chicken farmer does not use social media to access market information at all, and 30 implies that a small-scale chicken farmer uses social media to access market information daily. The findings show that 66 (50.76%) SSCFs served by Kuku Uchumi as opposed to 38 (29.23%) of SSCFs not served by Kuku Uchumi had a high level of use of WhatsApp (more than 16 times per month). This is in contrast to their counterparts who used the media for searching market information such as the number of chicken and egg trays needed in the market, chicken and egg prices, and market status.

Table III. Respondent’s Level of Use of Social Media (n = 130)

Respondents’ category	Level of use						Total
	Low level (<16)		Medium level (=16)		High level (>16)
	f	%	f	%	f	%	f	%
Kuku Uchumi
WhatsApp	45	34.62	19	14.62	66	50.76	130	100.00
Facebook	67	51.54	14	10.77	49	37.69	130	100.00
Instagram	109	83.84	2	1.54	19	14.62	130	100.00
YouTube	110	84.60	6	4.62	14	10.78	130	100.00
Non-Kuku Uchumi
WhatsApp	82	63.08	10	7.69	38	29.23	130	100.00
Facebook	96	73.85	7	5.38	27	20.77	130	100.00
Instagram	115	88.46	4	3.08	11	8.46	130	100.00
YouTube	110	84.60	2	1.50	18	13.90	130	100.00

One of the KIs, as follows, explained the reason behind this:

…WhatsApp is the main social media platform used by SSCFs because each of them owns it. In addition, it is easy to locate trained SSCFs and know the progress of each SSCF using WhatsApp. In addition, through WhatsApp, you can know who got the information shared and who did not (KII: Kuku Uchumi CEO 06/06/2022).

Similarly, the findings in Table III indicate that regardless of whether SSCFs were served by Kuku Uchumi or not, they had a low level of use of the remaining social media platforms. This is because the results the majority used the platforms less than 16 times in a month. This is because the beneficiaries are normally organized into WhatsApp groups, which makes them use WhatsApp most frequently compared to other social media. In addition, through WhatsApp groups, various kinds of information on chicken farming are shared, thus making each SSCF visit the group to access such information. In addition, SSCFs use WhatsApp because they believe the platform could help them achieve their goal, that is, access information related to chicken farming (specifically market information). A study by [24] found that most farmers adopted the use of social media platforms, such as Facebook and WhatsApp because they are less complicated, easy, and hassle-free. This argument is supported by the UTAUT theory, which states that any technology is chosen for use based on its ease of use compared to a complex one [13]. On the other hand, the adoption of technology depends on the perceived ease of use and the perceived usefulness of such technology [25].

Further, the findings show that less than 2% of the respondents had a medium level of use of social media platforms. In this regard, only 2 (1.54%) SSCFs served by Kuku Uchumi and 2 (1.50%) not served by Kuku Uchumi used Instagram and YouTube 16 times a month, respectively (Table III).

Factors Influencing SSCFs Use of Social Media to Access Market Information

The findings (Table IV) indicate SSCFs’ responses to the factors influencing the use of social media in accessing market information for both Kuku Uchumi and non-Kuku Uchumi beneficiaries. SSCFs agreed that easy access to market information, time and cost-effectiveness and developing knowledge had a contribution toward influencing the use of social media. Arranging the statements based on their scores, the findings indicate that using social media reduces time spent searching for market information with a mean score of 1.52 and using social media increases revenue through increased sales with a mean score of 1.52. The mean value for each statement is less than two, which is an indication that SSCFs use social media because they achieve their goal, which is access to market information. They take a short time to secure market information for their chicken and eggs, and their revenue increases as more sales increase.

Table IV. Descriptive Statistics for the Responses on Factors Influencing the Use of Social Media in Accessing Market Information

Constructs	Sub-constructs	Statements	Mean	Overall score
Performance	Perceived	Using social media enables access of market information more quickly	1.82	1.74
expectancy	usefulness	Using social media increases productivity in terms of more sales	1.83
		Using social media helps in saving time and costs in accessing market information	1.83
	Extrinsic	Using social media enhances knowledge gain	1.78
	motivation	Using social media helps in accessing accurate market information	1.77
	Job Fit	Use of social media minimizes time spent to access market information	1.77
		Use of social media significantly increases the chances of accessing market information	1.72
		Use of social media provides reliable market information	1.73
		Accessing market via social media increases number of chickens and chicken products sold	1.73
	Relative advantage	Using social media enables to accomplish the task of market information search more quickly	1.77
		Using social media improves market information accessibility	1.77
		Using social media makes the task of market information search easier	1.73
		Using social media minimizes time in accessing market information	1.82
		Using social media minimizes costs in accessing market information	1.75
		Using social media increases accessibility of market information compared to traditional ways	1.71
	Altitude	Using social media to access market information is a wise idea	1.78
		The use of social media in accessing market information is a valuable idea	1.78
		I like the idea of using social media to access market information	1.95
		The use of social media in accessing market information is more functional	1.80
	Outcome	Using social media increases accessibility of market information	1.53
	expectation	Using social media reduces time spent to access market information	1.52
		Using social media increases revenue through increased sales	1.52
Effort	Perceived ease of	Learning to use social media is easy for me	1.40	2.23
expectancy	use	I find easy to access social media account for accessing market information	1.93
		Working with social media to access market information is clear and understandable	1.87
		Social media is flexible to interact with	1.10
		It is easier to get skills for using social media	1.82
		Social media is easy to use	1.20
	Complexity	Using social media takes too much time to access market information	3.01
		Working with social media is complicated	3.03
		Using social media requires too much time to create good messages, pictures or videos	3.92
		It takes too long to learn how to use social media to make it worth the effort	3.61
Social influence	Social factors	I use social media to access market information because other small scale chicken farmers use it	1.02	2.35
		Extension agent has been helpful in the use of social media	1.67
		Social media is useful for accessing market information for the chickens and its related products	1.16
		Other small-scale chicken farmers have supported the use of social media	2.00
	Innovative image	People using social media have more prestige than those who do not	2.40
		People using social media have high profile	3.00
		Having social media account is a status symbol in the society	2.50
		Using social media to access market information is of proudness actions in the society	2.40
		People using social media to access market information are more respected than their non-user counterpart	3.00
Facilitating	Perceived behaviour	I have control over using social media	1.83	2.46
condition	control	I have the necessary resources to use social media	1.84
		I have knowledge and skills necessary to use social media	1.82
		Given the resources, opportunities, knowledge and skills, it is easier for me to use social media	1.40
	Facilitating	Guidance was available to me in the selection of the social media	3.00
	condition	Specialized instructions concerning social media was available to me	3.30
		I can access assistance to use social media when encountering difficulties	3.00
	Compatibility	Using social media is compatible with the process of accessing market information	1.59
		Using social media fits well with market information searches	1.62
		Using social media fits into accessing market information work	1.58
	Social economic factors	It is more costly for me to purchase ICT facilities such as an android mobile phone and computer	2.69
		Social media use is difficult to learn	4.17
		It is more costly for me to purchase internet bundles	2.37
		I have low competence level of social media use	4.17

Findings (Table IV) show that of ten statements on effort expectancy, five statements had the mean value of less than two; for example, social media is easy to use (1.20), and I use social media to access market information because other farmers are using it (1.02) had a low mean value. This means that the perceived ease of use and social pressure seem critical. This is because the value, that is, is an indication that the use of social media to access market information is easy, and SSCFs could imitate others. On the other hand, the score for the statement that the use of social media requires too much time to create good messages, pictures, or videos was 3.92, which means SSCFs can create good messages, pictures, and videos using social media platforms with less difficulty. Social media platforms allow users to create, edit, and share new forms of visual, textual, and audio content easily for exchange and interaction with one another [26], [27].

Further, arranging responses on social influence, the findings indicate that SSCFs in the study area agree with statements that social media is useful for accessing market information for their chickens and its products, with a mean score of 1.16, and extension agents have been helpful in the use of social media, with a mean score of 1.67. This implies that SSCFs use social media because it helps them access market information and get assistance from extension agents (Kuku Uchumi officials). However, the respondents disagree that people using social media to access market information are more respected than their non-user counterparts, with a mean score of 3.50 and above. This means that SSCFs in the study are not using social media to access market information just for showups or to be respected in their society.

Moreover, the findings in Table IV indicate that of fourteen statements on facilitating conditions, eight statements had mean values of less than 2.5. For example, the statement, “Given the resources, opportunities, knowledge, and skills, it is easier for me to use social media,” had 1.14, and the statement, “Using social media is compatible with the process of accessing market information” had 1.59. This implies that SSCFs accept that facilitating conditions are one of the factors influencing the use of social media to access market information. The findings corroborate the findings in a study by [28] who found that for the adoption of new technology, an individual will need some sort of technical system or infrastructure to be present to facilitate the usage. In this case, facilitating conditions such as the availability of favorable ICT policies, mobile phone service provider companies, and low costs for internet services will enable SSCFs to access chicken farming information. In addition, SSCFs disagree with the statement, “I have a low competence level in social media use”, which had a mean score of 4.17. This implies that SSCFs in the study area had the skills to use social media to search for various types of information with respect to chicken farming activities.

Binary Logistic Regression Analysis Results on Factors Influencing the Use of Social Media Among SSCFs to Access Market Information

The study findings in Table V show that the performance expectancy (perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job-fit, attitude, and relative advantage and outcome expectations), effort expectancy (perceived ease of use and complexity), and social influence (social factors and innovative image) were statistically significant in influencing the use of social media to access market information at p = 0.002^**, 0.039^**, and 0.004^**, respectively. Other include facilitating conditions (Perceived behavioural control, facilitating conditions, and compatibility) and smartphone ownership that were statistically significant in influencing the use of social media to access market information at 0.025^** and 0.023^**, respectively. These findings are in line with the findings by other scholars who found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and ownership of a smartphone influence the use of social media in the business [29], in the health sector [20], and in Small and Medium Enterprises [30]. Other variables, sex, age, education level, farming experience, and respondent status (i.e., being a Kuku Uchumi beneficiary or not) had no influence on the use of social media to access market information in the study area.

Table V. Binary Logistic Regression Analysis Results on Factors Influencing the use of Social Media to Access Market Information Among the SSCFs

							95% C.I. for EXP(B)
	B	S.E.	Wald	df	Sig.	Exp(B)	Lower	Upper
perfexp	0.665	0.383	3.017	1	0.002**	3.514	0.243	1.089
effexp	0.436	0.615	0.501	1	0.039**	1.647	0.194	2.161
socialinfl	1.034	0.359	8.308	1	0.004**	2.812	1.392	5.681
faccond	0.597	0.492	1.472	1	0.025**	0.550	0.210	1.444
sex_resp	1.098	1.804	0.370	1	0.543	2.997	0.087	2.828
marital_status	1.550	0.923	0.338	1	0.334	1.234	0.054	1.312
age_resp	−0.258	0.141	3.329	1	0.068	0.773	0.586	1.019
educat_resp	3.406	1.400	0.089	1	0.765	0.142	0.124	1.234
farming_exp	−0.334	0.276	1.467	1	0.226	0.716	0.417	1.229
respondent_status	1.202	0.432	0.121	1	0.941	1.212	0.102	1.012
smartphone_owner	0.724	2.347	1.163	1	0.023**	2.634	0.143	1.352
Constant	2.574	2.458	1.097	1	0.295	13.114

Furthermore, the findings in Table V show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions had odds ratios of 3.514, 1.647, 2.812, and 0.550, respectively. This means that these factors positively influenced the use of social media 3.514, 1.647, and 2.812 times, respectively. However, facilitating conditions negatively influenced the use of social media in accessing market information 0.550 times, These findings corroborate with findings in a study by [29], who revealed that performance expectancy maintained the most dominant predictability towards behavioural intention compared with social influence and effort expectancy. However, the findings are in contrast with the findings in a study by [31] who revealed that performance expectancy and effort expectancy are not influential in the adoption of technology in health systems. The current findings inform us that performance expectancy strongly influences the use of social media in accessing market information compared to effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions in the study area.

The analyses of the discussions with key informants support the findings that the use of social media helped them achieve their goal of accessing market as evidenced by the following extract:

We are now learning to use social media, it is easy, and putting it to use has led to the access of market information. However, effective use demands availability of infrastructure, such as smartphone, internet or bundle and access (KII: A successful SSCF-Murriet Ward 06/06/2022)

These findings imply that SSCFs found it easy to use social media and, eventually, enabled them to achieve the ultimate goal, which is access to market information. This was facilitated by the presence of infrastructure and supportive services. According to [32], the use of social media enables learners to quickly accomplish tasks thus enhancing job productivity and effectiveness. They also find it easy to use social media tools and, as such, deploy the applications in the library’s routine activities. This was also facilitated by their knowledge in the use of the tools. Likewise, the findings imply that the respondents believe that it is possible to access market information if internet facilities such as ICT devices, mobile phone service provider companies, and internet bundles are available. However, the use of ICT has limitations such as unpredictable power supply, cost constraints, issues of knowledge, skills, and security [33], [34]. However, the Tanzanian Government has been doing a lot through the Rural Energy Agency (REA) to ensure that its people in rural areas are connected to electricity. In this regard, the Government of Tanzania plans to increase rural connection levels to 50% by 2025 and at least 75% by 2033 [35].

Conclusion

The study sought to determine the level of use and factors influencing the use of social media to access market information among the SSCFs in Arusha City, Tanzania. Based on the findings, it is concluded that SSCFs served by Kuku Uchumi had a high level of use of WhatsApp in accessing market information compared to those not served by them. Besides, SSCFs, whether served by Kuku Uchumi or not, had limited use of other social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to access market information. In addition, the use of social media among the SSCFs to access market information in the study area is influenced by access to market information, ease of use of the media, the influence of others, and availability of facilitating conditions. These include power supply, favourable ICT policies, mobile phone service provider companies, and low costs for purchasing internet bundles and smartphone ownership.