Assimilation of social media: Researching challenges to adoption

Social media has become an important component of corporate information technology for some organizations. The extant literature is replete with frameworks and methodologies for successful social media strategic planning. However, there is a gap in the literature in terms of making sense of the challenges to adoption and to this end the paper provides a framework for social media non-adoption. This is derived from inductive analysis of qualitative interview data with a sample of organizations in the UK financial services sector. The paper contributes the concept of “mindful non-adoption” of social media and has practical relevance for managers considering social media planning and implementation.