Factors Influencing the Adoption of Social Media in Public Relations Practice in Public Universities in Nairobi

Organizations have realized that they must use social media tools to engage with their key stakeholders to maintain relevance and drive the conversation. Despite research efforts to highlight adoption of social media in public relations practice, there is a limited understanding on factors that encourage and hinder social media adoption for public relations practice in public universities in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to identify social media platforms used, explore factors influencing the adoption of social media and to establish the effects of adoption of social media in PR practice in public universities in Nairobi County. The research used descriptive research design with questionnaire survey. Target population was 80 public relations staff in four public universities. Stratified random sample of 67 respondents was used in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used in the research. Results show that organizational factors significantly influence social media adoption in public relations practice in their universities. Technological and environmental factors were also found to influence social media adoption the universities.