Research on Social Media and Service Delivery in

Southeast Asian Countries: A Publication Review

Nur Farhana Abdullah

1,3

, Devika Nadarajah

, Raja Nerina Raja Yusof

, and

Ahmad Shaharudin Abdul Latiff

Putra Business School, 46000 UPM Serdang, Malaysia

Department of Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 46000 Serdang, Malaysia

Institute of Advancement Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Lembah Pantai, Malaysia

nerina@upm.edu.my

Abstract. This paper aims to identify the entirety of publications on the concepts

of social media and service delivery in the Southeast Asian context. The study of

social media and service delivery is not new in the extant literature. However,

there is limited empirical research on the publication trend pertaining these

topics. Publication data from prominent databases was thus analyzed in the

current paper to understand the publication trend in these areas. The results

showed distinct publication patterns on social media and service delivery in

particular regions and subject areas. The findings suggest that further research

should be conducted in Southeast Asia and across disciplines to improve

generalizability.

Keywords: Social media · Service delivery · Southeast asian countries · Review

1 Introduction

The ever-changing environment of the digital economy has challenged traditional

economic and business concepts [1]. In particular, social media platforms have

extended their purpose from sharing photos and videos to improving services in private

and government sectors. Scholars have established numerous benefits of using social

media as a technology to improve service delivery. However, both these concepts, i.e.

social media and service delivery, are still relatively understudied among Southeast

Asian researchers compared to the Western countries. Therefore, the objective of this

paper is to record and summarize the totality of publications by Southeast Asian

researchers in the fields of social media and service delivery. The records can be used

to identify the level of awareness of social media and service delivery research in these

countries. Although this paper limits its analysis to select prominent databases, the

chosen databases are well-established in social media and service delivery research.

2 The Importance of Social Media and Service Delivery Study

Social media and service delivery have been extensively studied in the literature and

are still of interest in current research [2] [3] [4]. Moreover, social media and service

Abdullah, N., Nadarajah, D., Yusof, R. and Latiff, A.

Research on Social Media and Service Delivery in Southeast Asian Countries: A Publication Review.

DOI: 10.5220/0009837100002900

In Proceedings of the 20th Malaysia Indonesia International Conference on Economics, Management and Accounting (MIICEMA 2019), pages 105-112

ISBN: 978-989-758-582-1; ISSN: 2655-9064

105

delivery have been studied from multiple viewpoints such as computer science [5],

healthcare [6], psychology [7], and also in marketing [8]. The recent advances in

technological innovation and the remarkable development of technology-based

industries have enabled the storage, communication, and computation of information

that has changed the way individuals, groups, organizations, and industries work [9]

[10] [11]. The significance of the findings of this study may be viewed from

researchers’ perspectives. From the researchers’ perspective, this paper advances the

body of literature and knowledge on social media and service delivery because the

findings of the researches can positively impact the whole community [12].

3 Methodology

To generate a list of records on social media and service delivery research in Southeast

Asia, two prominent databases were utilized, namely Web of Science and Scopus. The

steps involved in the research process were: (i) Identification of potential databases to

use; (ii) Development of search statements; (iii) Generation of results; (iv) Filtration by

country; (v) Filtration by specific terms, such as language and subject; (vi) Analysis of

results; and (vii) Discussion of results.

4 Search Statement

It is vital to develop search statements to generate reliable search results. Search

statements help researchers formulate consistent keywords and search strategies. To

generate search statements, Boolean search and quotation marks were used in this

study. Concepts related to the keywords were identified and combined with Boolean

concepts, i.e. “AND” and “OR”, in the databases. Table 1 shows the search statements

used to retrieve results in this study.

Table 1. Search Statements Used to Retrieve Results.

Concept A Concept B

Key words Social Media Service Delivery

Boolean AND; OR

Search statement “Social Media” OR “Service Delivery”

5 Citation of Database

Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus citation databases were used to generate record

counts on research in social media and service delivery. These databases allowed

verification of the total number of indexed publications. Most articles indexed in the

databases were scholarly articles, published conference papers, books, and book

chapters. The record data acquired from WoS and Scopus was last updated in

September 2019.

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5.1 Web of Science (WoS)

WoS is a research platform that allows concurrent cross-searching of a range of

databases and citation indexes. WoS provides research tools such as cited reference

search, citation reports, and personalized featured for users. The list of the top 10

countries that published social media research in WoS is presented in Table 2. Overall,

there were 45,544 record counts for social media research in the WoS database. The

most dominant country to produce social media research was the United States of

America (USA) (34.99%), followed by England (9.62%), and China (8.32%). The

English language was the most dominant language used in social media research,

comprising 98.33%, followed by Spanish (1.33%) and Portuguese (0.34%). However,

no Southeast Asian countries were listed in the top 10 index in WoS. Table 3 shows

that Malaysia led Southeast Asian research on social media with 1.67% in WoS,

followed by Indonesia with 1.42% and Singapore with 1.35%. The number of record

counts in social media research was thus decidedly low compared to other continents.

This shows that more social media research should be conducted in Southeast Asian

countries.

Table 2. Top 10 Countries to Publish Social Media Research in WoS.

No Countries Record Counts % of 45,544

1 USA 15,934 34.99%

2 En

lan

4,381 9.62%

3 China 3,789 8.32%

4 Australia 3,147 6.91%

5 Canada 2,169 5.0%

6 S

ain 1,720 3.78%

7 Germany 1,692 3.72%

8 India 1,605 3.52%

9 Ital

1,299 2.85%

10 Netherlands 1,154 2.53%

Table 3. Southeast Asian Countries’ Social Media Research Record Counts in WoS.

No Countries Record Counts % of 45,544

1 Mala

sia 759 1.67%

2 Indonesia 649 1.42%

3 Singapore 615 1.35%

4 Thailan

238 0.52%

5 Phili

ines 99 0.22%

6 Vietna

85 0.19%

7 M

anma

8 0.02%

8 Brunei 5 0.01%

9 Cambodia 4 0%

10 Timo

-Leste 2 0%

11 Laos 0 0%

On the other hand, research on service delivery generated 20,336 indexed record

counts in WoS. Table 4 shows the top 10 countries to publish service delivery research

Research on Social Media and Service Delivery in Southeast Asian Countries: A Publication Review

107

in WoS. The most dominant country was the USA (13.44%), followed by England

(5.57%) and Australia (4.90%). There were three main languages used in service

delivery research, namely English (99.32%), Spanish (0.20%), and Portuguese

(0.14%). Once again, none of the Southeast Asian countries were listed in the top 10

index in the WoS database. The list of Southeast Asian countries that published service

delivery research in WoS is shown in Table 5. The number of publications on service

delivery from Southeast Asia was only 548, which suggests a rather limited awareness

of service delivery concepts among researchers in this region. Malaysia (0.90%),

Singapore (0.60%), and Thailand (0.252%) led the research on service delivery among

Southeast Asian countries.

Table 4. Top 10 Countries to Publish Service Delivery Research in WoS.

No Countries Record Counts % of 20,336

1 USA 7,504 13.44%

2 England 3,109 5.57%

3 Australia 2,735 4.90%

4 Canada 1,563 2.80%

7 South Africa 1,075 1.93%

5 China 622 1.11%

6 India 614 1.10%

9 Netherlands 591 1.06%

8 Scotlan

398 0.71%

10 Switzerlan

398 0.71%

Table 5. Southeast Asian Countries’ Service Delivery Research Record Counts in WoS.

No Countries Record Counts % of 20,336

1 Malaysia 184 0.90%

2 Sin

ore 122 0.60%

3 Thailan

81 0.34%

4 Indonesia 69 0.34%

5 Phili

ines 49 0.24%

6 Cambodia 25 0.12%

7 M

anma

11 0.05%

8 Brunei 4 0.02%

9 Timo

-Leste 2 0.01%

10 Laos 1 0.005%

11 Vietna

0 0.00%

5.2 Scopus

Scopus is one of the largest citation databases, comprising peer-reviewed literature such

as books, conference proceedings, and scientific journals. There were a total of 66,865

record counts for social media publications in Scopus.

As shown in Table 6, the USA

(34.97%) led social media research in Scopus, followed by the United Kingdom

(10.60%) and Australia (6.31%). The main languages used in social media research in

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this database were English (97.80%), Spanish (0.81%), and German (0.42%). The

Computer Science field (41.2%) and Social Sciences field (32.49%) were the dominant

subject areas in social media research. There were no Southeast Asian countries listed

in the top 10 countries in social media research. Within the region, Malaysia (1.43%)

led studies on this topic, followed by Singapore (1.39%), Indonesia (1.24%), and

Thailand (0.55%). Table 7 presents a complete list of Southeast Asian countries’

publication records in the Scopus database.

Table 6. Top 10 Countries to Publish Social Media Research in Scopus.

No Countries Records Count % of 66,865

1 USA 23,382 34.97%

2 United Kingdo

7,091 10.60%

3 Australia 4,222 6.31%

4 China 4,047 6.05%

5 India 3,214 4.81%

6 Canada 3,023 4.52%

7 German

2,853 4.27%

8 S

ain 1,963 2.94%

9 Ital

1,832 2.74%

10 Netherlands 1,530 2.29%

Table 7. Southeast Asian Countries’ Social Media Research Record Counts in Scopus.

No Countries Records Count % of 66,856

1 Malaysia 957 1.43%

2 Sin

ore 931 1.39%

3 Indonesia 827 1.24%

4 Thailan

366 0.55%

5 Phili

ines 143 0.21%

6 Vietna

105 0.16%

7 M

anma

15 0.02%

8 Brunei 8 0.01%

9 Cambodia 6 0.01%

10 Laos 0 0%

11 Timo

-Leste 0 0%

Meanwhile, research on service delivery generated 10,897 indexed record counts in

Scopus. Table 8 shows the top 10 countries that published service delivery research in

Scopus. The most dominant countries were the USA (34.59%), the United Kingdom

(16.28%), and Australia (11.64 %). There were three main languages used in service

delivery research, i.e. English (98.45%), Spanish (1.73%), and Portuguese (0.90%).

The major subject area in service delivery research in Scopus was Medicine (43.22%),

followed by Social Sciences (30.19%) and Computer Science (12.92 %). No Southeast

Asian countries were listed in the top 10 index for service delivery research in the

Scopus database. Nevertheless, as presented in Table 9, Malaysia (0.91%) led the

Southeast Asian countries in service delivery research, followed by Singapore (0.48%),

Thailand (0.37%), and Indonesia (0.35%).

Research on Social Media and Service Delivery in Southeast Asian Countries: A Publication Review

109

Table 8. Top 10 Countries to Publish Service Delivery Research in Scopus.

No Countries Records Count % of 31,506

1 USA 10,897 34.59%

2 United Kin

5,128 16.28%

3 Australia 3,668 11.64%

4 Canada 2,179 6.92%

5 South Africa 1,443 4.58%

6 India 1,079 3.42%

7 German

758 2.41%

8 Netherlands 740 2.35%

9 China 638 2.03%

10 Ital

491 1.56%

Table 9. Southeast Asian Countries’ Service Delivery Research Record Counts in Scopus.

No Countries Records Count % of 31,506

1 Mala

sia 288 0.91%

2 Singapore 150 0.48%

3 Thailan

118 0.37%

4 Indonesia 111 0.35%

5 Phili

ines 79 0.25%

6 Vietna

57 0.18%

7 Cambodia 27 0.09%

8 Myanma

11 0.03%

9 Brunei 10 0.03%

10 Laos 7 0.02%

11 Timo

-Leste 2 0.01%

6 Discussion

This study’s findings show that publications on social media and service delivery are

far more prevalent in developed countries such as the United States of America,

Australia, and United Kingdom. Cultural and political environments [13] may

contribute to their vast number of publications. Also, this study’s results on the social

media research publication trend is in line with a review done by [13] on a social media

platform that highlighted the research trend which is also higher in the Western

countries. Since the studies are mostly from the Western part of the world, there may

be Western prejudice or cultural influences on the studies’ results. In fact, nearly half

of all social media and service delivery studies may suffer from generalizability

concerns in view of the current publication trend. Therefore, researchers from Southeast

Asian countries should add international perspectives to the current body of knowledge

by publishing more studies on social media and service delivery. Additionally, the

database review in this study found that the field of Computer Science dominates social

media research, signaling the relative lack of non-science related publications. This

highlights the need for more social media publications in transdisciplinary or non-

science subject areas. Multidisciplinary research is supported by prominent scholars in

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the area of services research as well, as they have called for the emergence of

technology-dominant service context in research [3].

7 Conclusions

This review provides a general trend of social media and service delivery research,

particularly the dearth of such research in Southeast Asian countries. In conclusion,

the number of studies on social media and service delivery is relatively low in the

Southeast Asian region, resulting in a geographic deficit between Western and

Southeast Asian researchers in terms of publications. Moving forward, a more

conscious effort to include research from other continents is necessary to increase the

diversity of social media and service delivery scholarship. Likewise, increasing social

media research publications in non-science subject areas is highly encouraged to reduce

the gap between science and non-science research. This publication review study is

limited by its use of only two databases. More databases and search engines, such as

meta-search engines, hybrids, directories, and crawler search engines, may be used to

generate record counts in future review studies. Moreover, various search strategies

may be developed to obtain better results for the concepts of social media and service

delivery in the future.

Acknowledgement.

The author would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education,

Malaysia for sponsoring her PhD study and her employer, the University of Malaya, for

supporting her PhD journey.

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