Identifying and Prioritizing Factors Affecting the Use of Social Networks in Iran's Cyberspace

One of the challenges faced by managers in the field of social networks in virtual space is the lack of understanding of the reasons for the decrease or increase in the number of users across various social networks in cyberspace. Despite the appropriate capabilities of some domestic social networks, their popularity is much lower compared to foreign-based networks. Research conducted in the field of social networks has mainly focused on pathology and the identification of positive and negative effects. Additionally, most of these studies have been conducted on foreign social networks such as Instagram. On the other hand, the research has only focused on certain factors and has not taken a comprehensive look at all the effective factors. The main question of the current research is: What are the most important factors affecting the use of internal social networks in Iran's virtual space?

The primary goal of this research is to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the use of internal social networks in Iran's virtual space. To achieve this, fuzzy Delphi, best-worst fuzzy, and COCOSO methods were employed to rank these factors. All three methods are part of quantitative techniques and utilize judgmental quantitative data for analysis and prioritization. The fuzzy Delphi method was used to screen the research factors, while the COCOSO technique was employed to rank the factors affecting the use of internal social networks in Iran's virtual space. The weight of the evaluation indicators for the research factors was also calculated using the fuzzy best-worst technique. Due to the quantitative nature of the techniques used in this research, it adopts a multi-method quantitative methodology. Furthermore, given the practical implications of the research findings for internal social networks, this study has a practical orientation. Data were collected using two interview tools and a questionnaire. Factors affecting the use of internal social networks were extracted from an analytical review of studies on social media and social networks. Subsequently, to evaluate these factors, three questionnaires—fuzzy screening, pairwise comparison, and COCOSO priority assessment—were distributed among experts. Screening questionnaires were evaluated using the fuzzy Delphi method; pairwise comparison questionnaires were assessed with the best-worst fuzzy method, and priority evaluation questionnaires were analyzed using the COCOSO method.

The present research was conducted in three stages. In the first step, 24 factors were extracted through literature review and interviews with experts. In the next step, these factors were screened by distributing expert questionnaires and employing the fuzzy Delphi method. Eight factors had a defuzzified score higher than 0.7 and were selected for final ranking. Finally, the screened factors were ranked through the distribution of priority questionnaires and the COCOSO method. The prioritized factors included: the variety of services provided by the social network, users' trust in the social network, users' privacy and security, and social networks' monetization policies.

The current research seeks to identify and prioritize factors affecting the use of internal social networks in Iran. Most of the research conducted in this field pertains to foreign social networks such as Instagram. Conversely, previous studies have only considered certain variables, and the factors have not been comprehensively investigated and evaluated. The present research was conducted in three stages. In the first step, 24 factors were extracted through literature review and interviews with experts. The interviews with some experts were conducted to enrich the list prepared from the literature. Despite utilizing qualitative methods for thematic analysis, since most of the methods employed in this research were quantitative in nature, it is classified as a quantitative study in terms of methodology. Seven factors were added to this list by experts. Eight factors were in good condition in terms of their defuzzified scores and were selected for final ranking. The screened factors were evaluated and ranked using the COCOSO method. According to the scores of the final factors, the diversity of services provided by the desired social network, users' trust in the desired social network, users' privacy and security, and the social network's income generation policies were prioritized, respectively. Practical research proposals were developed based on the most important factors. Some practical suggestions include developing a specific business model, gaining users' trust, establishing regulations, creating a specific revenue plan, and paying attention to technology ethics.