Factors Influencing Adoption of The Diffusion of Instagram Social Media Innovations among Selected Football Clubs in Tanzania

The study aimed to determine the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania. The diffusion of innovation theory guided this study to answer the studied objectives. There needs to be more studies that assess the factors influencing the adoption of the diffusion of social media innovations in the Tanzanian context, which are guided by the diffusion of innovation theory, particularly on the relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability. A survey strategy was utilized in data collection by administering the questionnaires. A sample of 90 respondents was drawn from the study population. Quantitative data was analyzed based on descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression Analysis. The variables under the study were Relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability. In contrast, the dependent variable was the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs

The study aimed to determine the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania.The diffusion of innovation theory guided this study to answer the studied objectives.There needs to be more studies that assess the factors influencing the adoption of the diffusion of social media innovations in the Tanzanian context, which are guided by the diffusion of innovation theory, particularly on the relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability.A survey strategy was utilized in data collection by administering the questionnaires.A sample of 90 respondents was drawn from the study population.Quantitative data was analyzed based on descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression Analysis.The variables under the study were Relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability.In contrast, the dependent variable was the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania.The findings showed that Relative advantage and compatibility affect the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania, while trialability has no effect.This study has unveiled the knowledge contribution by validating the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI), specifically on the Instagram social media platform, by suggesting the relationship between variables under the study by approving or disapproving the theory.The findings will have practical implications that can be applied in real-world contexts to technology adoption.

Introduction
Billions of people worldwide use social media to share information and make connections (Li et al., 2023).Social media has become a significant tool for communicating sports news and creating the opportunity to engage with fans directly in real time as games are played and reach many audiences worldwide; sports and social media are becoming the perfect combination since they build human connection (Avola, 2018).Social media allows fans to engage with team players; fans want to feel connected with their favorite athletes.Passions shown by the fans for the team player give organizations a massive chance for consumer visibility (Thorpe, 2017).The relationship between sports organizations, the public, and stakeholders has increased due to the availability of social media.Sports organizations use social media as a communication tool for sharing information and engaging with their fans in real time.The primary function of using social media by sports organizations is sharing information like news, announcements, events, and content related to clubs, teams, games, and athletes (Avola, 2018;Rogic et al., 2022).Social media has been widely considered a twoway medium of communication that offers a conversation between people (Rogic et al., 2022).
Professional sports clubs are using social media to create strong bonds with fans by sharing information and offering opportunities to communicate since it is a two-way medium of communication that allows conversation between people.Social media are used as customer service and data collection tools, which will help these sports clubs to better understand supporters' needs and use that information to deliver more effective messages.Social media platforms play a significant role today in sports communication.Not only does it allow their fans to have two-way of conversations with their favorite players and sports teams, but it also allows sports organizations to learn about their fans and their needs, values, and preferences (Milla et al., 2020).Social media create a better environment for sports clubs to enhance fan engagement.Also, they allow his fans to personalize team products and services.Sports clubs give them the opportunity to provide opinions and suggestions about their clubs, but also, they give a chance to vote and choose the best player; hence, all of these can be done through social media as a tool for communication (Avola, 2018).Live videos, such as Instagram Live, allow fans to engage with club players and other staff in real-time, participate in players' interviews and behind-the-scenes exclusive training ground interviews, as well as watch players' arrival at the stadium (Vale & Fernandes, 2018).
The use of social media in sports communication has increased due to the availability of the internet, digital devices, and awareness of the value of social media in sports communication.Social media reduces the gap between consumers of sports information and media journalists and facilitates smooth access to sports information easily and quickly.Despite the benefits of social media in sports communication, there are still contradictory statements of which factors influence the diffusion of social media adoption of innovations specifically on the sports fans, specifically on relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability as noted in the diffusion of innovation theory DOI (Akyoo & Mrindoko, 2023;Vale & Fernandes, 2018).This study validated the effects of relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability on adopting a diffusion process on sports fans in Tanzania.The diffusion of innovation theory provides a valuable lens for undertaking the factors influencing the adoption of diffusions of Social media innovations in Tanzania football clubs by engaging the constructs of relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability as part of the Diffusion of Innovation theory (Sair & Danish, 2018).Therefore, this study aims to validate the diffusion of innovation theory as the knowledge contribution by collecting empirical evidence regarding what factors influence the adoption of diffusion of social media innovations in the Tanzanian context among selected football clubs, specifically the Instagram platform, by assessing the influence of relative advantages, compatibility, and trialability which are mostly related with the adoption of the diffusion process.Complexity and observability have been omitted because in most cases, complexity has a negative relation with adoption.In contrast, observability when the expected effects seem to be little or do not exist, the ability of adoption is minimized (Pankratz et al., 2002).
However, there is a paucity of studies that assess the factors influencing the adoption of the diffusion of social media innovations in the Tanzanian context, which have been guided by the diffusion of innovation theory, particularly on the relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability constructs (Vale & Fernandes, 2018), particularly in football clubs.Therefore, this study assessed the factors influencing the diffusion of social media innovations by looking at how the relative advantages, compatibility, and trialability influence the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania.

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development
Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) describes the fact that innovation passes among some stages to the consumers and can be influenced by the groups, personal experiences, and the influence of the management of the organizations or among the peer groups (Rogers et al., 2014).Among the constructs of diffusion innovation theory are relative advantages, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability.This implies that technology can be diffused in stages, according to Rogers (2003).Hence, there is a group of five adopters in the market: early adopters, innovators, laggards, late majority, and early majority (Olushola & Abiola, 2017).These variables interact and influence each other throughout the diffusion process.Innovations with a higher relative advantage, are compatible with existing systems, and are easy to understand, tend to have faster and broader adoption (Pankratz et al., 2003).The diffusion process starts with innovators, who gradually influence the early adopters, leading to adoption by the early and late majority.Laggards adopt the innovation last or may resist it altogether (Chille, 2018).
Overall, the Diffusion of Innovation theory provides a framework for understanding and predicting how innovations spread within a social context and help identify factors that can facilitate or hinder the adoption process.There are few studies on the factors influencing the diffusion of adoption of innovation of Instagram social media platforms among selected football clubs in Tanzania and in developed countries (Chille, 2018;Pereira, 2022).However, the available studies have been done in both developed and developing countries have mixed results that there are differences in interpretations found on the effects of relative advantages, complexity and trialability on the adoption of innovation process (Kaine & Wright, 2022) further, investigated on relative advantages and complexity on agricultural innovation; Chang (2010) describes the hashtag on Twitter using the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI); Raman et al. (2021) investigated using DOI regarding the adoption of software in monitoring exams on the screen online during Covid 19 pandemic.Franceschinis et al. (2017) investigated the adoption of renewable energy using DOI.This indicates the paucity of studies in terms of DOI regarding the influence of the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania, specifically on relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability.These mixed results and scanty studies are in developing countries, particularly Tanzania.There is a need for further study.Thus, this study fills that gap.However, validating a theory involves conducting experiments, gathering empirical evidence, or using other rigorous methods to test the predictions or claims made by the theory (Zhou et al., 2017).This study, therefore, aimed to determine whether the theory accurately explains or predicts the observed phenomena regarding the adoption of diffusion of innovation of Instagram social media technology among football fans.

Research Hypothesis
From the above discussion, the following hypotheses have been developed.H1: Relative advantage has significant effects on the adoption and the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania H21: Compatibility has significant effects on the adoption of diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania H3: Trialability has significant effects on the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovations among selected football clubs in Tanzania.

Population and Sampling Procedures
The study population was the football members of Young Africans and Simba sports clubs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and football fans in Dar es Salaam city.The city of Dar es Salaam was selected as the focal point of the study due to its having more football fans community than any other city (Chille, 2018), and Young African and Simba sports clubs were selected due to having many fans in comparison with other clubs in Tanzania (Chille, 2018).The study employed a quantitative research design, focusing on numerical data and statistical findings to address the research objectives.The choice of survey method was based on its effectiveness on reliable and validated data and obtaining measurable responses from respondents (Kothari, 2004).Given the dispersed nature of businesses across Dar es Salaam City, the study employed a multi-stage cluster sampling approach (Saunders et al., 2012).The research aimed to explore the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable.Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires, with 100 questionnaires distributed and 90 returned by respondents.To ensure data collection instruments effectively gathered the intended information, a pilot study involving 25 respondents was conducted before the main questionnaire distribution (Kothari, 2004).It is worth noting that pilot studies typically comprised 20 to 30 respondents (Johanson & Brooks, 2010).Following improvements from the pilot study findings as the basis, the questionnaires were distributed to the target respondents A Likert scale of five-point measurement was utilized on the study's constructs, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).The adoption of the Instagram platform (TC) diffusion was evaluated using five items adapted from Sokolova and Kefi (2020).The relative advantage was evaluated using four items adapted from Kaine and Wright (2022), and compatibility was measured with four items adapted from (Sokolova % Kefi, 2020).However, the questionnaire was modified to suit the phenomenon intended to be studied.Ethical considerations were adhered to, including the participants' informed consent before data collection.Participatory and transparency to participants before their involvement, confidentiality measures were undertaken with the purpose of protecting the respondents, and approval of the research protocol from the directorate of research, consultancy, and publication of the College of Business education was undertaken.

The Respondents' Demographic Characteristics
Football fans in Dar es Salaam made up the sample population of the respondents.40 percent were men and 60 percent were women.The majority of their age was 83.3 percent, which ranged from 12 to 60, whereas the minority was 16.7 percent, with the age above 60.The majority occupation was a business person(33.3percent), and the minority were students (10 percent) from secondary to tertiary education.The respondents came from five different municipalities in Dar es Salaam, which were 25 from Kinondoni, 15 from Ilala, 18 from Kigamboni, 26 from Ubungo, and six from Kibamba municipality.

Reliability Test Results
The reliability test used Cronbach's alpha coefficient to evaluate the outcome and observed variables' internal consistency.The findings ranged from 0.859 to 0. 890.0.7 is the minimal cut-off point (Saunders et al., 2012).This suggested that the questionnaire was measuring the targeted constructs conformingly (Saunders et al., 2012).Kaiser Mayer Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's Test for Sphericity (BTS) were utilized to gauge sample adequacy and revealed that the KMO's value ranged from 0.830 to 0.880, which is higher than the 0.6n cutoff point (Basto & Pereira, 2012).According to Basto and Pereira (2012), the data were suitable for factor analysis because the BTS value was less than 0.001.

Results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis
The adoption of the Instagram platform's innovation by football fans in Dar es Salaam (D), as well as its relative advantages (R), compatibility (C), and trialability (T), were the subjects of exploratory factor analysis, as indicated by Table 2.0.Factor analysis was performed using extraction and rotation, which produced rotations of a single component and did not rotate the component matrix.For the D, R, C, and T, respectively, the determinants (percentage of variance) were 3. 61 (54.227), 3.433 (49.543), 244 (67.632), 3.407 (60.435), and 3.788 (69.356).The contribution of observable variables differed for each latent variable.The necessary cut-off point is more than 0.3, and items that met this threshold were kept for component analysis (Basto & Pereira, 2012).The outcomes showed that every variable was appropriate for the studied phenomenon.Rotation Technique: Kaiser Normalization using Varimax A single component was taken out of the associated variables for every construct.There was no rotation of the solution (no rotated component matrix).

Analysis of Correlation
Correlation analysis was performed to determine how strongly the variables were associated.According to Table 3, the results showed that there is a correlation between the independent factors and the dependent variable under investigation (Kothari & Garg, 2014), ranging from r= 0.541 to r= 0.768 at p<0.01.P=0.455Not Significant

Effect Of Relative Advantages on Adoption and Diffusion of Instagram Social Media Innovations Among Selected Football Clubs in Tanzania
According to the Regression table 4.0 and the hypothesis results summary table 5.0, a unit increase of relative advantage is related to 0.287(95% CI;0.633, 0.854) with the adoption of the Instagram social media innovation diffusion among a subset of Tanzanian football clubs, which is significantly predicted by relative advantages at p<0.003.When the null hypothesis is rejected, and the alternative hypothesis is accepted.

Effect of Compatibility on Adoption on The Diffusion of Instagram Social Media Innovations Among Selected Football Clubs in Tanzania
According to the regression table 4.0 and hypothesis results summary table 5.0, a unit increase of compatibility is related to 0.333 (95% CI;0.625, 0.766) with adoption of the Instagram social media innovation diffusion among a subset of Tanzanian football clubs, which is significantly predicted by relative advantages at p<0.003.The results demonstrated at p=0.007 that compatibility is a significant predictor of acceptance of diffusion of Instagram social media innovation among chosen football teams in Tanzania, as the Regression table 4.0 and hypothesis testing summary table 5.0 table above indicate.In favor of the alternative hypothesis, the null hypothesis is rejected.

Effect of Trialability on Adoption and Diffusion of Instagram Social Media Innovations Among Selected Football Clubs in Tanzania
According to the regression table 4.0 and hypothesis result summary in table 5.0, a unit increase of trialability is related with 0.080(95% CI;0.677, 0.816) with adoption of the Instagram social media innovation diffusion among a subset of Tanzanian football clubs, which is not significantly predicted by relative advantages at p>0.005The results demonstrated by being p=0.455 that trialability is not a significant predictor of acceptance of diffusion of Instagram social media innovation among chosen football teams in Tanzania, as the Regression table 4.0 and hypothesis testing summary table 5.0 table above indicate.The alternative hypothesis is dismissed, and the null hypothesis is accepted.
The findings have shown that relative advantage and compatibility are good predictors of the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovation among selected football clubs in Tanzania.These findings agree with Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) regarding the impact of relative advantage and compatibility on the adoption of diffusion of technology (Rogers et al., 2014).This implies that fans in football clubs are convinced to adopt the diffusion of Instagram social media innovation among selected football clubs in Tanzania when Instagram platforms are regarded to benefit the users when using the platform compared with experience of using social media platforms and easiness of the platform which relates with the user's lifestyles behavior and technology networks, hence influence adoption These results regarding relative advantage and compatibility are consistent with earlier research studies conducted in Malaysia by Nor et al. (2010) and in India and by Menon and Sujatha (2021), which found that compatibility and relative advantage have a significant impact on online banking and on of solar panel respectively The results, however, disagree with the same studies done by both of the researchers regarding the impacts of trialability, which this study found to be insignificant.The findings also need to be consistent with the study by Sokolova and Kefi (2020), which indicated that relative advantage and compatibility do not influence the adoption of online ticketing by leaders on athletic space at high school sports.Therefore, the differences in interpretations can be attributed to the differences in environmental factors that affect individuals' attitudes, perceptions, and cultural life in the adoption decision process (Kotler, 1994).
The results do not, however, agree with Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) regarding the impact of trialability on the adoption of the diffusion of Instagram social media innovation among particular Tanzanian football clubs.Instead, the DOI focuses on the effects of relative advantage and compatibility.The contextual elements, such as Tanzanian football fans' culture, environment, and way of life, or the sample size chosen, maybe the reason for the variations with the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) (Chille et al.,2023;Kotler, 1994).This suggests that more research must be done to verify the theory's veracity.The study theoretically contributes by validating the importance of relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability as predictors of technology adoption in sports activities.The studied model has indicated a highly explained variance in adopting diffusion of innovation on Instagram on football clubs in Tanzania by using a few variables (Babbie, 1998;Zhou et al., 2017).It also highlights the potential importance of triability, although further investigation is required.The findings provide insights for future studies regarding the adoption of diffusion of innovation on Instagram on football clubs in both developed and developing countries and analyze the similarities and differences, which will add utility in theoretical and practical aspects of the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), regarding technology adoption.
The study makes a theoretical contribution by confirming the significance of relative advantage and compatibility and not confirming trialability as determinants of technology adoption in sports activities.That is to say, utilizing a limited number of variables, the tested model under this study has shown a high explained variance in the adoption of diffusion of innovation on Instagram among Tanzanian football clubs (Babbie, 1998;Zhou et al., 2017;Venkatesh & Bala, 2008).It also emphasizes that trialability is not the predicting factor, even if more research is necessary.The results offer valuable information for further research on the diffusion of innovation adoption on Instagram among football clubs in developed and developing nations.They also analyze the similarities and differences in technology adoption between developed and developing countries, which will enhance the theoretical and practical aspects of technology adoption through the diffusion process.To further enhance the sports industry and contribute to research, policymakers, football stakeholders, and information technology stakeholders and experts should refine policies and strategies concerning the relative advantages, compatibility, and trialability of how people view innovation as superior to earlier technology by making sure that they meet consumer demands and wants.

Conclusion
The study concludes that relative advantage and compatibility are significant predictors of the adoption of Instagram social media innovation dissemination among particular Tanzanian football clubs.Trialability is not a determinant of the proliferation of Instagram social media innovation adoption among particular Tanzanian football clubs.Therefore, information technology specialists should create social media tools that align with football fans' needs and are thought to be advantageous to users.These tools should also improve the perception of being more cost-effective, increase the financial benefits of using them, and be consistent with the adopters' current values and prior experiences.
This implies that positioning social media platforms like Instagram on their benefits for sports and business can further improve adoption.The nonsignificance of trialability might have been caused by customers' unfamiliarity with trialability concepts in the context of social media platforms.Therefore, there is a need to involve more studies on the importance of trying a new product by insisting on the need to involve the benefits of the products; this could be done by engaging Instagram content to be further positioned and ensure that the products are in line with the need of the user by enhancing content marketing approach.

Acknowledgment
Limitations and areas for further studies This study acknowledges that many variables affect how people adopt technology, but they are not covered.Future studies on the factors influencing the diffusion of innovation and the adoption of Instagram social media innovation among certain Tanzanian football clubs could look into variables like observability, complexity, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness.Incorporating these variables may contribute to a better understanding of Tanzania's adoption of technology in the sports industry.Nevertheless, this study was limited to a single Tanzanian location.Tanzania is divided into 31 regions.Therefore, accurately reflect the whole population regarding the spread of innovation in Tanzanian football clubs' use of Instagram and other technologies.Future research endeavors may incorporate a more heterogeneous sample from various places to acquire a more all-encompassing comprehension of the dissemination of innovation concerning the use of technology, particularly Instagram, among Tanzanian football clubs.These shortcomings and potential research topics draw attention to the necessity of more investigation in order to fill in the knowledge gaps in the present work and deepen our grasp of the phenomenon being studied.By taking these factors into account, researchers can help.

Table 1
Demographic characteristics of respondents

Table 2
Reliability and sample adequacy

Table 5
Model summary

Table 5
Multiple linear regression coefficients