Social Impact Analysis: An Evaluation of Aibs Located in Bursa in the Context of Facebook Social Media Platform

CSOs are critical actors in terms of economic, social, cultural and political activities. The externality they have created makes important contributions to the development and change of society in various aspects. From the industrial point of view, it is observed that the participation of entrepreneurs and professionals in the Associations of Industrialists and Businessmen (AIBs) is gradually increasing. However, as a CSO, it remains unclear to what extent AIBs are effective and to what rate they create social benefits. In this context, this study aims to analyse the social impacts of the AIBs located in Bursa. In this study, the effectiveness levels of the AIBs were analysed using qualitative research methods via the Facebook social media platform. For this purpose, the Facebook accounts of the 97 AIBs located in Bursa were reviewed, a total of 31,663 posts were analysed, and the posts were coded according to various categories. In addition, data on critical codes were also recorded and used as evidence in evaluations. The most remarkable finding of the study is that AIBs are far from trying to influence society strongly in the "economy" category, which can be expressed as the reason for their existence. On the other hand, the findings reveal that AIBs intend to influence society mainly through education, information, and stakeholder relations management.