Background and Objectives: Social media has emerged as a pivotal tool in modern organizational communication, offering interactive platforms that facilitate two-way engagement between organizations and their stakeholders. In the context of public libraries, these platforms provide librarians with opportunities to gather, process, and apply knowledge about patrons effectively, enhancing service quality and organizational efficiency. Customer knowledge management (CKM), which encompasses knowledge from customers, knowledge to customers, and knowledge about customers, is increasingly recognized as a key determinant of organizational performance. While organizations are progressively integrating social media into their operations, empirical evidence regarding its impact on CKM and subsequent organizational performance remains limited. The present study aimed to examine the relationships between the multidimensional characteristics of social media—entertainment, social, and cognitive—CKM, and organizational performance in public libraries in Qom Province, Iran.
Methodology: This applied research adopted a descriptive–survey design. The population included 112 full-time librarians employed in public libraries across Qom Province in 1404 (2025), from which 86 participants were randomly selected. Data were collected using two validated instruments: the Social Media Use Questionnaire (Ali-Hassan et al., 2015), assessing entertainment, social, and cognitive dimensions, and the Customer Knowledge Management Questionnaire (Akhavan & Khajeh Ali, 2021), measuring knowledge from, to, and about patrons. Content validity was confirmed through CVR and CVI indices, and reliability was verified via Cronbach’s alpha. Data were analyzed using SPSS with one-sample t-tests, Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and mediation analysis to determine the direct and indirect effects of social media on organizational performance through CKM.
Findings: Findings revealed that all three dimensions of social media positively and significantly influenced CKM. The entertainment dimension impacted knowledge from customers (β=0.508, p<0.01), knowledge to customers (β=0.245, p<0.01), and knowledge about customers (β=0.306, p<0.01), suggesting that engaging and enjoyable content motivates patrons to actively participate and share knowledge. The social dimension demonstrated the strongest effect on knowledge from customers (β=0.772, p<0.01) and was also significant for knowledge to customers (β=0.583, p<0.01) and knowledge about customers (β=0.617, p<0.01), highlighting that social interactions, networking, and collaboration foster knowledge exchange and understanding of patron needs. The cognitive dimension positively influenced all CKM components (knowledge from customers β=0.671, knowledge to customers β=0.478, knowledge about customers β=0.325, p<0.01), indicating that the capacity of patrons and librarians to process, analyze, and apply information enhances knowledge management outcomes, although its relative effect is slightly lower than the social and entertainment dimensions. Customer knowledge management itself had a direct positive impact on organizational performance (β=0.632, p<0.01), and mediation analysis showed that social media indirectly improves performance through CKM (β=0.487, p<0.01), emphasizing the critical role of knowledge management as a mechanism linking digital engagement to organizational outcomes.
Discussion: These findings suggest that social media serves not only as a channel for communication and engagement but also as a strategic tool for enhancing knowledge flows and organizational effectiveness. The significant influence of the entertainment dimension underscores the importance of designing stimulating and attractive content that encourages participation and knowledge sharing. The strong effect of the social dimension indicates that platforms supporting interaction, collaboration, and networking facilitate richer insights about patrons and improve service personalization. The cognitive dimension highlights the importance of information literacy and analytical capabilities among librarians and patrons in leveraging social media for knowledge management. Collectively, these results suggest that integrating social media strategies with CKM initiatives can enhance both knowledge acquisition and dissemination, ultimately improving organizational performance. Library administrators should develop strategic social media programs that balance entertainment, social interaction, and cognitive engagement to maximize CKM outcomes. Training workshops for librarians on effective social media use, content design for engagement, and analytical skills for processing patron knowledge are recommended. Furthermore, these findings provide insights for policymakers on the potential of social media to enhance service efficiency, customer satisfaction, and organizational learning in knowledge-intensive institutions. Future research could explore the integration of emerging digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics, to further strengthen CKM and optimize organizational decision-making. Overall, this study demonstrates that social media plays a significant role in strengthening customer knowledge management and enhancing organizational performance in public libraries. By leveraging the entertainment, social, and cognitive dimensions of social media, organizations can facilitate patron engagement, improve knowledge flows, and enhance decision-making processes. These insights highlight the strategic importance of digital engagement in knowledge-intensive service organizations and provide a framework for library managers and policymakers to design more effective knowledge management and social media strategies.