Social media as an enabler of women’s entrepreneurial empowerment during the pandemic

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurs utilize social media to market their products, create value, innovate, and reach their customers. However, recent literature reviews emphasize the need for further investigating the role of social media in small businesses or individual owners. This study explores the enabling empowerment of women pursuing small businesses using social media platforms in Southern Philippines. A thematic analysis, following the grounded theory approach, was conducted to derive themes that explain social media as an enabler of empowerment as experienced by individual women business owners or sellers. The themes indicate that social media enabled them to start or continue their own business and expand their market reach through family and close friends. Moreover, it became an avenue for expressing their autonomy and learning to use the features of social media in an innovative way to support their business.

ABSTRACT IN FILIPINO

Ang social media ay ginagamit ng mga negosyante upang magbenta ng kanilang mga produkto, magbigay ng dagdag na halaga, at maabot ang kanilang mga tagabili. Gayunpaman, ayon sa pagsusuri sa literatura, kinakailangan pang imbestigahan ang papel ng social media sa mga maliliit na negosyo o ang mga may-ari nito. Sinisiyasat ng pag-aaral na ito ang kakayahan ng mga kababaihan galing sa hilagang bahagi ng Pilipinas na ipagpatuloy and kanilang mga negosyo gamit ang social media. Sa pamamagitan ng grounded theory, isang pangpakay na pagsusuri galing sa kanilang karanasan ang ginawa upang matamo ang pagbigay kakayahan sa empowerment para sa mga babaeng indibidwal na nagbebenta o nagnenegosyo. Ang mga lumabas na tema ay nagpapahiwatig na ang social media ay nagbigay-daan sa kanila upang simulan o ipagpatuloy ang kanilang sariling negosyo at palawakin ang kanilang pag-abot sa merkado sa pamamagitan ng pamilya at malalapit na kaibigan. Bukod dito, naging daan ito para sa pagpapahayag ng kanilang awtonomiya at pag-aaral na gamitin ang mga katangian ng social media sa isang makabagong paraan upang suportahan ang kanilang negosyo.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• entrepreneurship
• women empowerment
• social capital
• Philippines

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• pangnenegosyo
• kababaihan
• social capital
• Pilipinas

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the supportive women who shared their experiences in using social media to support their respective businesses. The time and effort they exerted to share valuable inputs for the research allowed the conceptualization of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rabby Lavilles

Rabby LAVILLES is Associate Professor of the Information Technology Department of the Mindanao State University, Iligan Institute of Technology. He is Dean of the College of Computer Studies. His current research deals with socio-technical systems using grounded theory methodology. Email: [email protected]

Mia Amor Tinam-Isan

Mia Amor TINAM-ISAN is Associate Professor at the College of Computer Studies, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology. She is teaching database-related courses while conducting research on ICT for development and Gender and Development Studies. Email: [email protected]

Erik Louwe Sala

Erik Louwe SALA is Associate Professor and graduate coordinator of the College of Computer Studies, Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology. He has researched on the development of multimedia applications to support learning. Email: [email protected]