Title: Entrepreneurial responses to COVID-19 farmers' market closures - the experiences of rural micro vendors using social media

Authors: Katherine Attree; Clifford Lewis

Addresses: School of Business, Charles Sturt University, Building 1411, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia ' School of Business, Charles Sturt University, Building 1411, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

Abstract: Farmers' markets present a low cost, low-risk retail outlet for rural micro-business vendors. Consequently, their closure during the COVID-19 pandemic presented a significant challenge to vendors as they were unable to use their traditional distribution channel and had to employ social media technologies to generate an income. This research explored the barriers and enablers of social media usage by farmers' market vendors in response to COVID-19 closures, using the UTAUT as a guiding framework. A qualitative approach was adopted utilising semi-structured interviews with 11 businesses that typically sold through farmers' markets. The findings suggest that while performance expectancy and social influence may support technology adoption among rural micro-business market vendors; the effort perceived to adopt and use it effectively may present a barrier. Practical implications from the research suggest that facilitating conditions in the form of educational training and financial support could help vendors adopt and use technology more strategically.

Keywords: rural; regional; entrepreneurship; social-media; micro-business; unified theory of acceptance and use of technology; UTAUT; COVID-19.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2024.138770

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2024 Vol.52 No.3, pp.312 - 331

Received: 08 Aug 2021
Accepted: 21 Dec 2021
Published online: 31 May 2024 *

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