Title: A road to empowerment: social media use by women entrepreneurs in Egypt

Authors: Stefanie Beninger; Haya Ajjan; Rania B. Mostafa; Victoria L. Crittenden

Addresses: Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver, V6C 1W6, British Columbia ' Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Elon University, Elon, 27244, NC, USA ' Faculty of Commerce, Damanhour University, B.O. 22514, Damanhour, Egypt ' Babson College, Babson Park, 02457, MA, USA

Abstract: The role of social media in the empowerment of women entrepreneurs in emerging economies is a nascent area of research, despite the large numbers of women entrepreneurs around the world. Through semistructured interviews, we explored the role social media plays in the businesses of 30 women entrepreneurs in Egypt. Egypt was an interesting context of study given limited previous research on it and the high adoption rates of social media platforms. Using a grounded theory approach to data analysis, the findings show that social media has an overall positive impact on the lives of women entrepreneurs, both professionally and personally.

Keywords: women entrepreneurs; social media; emerging economies; entrepreneurship; small business; qualitative research; interviews; empowerment; self-efficacy; independence; MENA countries; Egypt; small firms; female entrepreneurs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.073987

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.27 No.2/3, pp.308 - 332

Received: 06 Apr 2015
Accepted: 03 May 2015
Published online: 31 Dec 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article