Research co-authored by the assistant professor of management information systems examines social media use by women entrepreneurs in Egypt and was published in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
Haya Ajjan, assistant professor of management information systems, co-authored the article titled, “A Road to Empowerment: Social Media Use by Women Entrepreneurs in Egypt,” which appears in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
Ajjan and co-authors Victoria L. Crittenden, professor and chair marketing division at Babson College, Rania Mostafa, assistant professor of marketing at Damanhour University in Egypt, and Stefanie Beninger, doctoral student and lecturer at Simon Fraser University in Canada, studied social media impact on women in the Middle East.
As discussed in the paper, the world is increasingly shaped by social collaboration and access to instant information via social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Increasing evidence is emerging around how access to technology can provide for women to improve their incomes, gain awareness of their public and private rights, and improve their own and their family’s well-being.
The paper’s abstract reads:
“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.”
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business publishes and fosters discussion on international, cross-cultural and comparative academic research about entrepreneurs, including corporate intrapreneurs and founders of domestic new ventures.