A Path to Empowerment: Usage of Facebook by Pakistani Women Entrepreneurs.
Abstract
Facebook has become popular tool amongst women entrepreneurs in Pakistan and is a good source to earn their livelihood, while staying at home. This study was aimed to enlighten the role of potential women entrepreneurship, who are successfully running their businesses on Facebook. According to the World Bank report (2019) 48.5 percent population in Pakistan is women. Due to the unavoidable reasons majority of them are only allowed to work at home therefore the easy access of Facebook has become a reasonable platform to earn their livelihood. However, their success stories are not being highlighted as they deserve. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 female entrepreneurs actively involved in web-based activities during a three-month time frame of this study by using Snowball sampling Technique. The questionnaire was adapted and inspired from Ajjan et al.'s (2014) Conceptual model. The findings showed that Facebook has an overall positive impact on the lives of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Due to the user-friendly nature, customized options and monetary incentives, Facebook is transforming from just social networking site to business platform for women in Pakistan. Due to the unique, innovative and novel characteristics of Facebook, more and more women are getting motivated to run their businesses through Facebook. It is expected that this could further imitate strategies directed to improve entrepreneurial movements among women of emerging economies and conclusively increasing female leadership around the globe.
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