Jordanian Women Entrepreneurs and the Role of Social Media: The Road to Empowerment

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the factors that have influenced women entrepreneurs to use social media to run their businesses. Additionally, it explores how social media has influenced and affected women entrepreneurs' businesses and examines the social changes in their lives instigated by using social media for business purposes.
 Methods: The study adopts a qualitative-inductive approach and utilizes semi-structured interviews with 30 women entrepreneurs from various industries in three main cities in Jordan.
 Results: The paper highlights that social media platforms have provided women with varying degrees of empowerment. The degree of empowerment differs among women and is associated with their motivations for entrepreneurship. Women who started their businesses with opportunity motivations and used social media as their primary platform are found to be more empowered compared to women who engaged in necessity entrepreneurship. The research findings confirm that female entrepreneurs have experienced positive effects by using social media as their primary business platform. Embracing social media has presented new marketing opportunities, leading to significant economic gains.
 Conclusions: This study supports the notion that the status of women's entrepreneurship in Jordan is rapidly increasing, particularly due to the presence of social media platforms. Women adopt different titles and descriptions to gain control over their lives, often referred to as empowerment, which is achieved through access to financial resources, education, and confidence. This empowerment subsequently manifests as entrepreneurship.