Unlocking the Potentials of Indian Women Entrepreneurs Through Smartphone Application: An Empirical Study on the Challenging & Enabling Factors

Abstract

Culture is imperative in the study of women, and especially when it comes to their career and profession. Financial freedom and decision-making authorities were never given to women at home by the Indian patriarchal society. Gender discrimination has always been linked to cultural attitudes in terms of difference of people and their job; even the profession varies between male and female in accordance to the societal acceptance and norms. Despite all odds, women all around the globe have proved themselves to be successful in a male-dominated practice by contributing to the economy, at large. The evolution of e-commerce and digital revolution has paved the way for women intriguing into entrepreneurial activities and promoting and selling their products through various social media platforms and networking applications. In a developing country like India, social media tools like “WhatsApp” has emerged up with huge avenues for female entrepreneurship. The present study is an attempt to identify the enabling factors and the challenging factors which influence women entrepreneurs to run their business through a smartphone application—”WhatsApp". The findings of the study reveal the most influential enablers and challenges which women entrepreneur encounter while operating their business through “WhatsApp” application.