The Adoption of Social Media Platforms in Informal Home-Based Businesses in Kuwait

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore the adoption of social media platforms by informal home-based business owners. A qualitative multi-case study approach was applied, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 owners of home-based businesses, and all are located in Kuwait. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis technique. The results revealed that social media (mainly Instagram) is an important advertising and marketing tool for home-based business activities in Kuwait. It aids the launch of new informal ventures for home-based business owners and facilitates the acquisition of requirements for the business. Also, social media accounts can be used as catalogues for displaying photos and videos about informal home-based business activities. This research makes several contributions to existing literature on this topic by empirically exploring the adoption of social media platforms for home-based businesses. The limitation of this study is due to its small sample size, which means that the results should be generalized with caution. This study contributes to the existing literature by presenting new knowledge about informal home-based businesses and social media in Kuwait. Also, it makes an empirical contribution to home-based businesses and marketing literature by exploring the role of social media on the start-up of informal home-based businesses. This study is one of very few studies which have explored the adoption of social media platforms in informal home-based businesses in Kuwait, and it can be used as a base for future research on adopting social media platforms in informal home-based businesses in Kuwait.