Empowerment and Entrepreneurship On WeChat: A focus on shared stories of Muslim women entrepreneurs in China

doi:10.36782/jcs.v13i2.2473

Empowerment and Entrepreneurship On WeChat: A focus on shared stories of Muslim women entrepreneurs in China

Xin Zheng, Wan Norban Wan Noordin

Abstract

New media entrepreneurship has become the most popular business model today. This study demonstrates the motivations and strategies of Muslim women entrepreneurship on WeChat. Using a qualitative approach, data were obtained from eight female entrepreneurs in Yiwu, China, through in-depth interviews to enable the women to voluntarily and earnestly express their stories and experiences in entrepreneurial activities. The interview results were then analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that Muslim women's motivations for venturing into WeChat business entrepreneurship were mainly attributed to increasing family income, following their entrepreneurial education background, and the idea that it is a simple operation and involves low investment, making it an accessible and potentially lucrative business model. Other findings include how they promote the products mainly through relationship building and friendship. Challenges in doing business were also shared and explained in the findings. By showing the actual situation of Muslim women entrepreneurship in China and how WeChat enables these women to be empowered and form relationships to strengthen their business activities, this study provides deep insights for practitioners and academics.

To cite this article (7^th APA style):

Zheng, X. & Noordin, W. N. W. (2023). Empowerment and entrepreneurship on WeChat: A focus on shared stories of Muslim women entrepreneurs in China. Journal Communication Spectrum: Capturing New Perspectives in Communication 13(2), 85-95. https://doi.org/10.36782/jcs.v13i2.2473

Keywords

New media entrepreneurship; Women entrepreneur; Muslim women; Friendship; Relationship

References

Abreha, S. K., Walelign, S. Z., & Zereyesus, Y. A. (2020). Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia. PloS one, 15(7), e0235825.

Afiouni, F., & Karam, C. M. (2019). The formative role of contextual hardships in women's career calling. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 114, 69-87.

Akram, M., Ilyas, F., & Garg, H. (2020). Multi-criteria group decision making based on ELECTRE I method in Pythagorean fuzzy information. Soft Computing, 24(5), 3425-3453.

Akhter, M. N., & Sobhani, F. A. (2016). Entrepreneurship for women in Islam: An institutional perspective. Daffodil International University Journal of Business and Economics, 10(2), 97-109.

Anggadwita, G., Luturlean, B. S., Ramadani, V., & Ratten, V. (2017). Sociocultural environments and emerging economy entrepreneurship: Women entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 9(1), 85-96

Anggadwita, G., Mulyaningsih, H. D., Ramadani, V., & Arwiyah, M. Y. (2015). Women entrepreneurship in Islamic perspective: A driver for social change. International Journal of Business and Globalization, 15(3), 389-404

Asad Sadi, M., & Al-Ghazali, B. M. (2010). Doing business with impudence: A focus on women entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. African Journal of Business Management, 4(1), 1-11

Belguidoum, S., & Pliez, O. (2015). Made in China. Commerce transnational et espaces urbains autour de la Méditerranée. Les Cahiers d’EMAM. Études sur le Monde arabe et la Méditerranée, (26).

Bennett, D., Hennekam, S., Macarthur, S., Hope, C., & Goh, T. (2019). Hiding gender: How women composers manage gender identity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 113, 20-32.

Bianco, M. E., Lombe, M., & Bolis, M. (2017). Challenging gender norms and practices through women’s entrepreneurship. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.

Bradić-Martinović, A., Zdravković, A., & Mišić, T. (2020). eHealth Skills of Female Entrepreneurs in Serbia. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, (3-4), 101-122.

Bouzari, P., Salamzadeh, A., Soleimani, M., & Ebrahimi, P. (2021). Online Social Networks and Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Comparative Study between Iran and Hungary. JWEE, (3-4), 61-75.

Clarke, V., Braun, V., & Hayfield, N. (2015). Thematic analysis. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods, 222, 248.

Caputo, A., Mehtap, S., Pellegrini, M. M., & Alrefai, R. (2016). Supporting opportunities for female entrepreneurs in Jordan. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 27(2-3), 384-409.

Cesaroni, F. M., Demartini, P., & Paoloni, P. (2017). Women in business and social media: Implications for female entrepreneurship in emerging countries. African Journal of Business Management, 11(14), 316-326.

Chang, L., Chattopadhyay, K., Li, J., Xu, M., & Li, L. (2021). Interplay of support, comparison, and surveillance in social media weight management interventions: qualitative study. JMIR Health and Health, 9(3), e19239.

Chen, J. (2017). Towards new and multiple perspectives on innovation. International Journal of Innovation Studies, 1(1), 1-4.

Chen, T., Chen, Y., Guo, H., & Luo, J. (2018, April). When e-commerce meets social media: Identifying business on wechat moment using bilateral-attention lstm. In Companion Proceedings of the The Web Conference 2018 (pp. 343-350).

Chreim, S., Spence, M., Crick, D., & Liao, X. (2018). Review of women immigrant entrepreneurship research: Past findings, gaps and ways forward. European Management Journal, 36(2), 210-222.

Cuberes, D., & Teignier, M. (2015). How costly are labor gender gaps? Estimates for the Balkans and Turkey. Estimates for the Balkans and Turkey (June 22, 2015). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (7319).

De Silva, A. O., Armitage, J. M., Bruton, T. A., Dassuncao, C., Heiger‐Bernays, W., Hu, X. C., ... & Sunderland, E. M. (2021). PFAS exposure pathways for humans and wildlife: a synthesis of current knowledge and key gaps in understanding. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 40(3), 631-657.

Dheer, R. J., Li, M., & Treviño, L. J. (2019). An integrative approach to the gender gap in entrepreneurship across nations. Journal of World Business, 54(6), 101004.

Dy, A. M., Marlow, S., & Martin, L. (2017). A Web of opportunity or the same old story? Women digital entrepreneurs and intersectionality theory. Human Relations, 70(3), 286-311.

Ebrahimi, Pejman; Mahsa Ahmadi; Abbas Gholampour and Hamidreza Alipour. 2019. "Crm Performance and Development of Media Entrepreneurship in Digital, Social Media and Mobile Commerce." International Journal of Emerging Markets, 16(1), 25-50

Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2020). Reviewing challenges and the future for qualitative interviewing. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 23, 581–592. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766767.

Friedman, H. H., & Lewis, B. (2014). A new kind of CEO for the global information age. Business Quest, October, online.

Gao, R., Cao, B., Hu, Y., Feng, Z., Wang, D., Hu, W., ... & Shu, Y. (2013). Human infection with a novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(20), 1888-1897.

Gimenez-Jimenez, Daniela; Andrea Calabrò and David Urbano. 2020. "The Neglected Role of Formal and Informal Institutions in Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Multi-Level Analysis." Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 18(2), 196-226.

Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2012). Applied thematic analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Hailemariam, A. T., Kroon, B., Van Engen, M., & Van Veldhoven, M. (2019). Dreams and reality: Autonomy support for women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.

Hammawa, Y. M., & Norashidah, B. H. (2016). Women entrepreneurs’ spirituality in business based on Al-Quran and Sunnah: An ethico-metaphysical dimension. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 18(6), 37-40

Hasni Che Ismail, Faridahwati Mohd. Shamsudin and Mohamed Chowdhury. (2012). An exploratory study of motivational factors on women entrepreneurship venturing in Malaysia. Business and Economic Research 2(1): 1–13. https://doi .org/10.5296/ber.v2i1.1434

Hashim, S., Naldi, L., & Markowska, M. (2021). “The royal award goes to…”: Legitimacy processes for women-led family ventures. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 12(3), 100358.

Ilhaamie A. G. A. (2017). Muslim women entrepreneurs’ motivation in SMEs: A quantitative study in Asia Pacific countries. Asian Economic and Financial Review, 7(1), 27-42.

Jalil, M. M. A., Mohd, F., Man, M., Ali, N., & Muhamad, S. (2019, February). Social Media Application Usage and Women Entrepreneurship Achievement through E-Business Model: Case of Setiu Wetland. In Proceedings of the 2019 8th International Conference on Software and Computer Applications (pp. 505-509).

Kapinga, A. F., Suero Montero, C., & Mbise, E. R. (2019). Mobile marketing application for entrepreneurship development: Codesign with women entrepreneurs in Iringa, Tanzania. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 85(2), e12073.

Koltai, Luca; Réka Geambasu; Zsuzsanna Bakacsi-Saffer; Andrea Barna-Petróczi and Virág Zsár. 2020. "Covid-19 and Female Entrepreneurs Throughout Europe." Budapest: Hetfa Research Institute Ltd.

Lai, P. C. (2017). The literature review of technology adoption models and theories for the novelty technology. JISTEM-Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 14, 21-38.

Leong, C., Tan, F. T. C., Tan, B., & Faisal, F. (2020). The emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship: A study of financial technology-driven inclusive growth. Information & Management, 103384.

Mason, K.O.; Smith, H.L. (2020). Women’s Empowerment and Social Context: Results from Five Asian Countries. 2003. Available online: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6d1a/8d3e0d704c1ae15d78b1d957a6bb4ff98fac.pdf

Machmud, A., & Hidayat, Y. M. (2020). Characteristics of Islamic entrepreneurship and the business success of SMEs in Indonesia. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 23(2), 1-16.

McAdam, Maura; Caren Crowley and Richard T Harrison. 2019. "“To Boldly Go Where No [Man] Has Gone before”-Institutional Voids and the Development of Women's Digital Entrepreneurship." Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146, 912-22

McIntosh, J. C., & Islam, S. (2010). Beyond the veil: The influence of Islam on female entrepreneurship in a conservative Muslim context. International Management Review, 6(1), 103-109

Naegels, V., Mori, N., & D'Espallier, B. (2021). The process of women borrower discouragement. Emerging Markets Review, 100837.

Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh. 2018. "Digital Entrepreneurship in a ResourceScarce Context: A Focus on Entrepreneurial Digital Competencies." Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 25(3), 483-500.

Ojokoh, B., Zhang, M., Oluwadare, S., and Akintola, K (2013). Women ‘s perceptions and uses of information and communication technologies in nigeria and china: a comparative analysis. Information Management & Business Review. 5, 4 (April 2013), 203-216.

Özsungur, F. (2019, May). A research on women's entrepreneurship motivation: Sample of Adana Province. In Women's Studies International Forum (Vol. 74, pp. 114-126). Pergamon.

Pettersson, Katarina; Helene Ahl; Karin Berglund and Malin Tillmar. 2017. "In the Name of Women? Feminist Readings of Policies for Women’s

Redd, Tammi C and Sibin Wu. 2020. "Gender Differences in Acquiring Business Support from Online Social Networks." Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education, 22

Ribes-Giner, G., Moya-Clemente, I., Cervelló-Royo, R., & Perello-Marin, M. R. (2018). Domestic economic and social conditions empowering female entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Research, 89, 182-189.

Salfiya Ummah, M. A. C., Choy, C. S., & Sulaiha Beevi, A. (2021). Factors influencing business performance of small and medium enterprises: a case study in Sri Lanka. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(4), 201-212.

Selamat, N. H., & Endut, N. (2020). "Bargaining with patriarchy" and entrepreneurship: Narratives of Malay Muslim women entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies, 38.

Sorokhaibam, R., & Laishram, N. (2011). Women Entrepreneurship in Manipur, North-East India. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business, 1(5), 46-53.

Startienė, G., & Remeikienė, R. (2008). Gender gap in entrepreneurship. Engineering economics, 60(5).

Su, X. (2020). Content analysis of HPV vaccine messages on Chinese social media. Jurnal The Messenger, 12(1), 63-73.

Syed Shah Alam, Mohd Fauzi Mohd Jani and Nor Asiah Omar. (2011). An empirical study of success factors of women entrepreneurs in southern region in Malaysia. International Journal of Economics and Finance 3(2): 166–175. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijef.v3n2p166

Tambunan, H. (2018). The Dominant Factor of Teacher's Role as a Motivator of Students' Interest and Motivation in Mathematics Achievement. International Education Studies, 11(4), 144-151.

Townsend, L., Wallace, C., Smart, A., & Norman, T. (2016). Building virtual bridges: how rural micro‐enterprises develop social capital in online and face‐to‐face settings. Sociologia Ruralis, 56(1), 29-47.

Tri Ramdhani, A. D., & Anggadwita, G. (2016). Identifications of Psychological Characteristics of Successful Muslim Women Entrepreneur in Islamic Perspective. Retrieved from http:///www.library.telkomuniverity.ac.id/pustaka/files.

Ullah, Md. M., Mahmud, T., & Yousuf, F. (2013). Women entrepreneurship: Islamic perspective. European Journal of Business Management (EJBM) Special Issue on Islamic Management and Business, 5(11), 253-269.

Uzunoğlu, E., & Misci Kip, S. (2014). Brand communication through digital influencers: Leveraging blogger engagement. International Journal of Information Management, 34(5), 592–602

Wu, Q., Huang, Y., Helena van Velthoven, M., Wang, W., Chang, S., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Feasibility of using WeChat to improve infant and young child feeding in rural areas in China: A mixed quantitative and qualitative study. Plos one, 16(2), e0246942.

World Bank. (2019). Global financial development report 2019/2020: Bank regulation and supervision a decade after the global financial crisis. The World Bank.

Xue, K., & Yu, M. (Eds.). (2017). New media and Chinese society (Vol. 5). Springer.

Zani, B. (2021). Digital Entrepreneurship: E-Commerce among Chinese Marriage-Migrant Women in Taiwan. Journal of Chinese Overseas, 17(2), 265-292.

Zhou, Q., Gao, P., & Chimhowu, A. (2019). ICTs in the transformation of rural enterprises in China: A multi-layer perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 145, 12-23.

Zhou, Y., Yu, Y., Chen, X., & Zhou, X. (2020). Guanxi or justice? an empirical study of WeChat voting. Journal of business ethics, 164(1), 201-225

Full Text: PDF (en)