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. 2022 Dec 3;8(12):e12041. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12041

Factors influencing social-media-based entrepreneurship prospect among female students in China

Cousté Philippe Emmanuel a, Su Qin a, Syed Far Abid Hossain b,∗, Khalid Hussain c
PMCID: PMC9723940  PMID: 36483305

Abstract

This research paper aims to explore the entrepreneurship opportunities for young female students in emerging nations. Adopting the technology acceptance model paradigm, the authors attempt to understand the moderating effects of perceived usefulness on social media behavior. The authors conduct a person-administered survey on 241 female students with entrepreneurship intentions. The survey is analyzed using structural equation modeling (Amos). According to the findings, the variables such as social influence, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, attitude toward social media and social-media behaviors have a significant relationship, indicating tremendous entrepreneurial opportunities, especially social-media-based, for young women in emerging nations. Results also show that social media attracts women entrepreneurs positively in emerging countries. Since the data was collected only in a single Asian nation, the results may not be generalizable. The study have a significant impact on social media and entrepreneurial development.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Social media, Women, Emerging nations, Students

Entrepreneurship, Social media, Women, Emerging nations, Students.

1. Introduction

Facebook, the most popular social media network, exceeded 2.93 billion active monthly users in early 2022, followed by YouTube (2.6 billion), WhatsApp (2.44 billion), and WeChat (1.29 billion), according to Statista. Marketers are continuously exposed to opportunities and threats due to increased and powerful social media usage in industry 4.0 era (Kurniawati et al., 2020), but consumers feel flexible with this increased interaction with more people (Bailey et al., 2018). This opportunity may attract young women with an entrepreneurial focus due to innumerable negative social and discrimination problems, lack of a safe workplace environment, sexual harassment, etc. (Von Gruenigen and Karlan, 2018). Women’s entrepreneurship has already received much attention in developed countries, but research is very limited within emerging economies especially in m-commerce (Idris et al., 2020; Welsh et al., 2017). This study aims to explore the entrepreneurship opportunities for young female students in emerging nations.

Recent research has looked into the trend of traditional shopping being replaced by online shopping (Dakduk et al., 2017), the emergence of social commerce and social media to support exchange activities (Han and Trimi, 2017). and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) as a significant indicator in the e-commerce industry (Nizar Hidayanto et al., 2017). Social media as a motive or tool for young, energetic female students to become entrepreneurs may decrease poverty, unemployment, and sexual harassment issues in the workplace. Women diversified entrepreneurial activities and empowerment can significantly contribute to society (Datta and Gailey, 2012), e.g., decreasing the likelihood of women engaging in prostitution for survival in developing and emerging nations. Recent research has emphasized the usage of social media by younger generations as consumers (Sing, 2016) and the opportunities and advantages for consumers due to (e-)WOM (Cheung and Thadani, 2012). A recent survey revealed that 88% of consumers read and trust online reviews (Chen et al., 2017). A recent study has also recognized the differences between social media entrepreneurship and other forms of entrepreneurship and discussed, in terms of theory, how a person can market products among their followers (Çiçek, 2018). It is a complicated phenomenon for unknown sellers to understand the behavior of internet users (Krairit, 2018); online sellers may perform better in terms of selling a product virtually within their network. Another issue to draw attention to here is the increased usage of mobile technology for mobile shopping (Saprikis et al., 2018), which may positively affect social-media entrepreneurship. Regional development through women’s entrepreneurship has also been suggested in recent research (Achtenhagen, 2019).

However, research on the opportunities of using social media to become a female entrepreneur for young female students in emerging nations has received limited attention, and very little has been discovered about independent entrepreneurial activities (Hossain et al., 2020). Furthermore, empirical findings for entrepreneurship based on social media are scarce. Researchers have recently suggested more publications in “media management” and “media entrepreneurship” (Achtenhagen, 2017). A business platform for underprivileged female students based on social-media entrepreneurship is still at an early stage of research. As women in emerging nations face so many obstacles, social-media entrepreneurship may alleviate this acute problem and broaden the opportunity for women to live better lives in different regions.

Therefore, this research paper aims to explore the entrepreneurship opportunities for young female students in emerging nations. After surveying 22,000 online shoppers in 27 different territories globally, PWC’s global consumer insight survey revealed that social networking was chosen as the number one source for purchase inspiration (Pergelova et al., 2018). Women, therefore, need the help of technology, initiative, passion, and the ability to handle social media to become successful entrepreneurs intelligently. Overall, the paper contributes to the research domain by exploring the entrepreneurship opportunities derived from social media solely for young women students in developing nations. Different technology acceptance model (TAM) variables are used in various contexts to understand the phenomena clearly. Overall, this research paper aims to explore the entrepreneurship opportunities for young female students in emerging nations.

The following sections include developing hypotheses based on the conceptual model, the findings, and a discussion on the consequences, limitations, and future research prospects.

2. Literature review

The study began with a literature review related to entrepreneurship opportunities and challenges in multiple business sectors with a specific focus on digital technology and social media. On social media, we examined relevant literature containing phrases related to entrepreneurship. The terms used for search included “entrepreneurship,” “social media,” “female,” “emerging nation,” “start-up,” “media entrepreneurship,” and “entrepreneurial intention of students.” We investigated the research papers in the major databases, including Science Direct, SCI-hub, Scopus, ERIC, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The list of journals chosen in this study was listed in the Association of Business Schools (ABS) Academic Journal Guide 2015. We selected empirical studies, theoretical analyses, case studies, short communications, and literature-review articles. We tried to identify the specific and relevant literature by carefully reviewing broad literature. As a result, we strictly focused on entrepreneurship in the contemporary digital era where technology is an opportunity and a challenge faced by entrepreneurs. Some significant contexts of entrepreneurship were also included in this literature review as they are key in the field of entrepreneurship, including entrepreneurial education (Hahn et al., 2018), social and non-social start-ups (Hechavarría and Welter, 2015), survival and growth of technology-enabled firms (Rannikko et al., 2018), high-technology innovation and entrepreneurship (Pan et al., 2018), entrepreneurship success in the digital platform (Srinivasan and Venkatraman, 2018), app-enabled business opportunity (Ehrenhard et al., 2017), employees’ access to rich media for small firms (Labafi et al., 2018), communication procedure in entrepreneurial teams (Khajeheian, 2018a, Khajeheian, 2018b), opportunity recognition (Khajeheian, 2018a, Khajeheian, 2018b), science technology in cinema media (Kirby, 2011) and entrepreneurial productivity of the students (Aurelian-Petrus et al., 2018; García-Uceda et al., 2022).

The study focused our review using an opportunity-based theoretical perspective, in which business is surrounded by resources and capabilities (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993). The opportunity-based theoretical viewpoint can underpin entrepreneurship opportunities in a new arena based on digital technology and social media. Previous studies also provided important understanding, such as the role of social media (Mohajerani et al., 2015) and the role of technology in institutional growth (Henriksen et al., 2011).

As explained in Table 1, we reviewed and analyzed 47 papers directly related to entrepreneurship, digital technology, and social media. Altogether, the papers covered both entrepreneurship opportunities and technological usage. In addition, literature about the role of educational institutions and students in the entrepreneurship arena was highlighted in various dimensions. Even though the literature review is not large, it covers three phenomena consistently as independent constructs, closely linked with entrepreneurship, digital technology, and social media. These included: perceived usefulness of social media; ease of use of technological advantages utilized by entrepreneurs and SMEs; and the attitude toward online communities in entrepreneurship development. However, the existing literature is limited to concurrent measures, constructs, and relationships published in various fields but relevant to our research topic.

Table 1.

Prior literature on entrepreneurship, women, and social media.

Reference Year Objective Method Relevant finding(s)
Pergelova et al. (2018) 2018 To examine different strategies of gender when internationalizing. Structured interview with 249 employees from private business. Female-led SMEs have more internationalization, possibly via foreign direct investment.
Goel and Jones (2016) 2016 To examine the exploration and exploitation of entrepreneurs in family businesses. Review (59 publications). Explored different contributions of family businesses.
Strike et al. (2018) 2018 To investigate the advising process in family businesses. Review (52 scholarly articles). Mechanism of giving and taking advice in family businesses.
Pandit et al. (2018) 2018 To study business intent in higher education. Survey (863 students). Higher entrepreneurship intention among entrepreneurship students.
Ip et al. (2018) 2018 To examine social entrepreneurial intention among the students. Survey (331 students from Hong Kong). Innovation positively affects entrepreneurial intentions.
Urban and Muzamhindo (2018) 2018 To investigate institutional factors and their influence on entrepreneurship. Survey (163 ventures). Cognitive and supportive institutions have an important impact on entrepreneurial activity.
Hahn et al. (2017) 2017 To explore multilevel contingencies of entrepreneurial education. Survey (87,918 students across 26 countries). To extent students can develop entrepreneurial knowledge.
Hechavarría and Welter (2015) 2015 To investigate the difference between social and non-social start-ups in terms of innovation. Longitudinal survey (2204 individuals). Social entrepreneurs focused on opportunities are less innovative.
Yang et al. (2015) 2015 To investigate the differences in the cultural dimensions of social entrepreneurship. Survey (236 individuals from the US and China). Social entrepreneurship is not unique in different regions.
Heikkilä et al. (2018) 2018 To analyze strategic goals and their effects on SMEs' business-model innovation. 11 in-depth case studies. Strategic SMEs' goals show alternative ways to innovate.
Rannikko et al. (2018) 2018 To investigate innovative technology-enabled companies' survival and growth paths. Survey (976 firms). Technology-enabled firms have higher survival rates.
Goel and Jones (2016) 2016 To identify the relationship between entrepreneurship and venture capital. Conceptual model. Identified the impact of venture capital on entrepreneurship.
Pan et al. (2018) 2018 To investigate the trend of innovation and integration of high technology entrepreneurs. Conceptual model. Advice regarding growth practices of high-tech entrepreneurial enterprises.
Autio et al. (2018) 2018 To examine into and analyze the origins of the paradigm of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Conceptual model and review of articles. Based on digital affordances, entrepreneurial ecosystems vary.
Srinivasan and Venkatraman (2018) 2018 To investigate digital platform entrepreneurial success. Conceptual. Entrepreneurial success through different linkages and digital-technology platforms.
Severina et al. (2018) 2018 To investigate comparisons among social media, B2B, and B2C. 449 panel-based survey (UK and US) Distinctive identification of social-media usage: B2B and B2C had different results.
Hutter and Hoffmann (2014) 2014 To investigate different media types that create surprise. Survey data (305 respondents) and observation data (2464 passers-by). Ambient media are beneficial in raising the intention to buy. It also calls the attention of customers.
Hsu and Lawrence (2016) 2016 To examine how social media damages firms for recalling products. Event study methodology (185 products). Brand-equity building may protect companies in the social-media context.
Steward et al. (2018) 2018 To examine the increasing number of online-review usage in B2B decision making. Interview (48 B2B buyers) and field experiment (293 and 587 B2B buyers in two phases). Online customer reviews may change the purchase process.
Henriksen et al. (2011) 2011 To investigating the technological influence on institutional growth. Stochastic frontier analysis. For companies, technological innovation is essential.
Mohajerani et al. (2015) 2015 To examine the role of social media. 37 semi-structured interviews. Identified social media affordances, institutional entrepreneurship, and social change
Ehrenhard et al. (2017) 2017 To develop app-enabled business innovation. Multiple-case study. Explored value creation through apps.
Warner-Søderholm et al. (2018) 2018 To examine the trust value of users' use of social media. Convenience-sampling technique (n = 214). Women and younger people have the highest level of trust, expectation, and goodwill regarding social media.
Lee (2018) 2018 To identify social media intelligence from managers' perspectives. Data analysis from real consumer reviews, e.g., sentiment analysis A four-stage analytics process: key performance; data analysis; media platform; and utilization of intelligence in social media.
Corral de Zubielqui et al. (2017) 2017 To investigate social media’s external knowledge and its influence on corporate performance and creativity. Large-scale survey. Innovativeness positively affects performance. For external knowledge effects, social media work as a mediator.
Bailey et al. (2018) 2018 To examine the influences inspiring social-media usage among young generations Survey (296 students from two countries). Significant linkage between social-media usage and the independent variables of the study.
Gretry et al. (2017) 2017 To explore communication style in social media. Pilot study. Identified important differences between formal and informal communication about brand.
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Further, most of the papers were published in 2017 and 2018, which indicates the current interest of researchers in entrepreneurial start-ups. This section further defines, summarizes, and analyzes each of the three major resources as described above. Finally, this paper reviews the broader literature that represents a more comprehensive understanding of the insights based on the relevance of entrepreneurship, digital technology, and social media.

2.1. Conceptual model and development of hypotheses

In this section, the authors construct and explained the theoretical framework for this research. Hypotheses are generated from the following discussion. The authors initially give a quick review of the TAM and the expanded model of technology acceptance (TAM2). All the variables used for this study are discussed, and the hypotheses are formed based on the discussion.

2.2. TAM and TAM2

Davis (1989) developed TAM and afterward became a unified perspective by Venkatesh and Bala (2008). The theory assumes that it is feasible to formulate behavioral intentions that can lead to an actual system for using technology through perceived feasibility and perceived simplicity.

The model was made available in two distinct dimensions by previous researchers. The first aspect is technology dependence, which can be defined as a psychological condition of mass reliance on technology (Turel et al., 2011). It is not always necessary that this dependence be linked to academic purposes. Different users can utilize technology for various reasons, yet a single definition must nevertheless be adopted (Byun et al., 2009).

Venkatesh and Davis (2000) extended TAM in terms of social influence. The main focus of TAM2 was to enhance adaptability by adding some new factors. Two constructs were discussed in TAM2: social impact; and cognitive effect. Social influence includes subject norms and image, whereas mental power includes result demonstrability, output quality, etc. TAM2 can determine whether an individual can adopt or reject a new system (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000).

3. Research method

3.1. Variables and hypotheses

3.1.1. Perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and perceived usefulness

Perceived ease of use (PEOU) is one of the key components of TAM. It represents the usage of technology without much effort or struggle. A positive correlation has been found in prior research between PEOU and perceived usefulness (PU) (Demoulin and Djelassi, 2016), which motivated the authors to use PEOU and PU in this study. Perceived enjoyment (PE) is an extension of TAM and refers to the tendency of technology usage for fun or entertainment (Venkatesh and Bala, 2008). PEOU consists of three items (concerning the easy use of social media), and PE consists of four items (regarding social media as entertainment). Over the years, PE has been shown to have a significant positive relationship with PU regarding online shopping implementation (Ha and Stoel, 2009) and mobile shopping (Agrebi and Jallais, 2015). We assume that PEOU and PE both will have a positive impact on PU. Although Facebook and some other popular social media platforms like WhatsApp are blocked in China, WeChat is extremely popular, with a large membership of 1 billion registered users with 70 million users outside China and approximately 83% of Chinese smartphone users having registered a WeChat account (Hollander, 2018) who frequently purchase products online. China has recently been appreciated and evaluated as one of the most successful countries for online shopping platforms due to the significant achievements of Alibaba and Taobao since 2009, exemplified by the achievement of USD 14.3 billion of purchases in one single day on 11/11/2015 (Alizila, 2015). Numerous studies have asserted that China’s online business can benefit society through innovative and digital transformation (Kurniawati et al., 2021). Moreover, as a new tool for communication among entrepreneurial teams (Khajeheian, 2018a, Khajeheian, 2018b), enterprise social media may foster social-media entrepreneurship among female students. We, therefore, posit the following two hypotheses:

H1

The PEOU of social media has a positive impact on the PU of social media.

H2

The PE of social media has a positive impact on the PU of social media.

3.1.2. Social media behaviors and entrepreneurial tendency

This is a construct previously used by (Shim et al., 2008), and we adapted the scales to explore entrepreneurial tendency. Social-media behavior is considered active by uploading content, pictures, information, web pages, links, sharing and talking about others, etc. (Pagani et al., 2011). Online behaviors of different users can be measured using this scale. We therefore further hypothesized that:

H3

The perceived usefulness of social media has a positive impact on social media behaviors and entrepreneurial tendency

3.1.3. Social influence

Social influence is also an extended part of TAM and has been used in various previous studies. Most importantly, the social influence factor is used for individual attention and attitude toward technology usage, the rapid growth of digital technology, etc. A strong correlation has been found between norms and PU in TAM3 (Venkatesh and Bala, 2008). Some other domains where social influence has been highlighted include diet apps’ use (Okumus et al., 2016) and the self-service facility associated with technological advancement (Demoulin and Djelassi, 2016). As a result, we incorporated social influence in our conceptual model and hypothesized that:

H4

Social influence of using social media has a positive impact on social media behaviors and entrepreneurial tendency

3.1.4. Attitude toward social media

A significant connection between behavior and other factors was identified in several types of research. If the attitude is positive or favorable toward social media, respondents get more benefits, which leads them to be connected with social-media behaviors and entrepreneurial tendencies. Online shopping implementations (Ha and Stoel, 2009), e-readers’ attitudes (Antón et al., 2013), and technology-adoption attitudes in the retail industry (Kaushik and Rahman, 2015) are previous proven examples of this particular construct. We, therefore, assumed a positive impact between attitude toward social media and PU and hypothesized that:

H5

Attitude toward social media has a positive impact on social-media behaviors and entrepreneurial tendencies.

Figure 1 represents the conceptual model of the study, along with the development of the hypotheses. TAM was used in this study, so a brief overview is provided about TAM. A discussion on multiple variables including PEOU, PU, PE, attitude (ATT), social influence (SI), and social-media behaviors (SMB) on entrepreneurial tendency is provided. Each of the variables is discussed via the derived hypothesis. The conceptual model represents the links between the dependent and independent variables.

Figure 1.

Figure 1

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Conceptual model.

3.2. Sample and data collection

According to the study, the authors first performed a literature review, followed by the primary collection of data using a confidential survey. The population of the study consist of the female students who has entrepreneurial intention in China. The sampling criteria were to select young female students who expressed future entreprenerial tendencies from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. To calculate the sample size, a 95% confidence level was utilized. With the assistance of student ambassadors, we initially printed and distributed 400 questionnaires, dormitory leaders and social-networking-group administrators from the same university. Finally, 241 completed and relevant responses were selected based on a 95% confidence level for further analysis. The respondents were all female students between the ages of 18 and 45. Among the respondents, 42 were graduate students, 165 were post-graduate students, and 34 were Ph.D. students in different majors, including management, engineering, education, and business administration. Even though the responses were all from China, they came from all over the world. Most respondents were from developing or emerging nations, e.g., India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, South Africa, South Sudan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

To ensure research relevancy, the authors decided to select a range of journals focusing on entrepreneurship, marketing, and international business. We examined most of the issues of 47 journals from 2010 to 2018. Research articles from before 2010 were not included, given the noticeable gap and the change in the business environment and technological changes. However, we considered research that appeared before 2010 to provide insights. The authors included 47 journals (see Table 1) recognized and influential in entrepreneurship and small business management, general management, marketing, business history, innovation, information management, and international business. The reason behind choosing these journals is their recognition by the ABS Academic Journal Guide 2015. According to Table 1, the entrepreneurship category covered the highest number of journals regarding research relevancy. Although our planned search was limited to these reputed journals, our overall review was open to any relevant information. We, therefore, included other publications based on relevant discussion.

The authors used several search processes in different phases. First, a co-author was assigned to examine each article manually in every issue accessible of the journals listed in Table 1 and pick relevant articles for the research review. A total of 581 articles were chosen in the first phase.

The authors read each of the 581 articles in the following step to see if they were appropriate or related to the study subject. We focused more on the papers based on entrepreneurial development with technological advancement. Finally, the authors agreed to select 27 relevant papers (see Table 2). These papers are further summarized in the following sections. Above all, the collective knowledge from the research articles led to the identification of different resources as important tools to be successful in entrepreneurship. The questionnaire was written in English at first, then translated into Chinese using an internet translator. To ensure accuracy, the translated questionnaire is reviewed and corrected by a Chinese translator expert. The authors again tested the final version of both the English and Chinese questionnaires for further clarity. The meaning of the questionnaire was unchanged during the translation process. At the beginning of the questionnaire, the authors invited only female students to participate in this survey, which intends to be an entrepreneur in the future. Apart from that, some demographic information was also included in the study. The respondents participated in the survey voluntarily with their own consent. Ethical approval was also ensured from the concerned department of the institution.

Table 2.

Summary of goodness-of-fit of the proposed model.

Measurement type Acceptance fit range Values Status
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) <0.10 (good fit) 0.022 Perfect fit
Comparative fit index (CFI) ≥0.90 0.989 Perfect fit
Tucker−Lewis index (TLI) ≥0.90 0.987 Perfect fit
S Root-mean residual (SRMR) equal or close to 0 0.041 Perfect fit
Parsimonious fit (CMIN/DF) <5 1.11 Perfect fit
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∗Calculation is based on SPSS Amos 24.

3.3. Instrument development and measures

With the help of a questionnaire, several questions were utilized to measure the variables of this study. The sources are provided in Table 3. Some of the items were modified to match with social media. To analyze the scales statistically, the authors used short forms of the actual rankings. Furthermore, items with weak loading scores were excluded from the scale. Table 2 represents detailed information about the model fit indices where RMSEA, CFI, TLI, SRMR and parsimonious fit has acceptable values. Seven-point Likert scales were used to measure the scales from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

Table 3.

Validity and reliability results including item details for further evaluation and understanding (∗Calculation is based on SPSS Amos 24).

Item Factor loading CR Alpha AVE
PEOU (Perceived ease of use) Curran and Lennon (2011) 0.90 0.81 0.73
PEOU1 0.86
PEOU2 0.86
PEOU3 0.85
PE (Perceived Enjoyment) Curran and Lennon (2011) 0.88 0.81 0.64
PE1 0.78
PE2 0.83
PE3 0.81
PE4 0.80
ATT (Attitude) Yi (1990); Lafferty et al. (2002) 0.93 0.86 0.80
ATT1 0.90
ATT2 0.90
ATT3 0.89
PU (Perceived Usefulness) Curran and Lennon (2011) 0.90 0.85 0.56
PU1 0.76
PU2 0.77
PU3 0.83
PU4 0.73
PU5 0.71
PU6 0.68
SI (Social Influence) Trongmateerut and Sweeney (2013) 0.95 0.86 0.80
SI1 0.94
SI2 0.75
SMB (Social-media Behavior) Pagani et al. (2011); Tsai and Men (2013) 0.90 0.87 0.60
SMB1 0.75
SMB2 0.74
SMB3 0.81
SMB4 0.80
SMB5 0.81
SMB6 0.77
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4. Data analysis and results

4.1. Measurement model results

We conducted measurement models to observe the structure of the factors and test the hypotheses, i.e., whether there are relationships between observed variables and other constructs. We further tested the fitness of our proposed research model and found that it fit. We also considered different factors to ensure the discriminant validity issue. According to Fornell and Larcker (1981), the AVE value for every construct should be more than or equal to 0.50 and, as suggested by (Hair et al., 2011; Hair et al., 2012), a good factor loading value should be more than 0.50, an acceptable Cronbach’s alpha value is ≥ 0.70, and the value acceptable for CR is ≥ 0.70. Table 3 represents other validity and reliability results, including item details for further evaluation and understanding.

4.2. Hypothesis testing results

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in this study with SPSS Amos 24 to obtain an accurate statistical analysis. Our proposed model was tested with structural SEM and showed an absolutely acceptable fit: CFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.88; RMSEA = 0.09; RMR = 0.03; p < 0.001 [27]. In Tables 4 and 5, more detailed results are represented. Most of the hypothesized paths were significant, except for H5. H1 assumed that the PEOU of social media would positively impact the PU of social media: this was supported (β = 0.150; p < 0.001). In other words, we can say that the PEOU of social media has a positive effect on the PU of social media, which motivates young female students to become an entrepreneur based on social-media usage behavior. H2, H3, and H4 (β = 0.459, 0.519, and 0.124, respectively; p < 0.001) similarly represent a positive impact and are supported in this study.

Table 4.

Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix (∗Calculation is based on SPSS Amos 24).

Number Item Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 PEOU 5.19 0.98 1
2 PE 4.99 0.84 0.475∗∗
3 ATT 5.00 0.95 0.276∗∗ 0.163∗
4 SI 4.92 1.00 0.131∗ 0.193∗∗ 0.092
5 PU 4.94 0.79 0.418∗∗ 0.578∗∗ 0.150∗ 0.175∗∗
6 SMB 5.01 0.79 0.418∗∗ 0.429∗∗ 0.187∗∗ 0.266∗∗ 0.565∗∗ 1
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Notes: ∗∗ Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). ∗ Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 5.

Test of hypotheses.

Hypothesis DV Relation IV Estimate (β) SE. C.R. p Result
1 PU ← PEOU 0.131 0.066 2.004 0.045 Supported
2 PU ← PE 0.638 0.109 5.834 0.000 Supported
3 SMB ← PU 0.561 0.080 7.025 0.000 Supported
4 SMB ← SI 0.117 0.043 2.720 0.007 Supported
5 SMB ← ATT 0.085 0.048 1.765 0.078 Rejected
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According to H2, the PE of social media has a positive impact on the PU of social media, which was strongly supported in the analysis. This indicates that many people use social media as a tool of enjoyment, but this may serve a useful purpose when buying and selling products virtually for the mutual benefit of the concerned parties involved in this activity. H3 and H4 also showed a significant positive relationship among the PU of social media, SMB, and ATT, indicating better prospects in terms of social-media entrepreneurship for female students, especially those deprived of the necessary facilities in emerging nations.

However, H5 (β = 0.077; p = 0.074, which posited that ATT would positively impact SMB and entrepreneurial tendency) was not supported. The p-value for H5 was 0.074, close to the acceptable value of 0.05, indicating the proposed hypothesis’s relevancy. Therefore, it can be said that, although ATT had no positive impact on SMB and entrepreneurial tendency, the relationship was very close, given the statistical findings.

By comparing square inter-scale correlations with each construct’s AVE, we assessed the discriminant validity. The findings of Tables 4 and 5 demonstrate that the AVEs of all individual scales are more than the corresponding interscale correlations, and so the discrimination is true.

5. Discussion

This study is an attempt to explore social media and social networking among young students in China as a precursor to easily setting up start-up companies against the background and motivation of numerous success stories around them. The aim is to understand the situation in an emerging market where the entrepreneurship tendency is higher due to successful online shopping platforms and implement it in other developing countries in which women are deprived, unemployed, or neglected due to innumerable reasons. The basis of this study was TAM, which is widely accepted by researchers, with extension and modification. In addition, a literature review was performed, focusing on technology acceptance, entrepreneurship, and social-networking tendencies worldwide. Although the proposed model is not a significant extension, it focused strongly on the prospect of entrepreneurship development among young women due to social networking or the ease of accessing online community benefits. The structural model, with results, is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Figure 2

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Structural model with results.

The study first analyzed previous research ideas to find a gap. A conceptual model was subsequently developed and tested with SEM. Most of the proposed hypotheses, except one, were strongly supported following the analysis, along with a perfect model fit, reliability, and validity. The variables also showed a very strong correlation among them. Overall, the model revealed a strong relationship between PE and PU, PU and SMB, and PEOU and PE. This shows that regular users are motivated by PEOU and PU, which leads them to use social media for commercial purposes. Due to this accessible, easy-to-use, and flexible opportunity, women can aim to become entrepreneurs with the help of social media alone.

Our study finding is consistent with that of Bailey et al. (2018), who studied social media usage among young Latin Americans and effective social-media-usage attitudes. The research finding also has a similar view on different concepts and constructs as a challenge in developing media entrepreneurship. Also, Al-Rahmi et al. (2018) discovered a substantial relationship between PU and social media regarding learning outcomes. Hedonic usage tendency was included in the study through the perceived enjoyment factor, i.e., technology usage as fun and enjoyment. Still, it may lead users to become entrepreneurs due to social media usage. However, only one factor, attitude, failed to show any significant effect on social media behavior. This may be because a positive attitude toward social media is necessarily relevant for business and entrepreneurial intentions.

On the other hand, social influence was a significant factor in this study using social media and entrepreneurship motivation which is consistent with media convergence and divergence and corporate media entrepreneurship and innovation (Urban and Muzamhindo, 2018). Recent research addresses the need for a quantitative model for media entrepreneurship. This study attempted to contribute to the current literature with a quantitative analysis on media entrepreneurship and social network (Khajeheian, 2017). This contribution may further enhance the opportunity for sustainable development of family-owned media across generations (Khajeheian, 2018a, Khajeheian, 2018b).

6. Research implications

6.1. Managerial implications

The findings of the research study also led to the identification of managerial implications. A significant positive relationship between women’s entrepreneurial tendency and social media as a start-up platform is found in our study. This highlights the opportunity to establish different media platforms that are capable of attracting consumers and building trust. Women entrepreneurs, especially female students, may consider the platform and bypass various start-up costs. According to the study, PU and PEOU have a meaningful positive relationship with PE. Companies may evaluate the usefulness and ease of using specific products to enjoy the benefits of consuming the products with ease. Some particular businesses, e.g., cosmetics or beautification accessories, clothing, and fashion products have specific usage and trust issues.

A buyer may trust an individual woman entrepreneur more than an unknown salesperson or a common online platform. Mostly, individual sellers who use social media as a platform sell product within a known network. That may be the reason why our study shows a significant positive relationship among SMB, PU, and SI. While it may be complex for companies to work with women entrepreneurs (communicate with them, find them, etc.), women entrepreneurs can show their interest and speed up the business process if the company has a social media platform. In this way, companies can expose themselves in the market as sellers, usually via a shared brand name, photos, logos, certifications, videos, achievements, etc., using social media. At the same time, companies may increase their sales volume and reduce the number of intermediaries. This may not be appropriate for all industries, but for some specific sectors, like food, cosmetics, fashion, and clothing, this may create new opportunities for buyers and sellers. Therefore, managers, CEOs, and decision-makers may think about establishing a particular media platform on which women entrepreneurs can start selling something by using social media, which may mutually benefit all parties. Suppose young entrepreneurs get an opportunity to have close contact with stakeholders, like suppliers, wholesalers, or any other intermediaries. In that case, the process may be implemented swiftly, without any negative effects on any intermediaries. In this way, all the parties involved with the business channel can benefit because “the base of any business model is to deliver value to the customer and generate revenue” (Khajeheian, 2016, p.44).

6.2. Theoretical implications

The study explored current opportunities from a detailed review of the literature. In addition, TAM was utilized from an entrepreneurial-intention-analysis perspective, which is novel. Most previous studies have used TAM for the usage of specific social media platforms, e.g., Facebook addiction (Moqbel and Kock, 2018) or Facebook (Rauniar et al., 2014), this study, however, explored opportunities for social-media platforms in general with the help of TAM and a rigorous review of the literature. According to the literature review, it is clear that young students have a bright prospect of starting their own business with the help of advanced and user-friendly technology, requiring less investment. According to TAM and the statistical analysis through SEM, it was also observed that social media may be the key tool for female students and may change their lives in emerging nations where problems are acute. Overall, according to research findings, the study constructs have a significant effect and impact on social media and entrepreneurial development. The model revealed a strong positive relationship between PE and PU, PU and SMB, and PEOU and PE. As a result, the research supports active participation due to the ease of use, effective usefulness, hedonic advantage, and social influence motivating people, especially young female students, who are focused on or worried about their future careers.

7. Conclusion

On digital platforms, following the implementation of Web 2.0, users' innovation can be a source of media entrepreneurship (Khajeheian, 2016a, Khajeheian, 2016b), and media entrepreneurship has recently received increased attention from academicians (Achtenhagen, 2017). Based on contemporary facts, the overall findings of the research reveal a new opportunity for deprived young women students by simply using social media as a platform to conduct business within a particular network. This research contributes to developing media entrepreneurship research by creating an updated, simple business model using popular and affordable technology like 4G internet, mobile devices, and social networking. Also, this paper contributes to the theory by addressing a different way to conduct business virtually. In addition, this paper attempts to help young women deprived and have insufficient support from family or society. Finally, the research’s results have management significance, e.g., creating new digital-communication platforms and conducting business without the various set-up costs of a traditional business. As stated by Khajeheian (2017), p. 94, “With the dramatic reduction in the cost of devices, software, and knowledge required to produce the media content.” This indicates a strong positive relationship between social media and entrepreneurial opportunity. Our research found the entrepreneurial opportunity for young women in emerging nations based on social media particularly. Hypothesis testing revealed that social media could attract women entrepreneurs in emerging countries. Despite the few limitations, this research explores media entrepreneurship through social media as a platform for young, motivated women students in developing countries.

8. Limitations and directions for further research

The study has some limitations. First, this study explored the strength of social media on women only. Although the overall opportunity was analyzed in the literature review, the statistical methodology covered only young female students. Second, the study focused on a particular region of China to collect data. However, we gathered responses from female students from various developing countries, although the number was limited from each country. The study utilized a very simple model of TAM, which may be extended to carry out further investigation in the future. Our study focused on a particular age and gender group, which may be developed to a more general focus using big data for further research. This study focused on China only, where online shopping already has successful platforms, making the possibility of start-ups easier for young entrepreneurs. Future studies may expand on the present research by focusing on different regional perspectives and larger sample sizes (national samples).

Even though the literature review covered social media as a tool for entrepreneurship development based on specific social media platforms like Facebook, WeChat, etc., the statistical analysis did not cover different social-media platforms separately. Consumers may act differently based on other regional platforms due to specific usage tendencies for specific social media platforms. For example, WeChat users have a very strong response in China, but Facebook users respond most in other Asia countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The model of this study can be further extended based on specific media-usage behavior and effects on entrepreneurship, regardless of age, gender, or nationality. Finally, rather than a seven-point Likert scale, focus-group interviews or longitudinal studies may better suit the analysis of the concept.

Declarations

Author contribution statement

Cousté Philippe Emmanuel & Prof. Dr. Su Qin Conceived and designed the analysis as well as wrote the paper.

Dr. Syed Far Abid Hossain Contributed analysis tools, data and wrote the paper.

Dr. Khalid Hussain analyzed and interpreted the data.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Declaration of interest’s statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors are extreamely grateful to Professor Dr. Sang H Lee, Dean, BRAC Business School, BRAC University for his motivation, support and cooperation throughout the publication process. The authors are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editorial team.

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