SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been regarded as a significant driver of economic growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). As a service-based economy, India expediates small-scale firms' growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). The development of entrepreneurship in India can be attributed to factors such as the rise in government support initiatives, the emergence of incubators, and venture capital. Indian culture has always placed a strong emphasis on jewellery. Jewellery is a unique product category largely impacted by a combination of cultural, societal, and personal factors owing to its precise craftsmanship and emotional significance (Rajili et al., 2015). Jewellery is a popular form of self-expression and is often seen as a symbol of a woman's status. The jewellery industry is known for its exceptional artistry, craftsmanship, and sentimental value. Jewellery designer entrepreneurs contribute to the creative economy by participating in economic growth (Brandão et al., 2021). Lately, there has been a significant transformation in the jewellery design industry as digital marketing has been considerably shaping consumer behaviour (Armano, 2020; Chuangemanee & Punnakitikashem, 2016). The online jewellery sector has experienced significant growth due to the increasing number of internet users, heightened user awareness, and the attractive costs of online jewellery. Social media has changed the meaning of traditional marketing and provides numerous opportunities to new ventures. This revolutionary change brought by social media platforms has made doing business easier. Furthermore, social media has largely influenced consumer choices and buying patterns (Nagvanshi et al., 2023). The present study explores the perspectives of consumers and entrepreneurs in the jewellery sector. In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the motivation and challenges entrepreneurs face in pursuing the jewellery designing profession, the difficulties encountered in marketing and selling their jewellery, and strategies used to overcome these challenges and barriers. Secondly, this research explores the factors affecting consumers' attitudes and purchase intention towards 3 social media jewellery selection and purchase. For this, quantitative methodology was employed to test the research model. The scope is restricted to Indian entrepreneurs who are in the business of jewellery designing and selling. A three-step research strategy was followed in the present study. In the first stage, an exploratory research design was adopted wherein a bibliometric review and narrative literature review were conducted to identify the current state of literature, trends, themes, and the research gap. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using Biblioshiny and VOS viewer software. A qualitative approach was utilized in the second stage of exploratory research design. In-depth interviews with 15 jewellery entrepreneurs were taken to identify their motivation, challenges, difficulties, and strategies used in this business. The manual coding of interview transcripts was done using NVivo 14 software. Further, an image analysis of twenty jewellery designs was also conducted by experts. It involved in-depth analysis of jewellery image on five factors, marketing recommendations, and a few social media posts suggestive in nature. In the third stage, a descriptive research design was adopted, and a quantitative approach was used. For the descriptive study, a self-administered questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, two filter questions, basic details of usage, and thirty-two main statements on a 5-point Likert scale to test the hypotheses. The research model consisted of six constructs i.e., Perceived usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, Attitude, and Purchase Intention based on a modification and extension of the factors of the TAM exploring the overall effect of several factors on the attitude toward the adoption of social media for jewellery selection, and ultimately on the purchase intention. The model was analyzed using PLS-SEM in SMART PLS 3 software. The descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA were performed using IBM SPSS software. In the qualitative study, it was found that entrepreneurs are motivated and inspired by their childhood experiences, passion for art, formal education in jewellery designing, family influence, and catalog exposure. The challenges or barriers faced by entrepreneurs as jewellery designers were trust issues, regional differences, ethical sourcing, adoption of technology, and intensive competition. They also face difficulty 4 in marketing or selling their jewellery due to several reasons such as limited customer reach, difficulty in building brand identity, adapting to changing trends, competitive pricing, low foot traffic, changing preferences of consumers, high overhead cost, and inventory management. When asked about the strategies they use or they think could overcome difficulties in marketing or selling jewellery, it was found that entrepreneurs suggest that leveraging social media could solve these issues. Other strategies include higher consumer engagement, creating relevant content, being transparent and having a consumer-friendly return policy, and creating specialized platforms for promotions such as own website or own Instagram broadcast channel. The results of the quantitative study state that Perceived usefullnessfulness and Perceived Ease of Use of social media positively impact the attitude toward social media jewellery selection. It was further found that compatibility positively impacts the attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. While, Complexity was found to have a negative impact on attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. Further, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to positively impact the purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. Lastly, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to partially mediate the relationship between Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, and purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. The high degree of Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, and low Complexity which were found to be significant factors in social media adoption, must be leveraged by entrepreneurs. This will create a positive attitude towards social media usage for online jewellery shopping and enhance consumers purchase intentions towards online jewellery. Since there seems evidence that digital strategies affect many aspects of online purchase of jewellery by consumers both positively and negatively, entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses should use social media, while judiciously looking at how various factors can affect consumer purchase intention. Jewellery entrepreneurs need to understand the changing dynamics of consumer behavior to remain competitive. They should satisfy the customer preferences and demands and 5 create relevant content for their target audience. Through social media marketing, entrepreneurs can interact with their audience meaningfully, increase business income, and adapt to the constantly changing market environment, ensuring ongoing growth and relevance in modern times. The present study offers insights into how to effectively utilize social media for improving attitude and purchase intentions of consumer towards jewellery selection. Entrepreneurs can get knowledge about the factors that play a role in improving consumers attitude and purchase intention towards online jewellery shopping. They can accordingly modify their strategies to satisfy consumers‘ changing demands and preferences (Agus et al., 2021). This study offers several theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs.