Digital Appropriation among Women-Owned MSMEs and Household Economies in Jayapura City
Keywords:
New Media, Women-Owned MSMEs, Digital Appropriation, Digital Entrepreneurship, Household EconomyAbstract
Digital transformation offers women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) new opportunities to expand markets and contribute to household economies, yet access to social media does not automatically produce strategic business use. This study examines how women-owned MSMEs in Jayapura City appropriate new media for promotion, learning, customer relationships, business operations, and the negotiation of domestic roles. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, the study analyzes interviews conducted on 28–30 May 2023 with three documented business cases through thematic analysis and a digital appropriation framework. The findings identify a four-stage gradient: digital access, communicative use, relational marketing, and operational integration. Movement across these stages depends on digital skills, social networks, logistics, work organization, and household time arrangements. Social media can serve as a low-cost infrastructure for business learning and customer engagement, while home-based digital work offers spatial flexibility without eliminating domestic burdens. The study concludes that digital empowerment is best understood as the capacity to convert technological access into knowledge, market relationships, operational capability, and a stronger contribution to household economic life.
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