Identifying the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy in the development of rural women's home businesses

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Management and Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

2 PhD in student, Department of Management and Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

Abstract

The modern world has already taken the first step towards a fundamental technological reality, the digital economy. The modern global labor market is a complex multi-component and dynamic system that is constantly influenced by information technology and requires changes in the content of the work process, its organization, the structure of employment and social and labor relations. The use of digital technologies creates new opportunities for businesses, including businesses located in rural areas, to enhance business growth and economic development, businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas often suffer from poor digital connectivity and digital exclusion, including lack of access Internet and low levels of digital literacy, they face problems. With this aim, this research has developed and validated a conceptual framework with thematic analysis method in a descriptive manner, through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The statistical population includes experts and experts and rural business owners, among whom 12 people were selected by purposeful sampling and participated in this study. The reliability of interview analysis is 79%. In order to ensure the validity of the research, it was tried to be a statistical sample of people who have the necessary knowledge and expertise in the context of the research, as well as to minimize the intervention of researchers in the research, and also to refer the coding result to a number of experts and obtain their final approval regarding the extraction framework. Findings of the study showed that, the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy in rural businesses, which include two comprehensive and central themes, 10 organizing themes and 52 basic themes. The opportunities facing the digital economy in rural businesses with 5 organizing themes and 21 basic concepts include things such as job value creation, convergence of technology with economic goals, global customer orientation, networking capability, business resilience, which can transform the capability into potential value in the implementation of the economy. They provide digital. It refers to the challenges and problems and factors involved in the implementation of digital technologies in rural businesses. It includes 5 organizing themes and 31 primary concepts, which are: digital process gaps, creating a black economy for rural businesses, adverse social effects, cultural aspects, technological risks that make the implementation of the digital economy more difficult. The results of the present study indicated that, The rapid growth of the digital economy, and especially the COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the spread of digital technology use, leading to an urgent need to align rural women's home businesses with government policies. Many rural women's home businesses have been digitally deprived due to the digital divide and the resulting limitations. They may face challenging business conditions to continue their careers. In addition, the female workforce in rural areas lacks the necessary flexibility in labor markets to adapt. This shows that rural women's home businesses should use technology and upgrade training programs to equip themselves with the right skill sets.. Therefore, during the rapid digital transformation, not only should immediate investment be considered in digital connectivity and networks for rural businesses that are underserved by digital services, but also digital skills and literacy should be increased and help absorb new digital innovations.

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References

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Woman in Development & Politics
Volume 21, Issue 3
September 2023
Pages 780-806

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