IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v77y2024ics0969698923004307.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Connecting BOP consumers and retailers: What drives small-time retailing through social media?

Author

Listed:
  • Kumar, Jitender
  • Katiyar, Gagan
  • Mehrotra, Ankit
  • Attri, Rekha
  • Vishnoi, Sushant Kumar

Abstract

Social media has emerged as an all-inclusive technology with the potential to integrate with the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) consumers to provide manifold benefits, ranging from education to retailing. Though the presence of BOP on social media has increased lately, the desired level of adoption by BOP consumers is still far from reality. There is a need to understand what motivates BOP consumers, primarily engaged in small-time retailing (STR), to adopt social media in their daily lives and for what purposes. Using the Gioia method and grounded theory approach, the study interviewed 52 BOP participants to investigate the motivational themes that drive them towards social media adoption. The mined themes were found to align with the Uses and Gratification 2.0 (UGT 2.0) theory, which were classified into four sub-elements of UGT 2.0: agency, modality, navigability, and interactivity. The classification provides interesting insights into what gratifies the BOP consumer to adopt social media as a tool for self-expression and growth. The study provides theoretical and practical insights for academicians and industry to better understand why BOP consumers engaged in STR adopt social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, Jitender & Katiyar, Gagan & Mehrotra, Ankit & Attri, Rekha & Vishnoi, Sushant Kumar, 2024. "Connecting BOP consumers and retailers: What drives small-time retailing through social media?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:77:y:2024:i:c:s0969698923004307
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103679
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698923004307
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103679?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:77:y:2024:i:c:s0969698923004307. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.