Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMBs) make up majority of employment in Africa (around 80%). Understanding the digital transformation that SMBs in Africa went through during the pandemic can play an important role in uncovering how to build solutions that better support the African business and African worker. In this paper we report on findings from a qualitative study with 40 SMBs in Kenya. The study aimed to understand the lived experience of digital transformation, the impacts of COVID-19 on their businesses, and how they responded to such impacts using technology. We found that COVID-prompted digital transformation was reactive and opportunistic, plus social and collective. Moreover, the socialness of business goes way beyond digital transformation, and influences how SMBs in Kenya start, develop and are sustained. In illustrating this, we offer a lens to understanding work and workers of SMBs in Kenya and similar contexts across the globe.

"It's only when somebody says a tool worked for them that I believe it will work for me": Socio-tecture as a lens for Digital Transformation

Web 2.0: conceptual foundations and marketing issues

This paper examines the experiences and perspectives of Kenyans who use social media platforms as part of their agricultural livelihoods. Through a mixed-methods study of 324 survey respondents and 81 interviews, we present data that demonstrates the significance and shape of “social agriculture” in the Kenyan agricultural landscape. We complement previous ICT4D/HCI4D literature that has primarily focused on purpose-built agricultural platforms through a novel focus on farmers’ appropriation of existing social media platforms to enter the agricultural sector and diversify agricultural livelihoods. Our study highlights new insights into the growing phenomenon of using social media platforms for agriculture practice, including how these platforms afford particular practices around the buying and selling of produce and information on social media platforms. We also identify challenges around trust and online abuse and describe the strategies employed by participants to counter them. Lastly, we build on our findings to highlight the affordances and constraints of using social media platforms, thus contributing to the field an initial conceptualization of social agriculture as a space of commerce. We offer eight design considerations for both technology designers and international development stakeholders to strengthen the potential for social platforms to afford social agricultural practices that enrich individual lives and livelihoods.

/pdf/social-agriculture-examining-the-affordances-of-social-media-1bbp29fl.pdf

Social Agriculture: Examining the Affordances of Social Media for Agricultural Practices

Due to the characteristics and rapid development of social media, social commerce allows the original traditional e-commerce to break through the old framework, forming a new e-commerce framework that combines social commerce and social media. As social media gets closer and closer to consumers, companies are willing to establish communication channels with consumers in social commerce, making social commerce a major research area in today's e-commerce. This study reviews the previous literature on social commerce and finds that the main research topics are purchase intention, loyalty, co-creation, and trust in social commerce. In addition, we suggest possible research gaps in social commerce as a reference for further research.

Social Commerce Research: A Literature Review

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Social Commerce Research: A Literature Review