Mobile value added services: The case of women microentrepreneurs in Indonesia

Authors

• Tian CAI
• Han Ei CHEW, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
• Mark LEVY

Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Book Title/Conference/Journal

ICTD '15: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, Singapore, May 15-18

Year

5-2015

Abstract

Mobile value added services (MVAS) represent a growing collaboration between the private sector and the development community. In this paper, we examine one such MVAS, the Nokia Usaha Wanita service running on the Nokia Life+ platform in Indonesia, and we assess its viability as an innovative means for the economic empowerment of businesswomen. Data were gathered through 221 telephone interviews with a nationwide random sample of women who subscribed to Usaha Wanita. Subscribers reported that they derived economic benefit from using the service. They also reported that their business profits were greater because of what they had learned from reading Usaha Wanita content. Women who were subscribers also had higher "good month" profit as well. Increased profits were positively correlated with frequent reading of the tips and information provided by Usaha Wanita and subscribers perceptions that the service was useful for business. Women who exhibited entrepreneurial optimism also had greater business profits. Findings suggest that entrepreneurial optimism amplified the association between mobile phone use and profits.

Keywords

Economic empowerment, Indonesia, Microenterprises, Mobile phones, Mobile value-added services, Women

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Technology and Innovation

Subject(s)

Applied or Integration/Application Scholarship

Publisher

ACM

DOI

10.1145/2737856.2738014

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1145/2737856.2738014

Version

publishedVersion

Language

eng

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Format

application/PDF

Citation

CAI, Tian; CHEW, Han Ei; and LEVY, Mark. Mobile value added services: The case of women microentrepreneurs in Indonesia. (2015). ICTD '15: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, Singapore, May 15-18. 15, 1.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/oi_research/7