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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Unlocking the power of youth: harnessing technology to break through market barriers
Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Vol.14, pp.1-23
2025
Abstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to economic growth. To contribute effectively to economic growth, SMEs need adequate resources. Social media is an essential yet often underestimated resource for entrepreneurs, especially in developing countries. Social media has particularly created broader opportunities for younger entrepreneurs to engage in global markets. This research examines how youth entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka use social media to create and grow their ventures. Our findings reveal that social media significantly alters traditional enterprises’ creation and growth processes. Youth entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka use SM to identify and seize business opportunities. These platforms draw venture capital in resource-limited environments and enhance marketing by enabling the creation of engaging content that fosters brand loyalty. This research illustrates how entrepreneurs effectively leverage SM for strategic marketing, targeting specific market segments to generate excitement for new products and maintain a competitive edge. We explore how technology, particularly SM, could be a vital resource in developing contexts. Our findings highlight key skills and strategies, such as internationalization and innovative use of SM, that empower youth entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and succeed. This study provides valuable insights into the interaction between technology and entrepreneurship in emerging markets.
Details
- Title
- Unlocking the power of youth: harnessing technology to break through market barriers
- Authors
- Saskia de Klerk (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative IndustriesFiona Buick - UNSW SydneyGayathri Ranasinghne - UNSW Sydney
- Publication details
- Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Vol.14, pp.1-23
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1186/s13731-025-00531-7
- ISSN
- 2192-5372
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; Engage Research Lab
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991140306202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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