The engagement of home-based businesses in the digital economy

This paper explores the engagement of home-based businesses in digital trading, measured as proportion of their sales from buying and selling services and products online of all their sales. Findings are drawn from a sample of 994 Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses that are members of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland. Multivariate findings show that home-based businesses are associated with high proportions of online sales supporting the view of home-based businesses as ‘online’ businesses. However, quantitatively, the overall transformational effects of digital technologies on the nature and processes of entrepreneurship are rather small as the vast majority of home-based businesses, like SMEs that are not home-based, trade offline. Online business models represent a very small proportion of the home-based business sector. Home-based businesses in rural areas do not make greater use of e-commerce. The findings add to the critical literature on the transformative nature of digital entrepreneurship and the emerging home-based business literature that question whether the role of digital technologies and online marketplaces for home-based businesses are being exaggerated, particularly in rural economies.

Digital entrepreneurship, E-commerce, Home-based business, Small business

10.1016/j.futures.2020.102542

0016-3287

Reuschke, Darja

224493ce-38bc-455d-9341-55f8555e7e13

Mason, Colin

649f6eaa-f557-42f0-8cc5-2de19a6d4bf0

1 January 2022

Reuschke, Darja

224493ce-38bc-455d-9341-55f8555e7e13

Mason, Colin

649f6eaa-f557-42f0-8cc5-2de19a6d4bf0

Reuschke, Darja and Mason, Colin (2022) The engagement of home-based businesses in the digital economy. Futures, 135, [102542]. (doi:10.1016/j.futures.2020.102542).

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Accepted/In Press date: 3 March 2020

e-pub ahead of print date: 5 March 2020

Published date: 1 January 2022

Additional Information: Funding Information: This paper draws on a study commissioned by the Federation of Small Business Scotland: Home Truths: The True Value of Home-based Businesses. The data collection was funded and administered by the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors. The authors thank Susan Love from the FSB Scotland for inviting them to undertake the original study. Darja Reuschke's time on this paper was funded by the European Research Council, the Starting Grant WORKANDHOME (ERC- 2014-StG 639403). The paper has benefited from the discussions at the ESRC-funded seminar series 'Entrepreneurship in Homes and Neighbourhoods' (ES/L001489/2). Funding Information: This paper draws on a study commissioned by the Federation of Small Business Scotland : Home Truths : The True Value of Home-based Businesses . The data collection was funded and administered by the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland . The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors. The authors thank Susan Love from the FSB Scotland for inviting them to undertake the original study. Darja Reuschke’s time on this paper was funded by the European Research Counci l, the Starting Grant WORKANDHOME ( ERC- 2014-StG 639403 ). The paper has benefited from the discussions at the ESRC-funded seminar series 'Entrepreneurship in Homes and Neighbourhoods' ( ES/L001489/2 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors

Keywords: Digital entrepreneurship, E-commerce, Home-based business, Small business