From Online Community to Entrepreneurship in Romanian Handicraft Sewing Tradition

Abstract

The paper is an important contribution to scholarship on the relationships between online communities and entrepreneurial initiatives for business-to-consumer (B2C) in the traditional artisan market. The development of social networks based on information and communication technologies is creating the premises for a fluid circulation of people, ideas, and goods, turning the world into a “global village” (Nevzat, 2018). There is a growing market related to the handicraft industry, including the ones related to local traditions and customs. There is an increasing interest in this market, with the cultural sector representing 3.1% of the global GDP and 6.2% of job vacancies (UNESCO Launches… | UNESCO, n.y.). In 2022 the market for artisan market was valued at 752,2 billion USD with an expectancy of 1296,6 billion USD by 2028 (Research and Markets, n.y.), while the yarn and needle arts, that this research is studying, represent a 3 billion USD market in the US (GITNUX, 2023). Business in the artisan field is thriving around the world, bringing together unique local flavours and global communication channels, especially through social media. Even if, from history, the village area was the place for small initiatives and family-run businesses related to traditions and customs, the concept of business modelling in this market is still under development. This paper aims to clarify the role that social media has in defining entrepreneurial initiatives in the field of handicrafts and how online communities are supporting these activities, using the guidelines from Business Model Generation (Osterwalder et al., 2010). Data collection was carried out using netnography framework (Kozinets, 2010) by observing and analyzing the messages from online communities and other online public information and documents (Bowen, 2009). The study draws some conclusions and findings together with limitations and potential new research directions.