Paper Number
1642
Abstract
Research on how COVID-19 is creating a crisis-within-a-crisis situation for the world’s most vulnerable communities by compounding their daily struggles and economic hardships is still developing. Accordingly, we utilise the everyday trading experiences of micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya’s informal settlements to contextualise how they tackled this unfolding situation through digital community currency (DCC). Our mixed-methods research draws on effectuation and connects entrepreneurial action with DCC. While field work yielded new knowledge on how micro-entrepreneurs sustained their livelihoods and maintained savings by leveraging DCC, statistics demonstrated evidence of effectual reasoning in alleviating the adverse effects of COVID-19 in terms of access to necessities and the application of affordable loss logic in price setting. Micro-entrepreneurs who were able to deploy available means to implement COVID-19 preventive practices were proactive in adjusting selling prices, whereas those who found it difficult were more likely to increase the prices of their traded goods and services.
Recommended Citation
Kuk, George; Simba, Amon; Giamporcaro, Stephanie; and Leslie, Dave, "How can digital community currency alleviate hardship during COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya? A necessity effectuation perspective" (2021). ECIS 2021 Research Papers. 120.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2021_rp/120
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