Understanding the Audience for a Digital Capacity-Building Platform for Micro-Retailers in Nairobi, Kenya: A Latent Class Segmentation Analysis

Background: Digital programs need to understand the characteristics of their audiences to develop services that meet the needs of different user groups. Focus of the Article: This manuscript is related to research and evaluation, and to four social marketing benchmarks: Consumer Research, Segmentation and Targeting, Consumer Orientation, and Exchange. Research Question: What are the behavioral characteristics and user profiles among duka owners who are using a digital business capacity-building platform in Nairobi, Kenya. Design/Approach: Survey assessment of use of a mobile-friendly online platform for promoting business growth among underserved micro-retail shop (duka) owners in Nairobi, Kenya. The UJoin platform offers duka owners access to business and financial courses, online mentoring, networking opportunities, and access to product information. Importance to the Field: The research will provide critical insights into program and audience needs for use of digital platforms, including promoting, scaling, and strengthening digital services. Methods: 805 shop owners in Nairobi, Kenya participated in a survey about perceptions and use of the Internet. Latent class analysis identified homogeneous "classes" within the sample, and behavioral profiles and predictors of platform use. Results: Analysis yielded a 3-class model. Class I Endorsers endorsed community norms, social support, learning, networking, and perceived business benefits from websites. Class 2 Skeptics did not support collaboration and learning. Class 3 Unengaged lacked support to use online platforms. Predictors of frequent use of digital platforms were self-efficacy (OR: 5.95, p < .001), Endorser (OR: 3.13, p < .001) and Unengaged (OR: 2.42, p < .055) class, and agreeing that connections to duka owners is important (OR: 3.02, p < .003). Conclusion: Diversified strategies to promote use of online platforms may meet different needs of sub-groups among user groups. Recommendations for Research and Practice: Multiple strategies are needed to address different needs of sub-groups within a larger audience. Programs may benefit from investments to characterize the audience during recruitment to better understand attitudes towards, and efficacy to use, the internet, level of motivation, technology and support needs, and attitudes towards learning and networking. Limitations: The survey sample was a non-random selection of duka owners and relied on self-reported data which may be subject to social-desirability bias and recall. Some of the survey questions about perceptions were derived from single-item variables rather than an index or scale. The cross-sectional design of the survey precludes causal inferences.