The Application of Instagram as a Promotional and Communication Tool by Productive Families in the Kingdom of Bahrain

This study aims to investigate Instagram potentialities in the family business sector in Bahrain known as “Productive families”. The intention to adopt and use the tool to promote their products and support information sharing, cooperation, and actual communication, the actual benefits and use derived as a stand-alone tool, and the socio-economic payoffs for their businesses. An analytical and quantitative approach is used throughout the study. A survey was distributed to 253 participants consisting of a standard questionnaire divided in to two main parts: the first part covered the demographic elements while the second part focused on two factors (Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy) of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). The analysis reveals that: (1) Instagram can be an important means of creating valuable opportunities for productive families to achieve their missions and goals in promoting and advertising their products; (2) the two factors analyzed (Performance expectancy and Effort expectancy) directly influence the families' intention to use form which leads directly to the actual usage; (3) the families' age, gender and level of education have indirect effects on their intention to adopt and use the platform; (4) most of the families use Instagram to promote their businesses, specifically handcrafts and services and have doing so for over two year; (5) The main financially supporter is Tamkeen, which backs 53% of the surveyed families. To our knowledge, this is the first in-depth study of the use of Instagram by Productive Bahraini families.