Digital media and creative economy potential on youth employment in Kenya: a grounded theory perspective
| Date | 26 June 2023 |
| Pages | 168-193 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-03-2022-0043 |
| Published date | 26 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | John Munyui Muchira |
Digital media and creative
economy potential on youth
employment in Kenya: a grounded
theory perspective
John Munyui Muchira
Human Development Theme,
African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
Purpose –Kenya leads East Africa in creative goods export and enjoys high internet penetration.
Therefore, identifying pathways, missed opportunities foraccelerating job creation and development in the
sector and strategies for mitigating youth-related challenges are essential. This paper therefore aims to
examine the effects of digital media and the cultural and creativeindustry (CCI) on youth employment and
economicdevelopment.
Design/methodology/approach –The document review and analysis data came from 45 scientificand23
grey literature articles. While the lack of primary data is a study limitation, secondary data were drawn from the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Statistics and the 2016–2022 entert ainment and media
outlook analysis. Microsoft Excel 2021 for Windows was used to analyze quant itative data and generate results.
Findings –Since the CCI sector is characterizedby limited financial opportunities,low youth participation
in the labor force and weak policyframeworks, success in the industry requires key pathways. These include
investment in digital-led innovations, developing innovative models, building partnerships with the private
sector, strategic investment by government in the potential creative industry sub-sectors and identifying
successfulscaling-up models.
Originality/value –Information gathered through this study is crucial to counter the youth
unemployment challenge and strategy identification, which could be used in skills and capabilities
development in the potentialcreative economy. Future researchers must explore how to apply theproposed
creativecapacity theoretical lens to inform research in the sector.
Keywords Capabilities, Cultural and creative industry, Creative economy, Digital,
Digital-led innovations, Youth employment, Grounded theory
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Currently, 60% of Africa’s population is estimated to be under 25years compared with the
global 42% (Odusola et al., 2017). Based on a report by the African Development Bank, 35% of
the global population of 15–35 years are Africans. Projections indicate that by 2050 about 30%
of the global population of young people aged 15–24 years would be living in Sub-Saharan
The author thank Roy Gitahi, the Founder of Art at Work Limited, a company that is facilitating
creation of sustainable jobs for Kenyan youth in Sports and Arts, for his insights into the project, for
his insights into the project and the three anonymous peer reviewers whose feedback and input
helped improve this manuscript.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
ILS
124,5/6
168
Received24 March 2022
Revised18 November 2022
26April 2023
Accepted2 June 2023
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.124 No. 5/6, 2023
pp. 168-193
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-03-2022-0043
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
Africa (ADB, 2016;Losch, 2016). Considering the increasing youth bulge and the incapacity of
the formal sector to create enough jobs, a third of the 420 million young people in Africa are
unemployed and nearly another one-third (130 million) are underemployed (ADB, 2016;Fox
and Kaul, 2018). Unfortunately, the situation may not change as the proportion of young people
seeking employment would continue increasing over the next decades (Muchira et al., 2022).
This labor market dynamic presents both a challenge to the policymakers, especially due to the
“missing jobs crisis,”and a demographic dividend, if effective policy interventions are put in
place (Bloom et al., 2017;Sumberg et al., 2021). These youth may greatly benefit from cultural
and creative industry (CCI) jobs, which require little education and training compared to jobs in
other sectors. With approximately 1 million youth entering the Kenyan labor market each year
without competitive skills (ILO, 2014), the CCI could be a potential sector to provide
employment opportunities for Kenyan youth.
Projectionsindicate that by 2030, half of the Africanpopulation would be livingin cities, a
proportion that wouldrise to 60% by 2050 (EY, 2015). Most urban dwellers in African cities
are youth who spend a lot of time on socialmedia, playing digital games, streaming videos,
learning new skills and pursuing artistic interests (Bulger et al.,2021;Rideout and Robb,
2019). Content andservice providers are aware that they mustgenerate a constant stream of
desirable content and services to keep the youth connected with their products. This
continued need inthe online CCI can offer employment opportunities for young Africans by
using their consumer knowledge and skills to become content and service developers. With
accelerated digitalization in the competitive, dynamic and skills-driven modern economy,
identifyingapproaches for young people to venture into the culturaland creative sector (van
Laar et al.,2022) is needed; however,there is a dearth of researchin this area.
The CCI, referred to as the creative economy, consists of commercial, nonprofitand
individual enterprises producing cultural products and services through design, fashion, art,
architecture, photography, computer games, music, comedy, film, texts or symbols (Markusen
et al.,2008). The CCI involves using creativity, artistic quality, imagination and innovativeness
and integrating cultural themes in art and talents to earn a living and largely relies on sales and
performance proceeds (Markusen et al.,2008;Loots and van Bennekom, 2022). Therefore, the
industry has become a vital part of several countries’economic development, in both developed
and developing nations (Ashton, 2015;Shafiet al., 2020). Thus, this sector presents a high
potential for youth employment in emerging markets due to low entry barriers, particularly
minimal start-up costs and low level of formal education requirements, and is crucial for the
economy as several people who engage in the industry are entrepreneurs (Balfour et al., 2018;
Hadisi and Snowball, 2022). For this reason, the industry must be viewed as a social good and
as a pathway to commercial returns that benefit artists, create opportunities for youth
employment and foster economic development. However, this pathway must be explored in a
theoretical manner, outlined through three general objectives:
(1) First, to examine the contribution of digital media and the CCI to youth
employment.
(2) Second, to use the evidence emerging from document analysis and secondary data to
examine the potential of this economic sector, investigate how policy frameworks and
youth empowerment strategies enhance young people’s entry into the industry and
explore the effects of high internet penetration in the sector.
(3) Third, use the creative capacity theory (CCT) to identify the strategies to accelerate
youth employment in the competitive and dynamic labor market and the support
systems available to young people to foster sustainable economic development in
the industry.
Youth
employment in
Kenya
169
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