Mumpreneur, Identified!: Digital Social Practices and the Networking Capacity of Stay-at-Home Mothers

Siahaan, Rony Agustino (2026) Mumpreneur, Identified!: Digital Social Practices and the Networking Capacity of Stay-at-Home Mothers. In: International Conference on Communication and New Media Studies (COMNEWS 2025), 14-17 October 2025, Malacca, Malaysia.

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Abstract

This article aims to explore the experiences of stay-at-home mothers (SAHMs), which are shaped by their engagement with social media and intensive parenting practices that support women’s career through the performance of the “mumpreneur” identity. This performance is grounded in theoretical assumptions about the plural and dynamic construction of motherhood identity, as well as empowerment-oriented digital literacy. Using data from informal interviews with millennial first-time mothers, this study describes SAHMs’ digital social practices, particularly their strategic use of Instagram to build home-based entrepreneurial ventures and craft their maternal personas on social media. The findings reveal that millennial mothers undergo a transitional phase marked by identity dilemmas as they navigate new domestic routines and the desire to engage in economically productive work. During this transition, their digital proficiency—especially their engagement with Instagram—gradually transforms the traditional maternal role into a digital social practice aligned with professional standards and achievement goals comparable to having a career. In conclusion, Instagram serves as a strategic tool for SAHMs to seek information, generate knowledge, and enhance their networking capacity, which in turn reshapes intensive parenting practices and constructs a new narrative that reconfigures the image of the “good mother” into that of the “productive mother” through entrepreneurial activity. Finally this article suggests new insights into digital motherhood, platformed entrepreneurship, and identity performance in a non‑Western post‑colonial context.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Creators:	Siahaan, Rony Agustino
Contributors:
Keywords:	motherhood identity; neoliberal SAHM; mumpreneur; networking capacity; digital entrepreneurship; Instagram
Subjects:	300 Social Sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology > 302 Social interaction, Interpersonal interaction > 302.23 Media of Communication, Mass Media
Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 05. Achieve gender equality and empower women Goal 08. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and work for all
Divisions:	Faculty of Communication > Digital Journalism
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2026 09:19
URI:	https://kc.umn.ac.id/id/eprint/49734

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