“Don’t Make the Same Mistake!”: Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing among SME Owners in Digital Business Communities

Abstract

Digital social media environments have increasingly become informal spaces where entrepreneurs exchange experiences, operational reflections, and business survival strategies through peer interaction. However, previous studies have predominantly emphasized formal entrepreneurial education, institutional mentoring, or structured online communities, while organically emerging peer-to-peer entrepreneurial learning within public social media discussions remains underexplored. This study aims to examine how entrepreneurial learning is socially constructed among SME owners through interaction within a public Facebook Reel discussion. The study employed a qualitative descriptive content analysis approach using comments extracted through web scraping. From 789 initial comments, 312 comments were purposively selected and analyzed based on their experiential relevance. The findings reveal several dominant entrepreneurial learning themes, including financial discipline, employee management, strategic business growth, operational competence, and customer orientation. The study further demonstrates that digital communities function not only as communication platforms but also as informal entrepreneurial learning ecosystems that strengthen adaptive awareness, experiential reflection, and peer-based business learning among SME owners.