Constructing Meaning Through Communication Strategies in the Digital Transformation of MSMEs: A Case Study of a Business Incubator Program in Makassar, Indonesia

Abstract

Digital transformation is widely promoted as a strategic pathway for improving the productivity and competitiveness of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), yet most scholarship still frames it primarily as a technical or economic process, leaving the communicative and meaning making dimensions underexplored. This study examines how communication strategies within a business incubator program construct meaning around digital transformation among MSME actors in Makassar, Indonesia. Using a qualitative case study design informed by social constructionist and diffusion of innovation perspectives, data were collected through in depth interviews with incubator managers, mentors, and MSME participants, complemented by participatory observation and documentation, and analyzed thematically following Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña's interactive model. The findings show that communication within the incubator operated through three interlocking modes interpersonal mentoring, group based learning, and digital platform interaction that together functioned not merely as information channels but as sites of meaning construction. MSME actors initially equated digitalization with social media use, but through sustained dialogic interaction with mentors and peers they came to reinterpret digital transformation as a strategic necessity for business survival and market expansion. The incubator thus operated as a communicative ecosystem that combined technical training with relational sense making, accelerating both digital readiness and attitudinal change. The study contributes a communication centred, meaning construction perspective to digital transformation research and offers practical implications for incubator design, mentoring practice, and MSME policy in emerging economies.