Policy and Ecosystem Pathways to Inclusive Women-Led Digital Venture Growth
Keywords:
Women entrepreneurship, Digital ventures, Policy intervention, Entrepreneurial ecosystem, Gender inclusion, Venture growthAbstract
Purpose – We can determine how sustainable business performance is in a female-led digital entrepreneurship ecosystem by focusing on resource access, digital capabilities, and the socio-institutional context, all at the same time.
Design/methodology/approach – The interconnected drivers of resources, barriers, and context in determining sustainable entrepreneurship outcomes are analysed in this manuscript using a structural equation modelling strategy.
Findings – The results show that access to financing, ecosystem support, and digital capabilities are important in improving sustainable business performance, whereas gender-based social norms and work-family role pressures act as barriers. The transformation of entrepreneurial resources into performance impacts is further strengthened by institutional trust and policy clarity, with the negative effects of structural barriers being mitigated. At the same time, the positive effects of resources are reinforced by entrepreneurial thinking that is focused on opportunities, while social and role constraints are negated. The interaction between external resources, institutional context, and internal entrepreneurial cognition is suggested as the source of sustainable business performance, rather than isolated determinants.
Originality/value – This article contributes to entrepreneurship and sustainability studies by combining feminist, institutional, and digital capability perspectives within an integrated resource–barrier model that explicitly recognises context moderation mechanisms.
Research implications – This contribution has implications for forward-looking theory in sustainable and inclusive entrepreneurship. It also has implications for designing policies and support systems. These encourage the development of women-led enterprises in emerging entrepreneurial contexts.
Downloads
References
Amanollahnejad, A., Fosso-Wamba, S., Shabbir, M. S., & Pakseresht, A. (2026). Aligning socio-technical systems: Rethinking AI adoption and digital transformation in SMEs. Information Systems Management, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10580530.2025.2612175
Bendig, D., Kleine-Stegemann, L., Mazur, M., & Zapkau, F. B. (2024). A multi-level analysis of the relationship between formal institutions and ambitious entrepreneurship: The moderating role of economic development. International Business Review, 33, 102303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102303
Bouwens, J., & van Lent, L. (2007). Assessing the performance of business unit managers. Journal of Accounting Research, 45, 667–697. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2007.00251.x
Chen, S., Zhong, L., Wang, X., & Chen, B. (2024). Impact of entrepreneurs’ prior experience on their new ventures’ early-stage performance: The mediation effect of entrepreneurial mindset level. Frontiers in Organizational Psychology, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/forgp.2024.1435134
Clark Muntean, S., & Ozkazanc-Pan, B. (2016). Feminist perspectives on social entrepreneurship: Critique and new directions. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 8, 221–241. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-10-2014-0034
Danish, F., Hashem, M., & Ateeq, A. (2026). Empowering women through education: The impact of lifelong learning and skills development on female leadership in Bahrain. In R. El Khoury (Ed.), Strategic Decision-Making in Dynamic Business Environments (Vol. 642). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-07220-7_27
De Clercq, D., Kaciak, E., & Thongpapanl, N. (2022). Work-to-family conflict and firm performance of women entrepreneurs: Roles of work-related emotional exhaustion and competitive hostility. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 40, 364–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426211011405
Eftekhar, N. (2026). Women and sustainable entrepreneurship. In M. Akbari, L. Azimi, & M. Hemmati (Eds.), Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04909-4_17
Fernhaber, S. A., & Schwens, C. (2026). How cross-national border influences of global phenomena render entrepreneurship inherently international. Journal of Business Venturing, 41, 106560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106560
Gu, W., Mo, W., & Wang, M. (2024). Enterprise-level sustainable entrepreneurship index construction and its applications. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 20, 867–900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-023-00920-y
Hebert, C. (2025). Gender stereotypes and entrepreneur financing. The Review of Financial Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhaf049
Hechavarría, D. M., Guerrero, M., Terjesen, S., & Grady, A. (2024). The implications of economic freedom and gender ideologies on women’s opportunity-to-necessity entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 30, 1614–1651. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-04-2023-0429
IFC. (2024). Bridging the finance gap for women entrepreneurs in Kenya (Technical Report). International Finance Corporation.
Isakova, E., & Stroila, I. (2025). Turning the tables towards gender inclusivity in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Journal of Business Research, 200, 115620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115620
Juita, R., Inan, D. I., & Santoso, B. (2026). Digital market adoption by underserved MSMEs in developing countries: Mediation and moderation by self-efficacy and trust. International Journal of Information Management Data Insights, 6, 100384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2025.100384
Kim, H., Choo, H. J., & Kim, W. B. (2026). Why do sellers flock to vertical fashion platforms? Examining sellers’ perceptions of platform capabilities. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics (ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-06-2025-1241
Kim, J., & Jin, W. (2024). Impact of digital capabilities on entrepreneurial performance in SMEs. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 9, 100609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2024.100609
Liu, W., & Cowling, M. (2024). Conforming to gender stereotypes and entrepreneurs’ financing outcomes. British Journal of Management, 35, 1059–1075. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12753
Mirchandani, K. (1999). Feminist insight on gendered work: New directions in research on women and entrepreneurship. Gender, Work & Organization, 6, 224–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0432.00085
Molla, C., Bhuiyan, M., Islam, M., et al. (2026). Mediating role to banking performance for adopting digital bank using a technology organizational environment model. Digital Finance, 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42521-025-00168-x
OECD. (2021). Entrepreneurship policies through a sustainable development lens. OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2023). INFE 2023 international survey of adult financial literacy (Technical Report). OECD.
OECD. (2025). Building pathways to opportunity: How to ensure a more level playing field in OECD countries (Technical Report). OECD.
Pfefferman, T., Frenkel, M., & Gilad, S. (2022). On gendered justification: A framework for understanding men’s and women’s entrepreneurial resource-acquisition. Journal of Management Studies, 59, 249–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12691
Prasannath, V., Adhikari, R. P., Gronum, S., & Miles, M. P. (2024). Impact of government support policies on entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 20, 1533–1595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-024-00993-3
Sadraei, R., & Dal Mas, F. (2026). Women entrepreneurship in the age of AI and ESG: Micro- and macro-level drivers of adoption. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 0. https://doi.org/10.1177/14657503251408253
Srivastava, S., Escudero, S. B., & Oo, P. P. (2025). Passive consumer to active creator: Review of drivers, processes, and outcomes of user entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 50, 81–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587251368240
Tao, C., Xu, Z., Zhu, J., & Xu, Y. (2026). Empowering entrepreneurs: The impact of digital technology innovation on overcoming managerial myopia in Chinese enterprises. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 22, 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-025-01134-0
Welsh, D. T., Outlaw, R., Newton, D. W., & Baer, M. D. (2022). The social aftershocks of voice: An investigation of employees’ affective and interpersonal reactions after speaking up. Academy of Management Journal, 65, 2034–2057. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.1187
World Bank. (2024). Women, business and the law 2024. World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-2063-2
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Abiyan Hilal, Diana Puspitasari (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Jurnal Inovasi Pajak Indonesia (JIPI) © 2024 by Inovasi Analisis Data is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0






