Harnessing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements for Digital Transformation in Sustainable Women Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

Abstract

The paper explores the complex and under-researched role of elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), including financial capital (FC), social capital (SC), institutional and policy support (IPS), and entrepreneurial culture (EC), as strategic facilitators of sustainable women entrepreneurship in India. It is based on the Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT) and examines digital financial literacy (DFL) as a mediating variable and digital technology adoption (DTA) as a moderating variable. The study employs a cross-sectional survey of 411 female entrepreneurs based in universities to study the combination of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), which is an integrative approach to finding both configurational and linear relationships. The findings demonstrate that financial, social, and institutional factors are important in boosting sustainable entrepreneurial performance through the mediation of DFL. Furthermore, DTA has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between financial capital and sustainability results, but institutional and policy support have a negative moderating impact, which may suggest institutional overload and digital exclusion. The findings can help information policy makers and stakeholders in the ecosystem to craft specific digital inclusion programs and institutional streamlined frameworks that will enable sustainability-driven women entrepreneurship.