Tittle: WHAT EMPOWERS WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

Abstract;

Women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship is shaped by more than financial access. Women entrepreneurs require psychological agency, supportive socio-cultural conditions, relevant entrepreneurial skills, and access to tangible and institutional resources. This study develops an integrated multidimensional framework for explaining women’s empowerment among women entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Four higher-order determinants are proposed: the psychological dimension, represented by entrepreneurial self-efficacy, internal locus of control and achievement motivation; the socio-cultural dimension, represented by family support, social support and enabling gender norms; the skill-related dimension, represented by entrepreneurial competency, financial literacy and digital competency; and the resource dimension, represented by access to finance, government support and business-network access. Drawing on empowerment theory and the Resource-Based View, a cross-sectional survey of 400 women entrepreneurs is proposed and analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (AMOS-SEM). The illustrative model suggests that all four dimensions are positively associated with women’s empowerment, with the skill-related and psychological dimensions producing the strongest effects. The framework contributes by consolidating fragmented determinants into four theoretically meaningful domains and by positioning women’s empowerment—rather than business performance alone—as the principal outcome. The study implies that women entrepreneurship policy should integrate confidence and agency development, socio-cultural support, capability building and resource accessibility.