Barriers and Enablers of Women Entrepreneurs in the Digital Start-Up Ecosystem

This study investigates the barriers and enablers shaping the performance of women entrepreneurs in India's digital start-up ecosystem. Grounded in Social Role Theory, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Theory, the Resource-Based View, and digital financial inclusion frameworks, the research examines the influence of digital capability, fintech access, and socio-cultural barriers on perceived venture performance. Using a descriptive and cross-sectional design, primary data were gathered from 166 women entrepreneurs operating digitally-enabled businesses across Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities in India. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability testing (Cronbach's alpha), Pearson correlation, and multiple regression. Results indicate a moderate level of digital participation across all constructs, with composite means clustering around 3.0 on a five-point Likert scale. Reliability diagnostics revealed psychometric limitations in the measurement instrument, and all three hypotheses were statistically unsupported. Despite these measurement challenges, the descriptive and regression evidence suggests that women entrepreneurs in this sample occupy a state of partial digital integration — operationally engaged with digital tools but not yet experiencing substantial performance uplift from digitalization. The study contributes to the growing discourse on gendered digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies and underscores the need for refined measurement instruments, more diverse sampling, and longitudinal research designs.