The evolving landscape of women’s entrepreneurship in the SDG framework based on bibliometric and TCCM analysis

Women’s entrepreneurial efforts emerge prominently as core drivers of sustainable development, gender balance, and equitable economic development aligned with the UNSDGs. This research examines the knowledge structure, evolving themes, influential contributors, and emerging research trends associated with female entrepreneurial activities under the SDG framework by integrating bibliometric techniques with the TCCM framework. A total of 340 peer-reviewed journal articles related to the 2000–2025 period were selected from the Scopus database through a PRISMA-based screening process. Bibliometric tools, including VOSviewer and Biblioshiny, were employed to analyze publication trends, influential journals, leading countries and institutions, collaboration networks, thematic structures, and keyword co-occurrence patterns. The TCCM framework was further applied to identify dominant theories, contextual settings, key characteristics, and methodological approaches in the literature. The results indicate a substantial growth in research activity after 2020, indicating growing scholarly attention toward women’s entrepreneurship within the SDG framework. Sustainability (Switzerland) emerged as the most influential journal, while India recorded the highest publication output and occupied a central position in global collaboration networks. Thematic analyses indicate a shift from poverty alleviation and empowerment toward SDG-oriented themes such as innovation, financial inclusion, climate change, social entrepreneurship, and corporate governance. The TCCM analysis highlights the dominance of TPB, with research concentrated in emerging economies and dominated by quantitative methodologies. The study contributes as one of the first investigations to integrate bibliometric analysis with the TCCM framework to provide a comprehensive and multidimensional understanding of women’s entrepreneurship within the SDG context.