Why Digital Literacy Alone Is Not Enough: Evidence from Women-Owned Micro Enterprises in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of spiritual capital, family support, business management skills, digital financial literacy, and digital financial access on women's business sustainability in micro-enterprises in the culinary sector with digital financial access as a moderation variable. The study was conducted on 438 women culinary micro business actors in East Java. The research was carried out quantitatively by collecting data through questionnaires and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The results of the study show that spiritual capital, family support, business management skills, and access to digital finance have a positive effect on the sustainability of women's businesses in culinary micro-businesses. On the other hand, digital financial literacy does not have a significant effect on business sustainability. The study also found that business management skills are able to mediate the influence of spiritual capital and family support on business sustainability, while digital financial literacy is unable to mediate these relationships. In addition, access to digital finance is not able to moderate the influence of business management skills and digital financial literacy on business sustainability. The results show that the sustainability of women's micro businesses is more influenced by internal factors, family social support, and managerial skills than digital skills alone. This research provides important implications for the development of policies for the empowerment of women MSMEs, especially in strengthening business management skills and access to inclusive digital financing.