Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Sustainable Business Practices Among Micro and Small Women Entrepreneurs in a Fragile Economy

This study examines the associations among entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial resilience, financial constraints, and sustainable business practices among micro and small women entrepreneurs in the West Bank, Palestine. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, a moderated mediation model is proposed and explored in which entrepreneurial resilience mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and sustainable business practices, while financial constraints moderate this indirect pathway. Survey data were collected from 282 micro and small women entrepreneurs through a purposive stratified sample facilitated by microfinance institution and NGO networks, and the model was assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling via SmartPLS 4. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is positively associated with sustainable business practices both directly and indirectly through entrepreneurial resilience. Financial constraints significantly weaken the resilience-to-practices pathway, and the moderated mediation analysis reveals that the indirect association diminishes as financial constraints intensify. These findings contribute to sustainable entrepreneurship theory by identifying the sequential psychological pathway through which self-efficacy translates into responsible business conduct and by establishing material resource scarcity as a boundary condition of that pathway in fragile economy contexts.