Digital entrepreneurship is widely promoted as a pathway out of poverty, yet the mechanisms through which it translates into improved welfare for women remain under-explored, particularly regarding the psychological and infrastructural resources required in gendered, informal labor markets. Drawing on the Psychological Capital and Conservation of Resources (COR) theories, this study examines how digital entrepreneurship, disaggregated into five functional dimensions, namely cost reduction, work–life balance, promotion, information access, and network building, impacts poverty reduction among 520 women entrepreneurs in Algeria's informal sector. We employ a hybrid analytical approach combining Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The PLS-SEM results reveal that cost reduction and work-life balance exert the strongest direct effects on poverty reduction. Psychological Capital significantly channels the impact of promotion, information access, and network building, whereas Digital Infrastructure enhances these pathways by improving the reach and operational efficiency of DE activities. FsQCA identifies high Psychological Capital as a necessary condition in all configurations associated with poverty reduction. The study advances the Conservation of Resources framework and PsyCap theory by conceptualizing a synergistic “resource caravan” in which psychological and infrastructural resources jointly enhance women's entrepreneurial capacity. The findings have direct relevance to policy agendas linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 5, and 8.
Laouti et al. (Wed,) studied this question.