ISSN: 2226-3624
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Despite near-universal digital transformation initiation among Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a stark performance paradox persists: 98.8% have begun the process, yet only 3.2% reach advanced digital maturity. This gap is especially consequential for the 23 million women-owned enterprises that constitute 41.6% of China's private sector. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), organisational ambidexterity theory, and social capital theory, this study proposes and tests an integrated model in which women entrepreneurs' digital competence (DC) influences business performance (WBP) through two parallel mediating pathways—explorative digital transformation (EXT) and exploitative digital transformation (EPT)—while guanxi moderates the transformation–performance linkage. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey (n = 243) of women-owned SMEs in Sichuan Province, China, is analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0. Results support all nine hypotheses: DC significantly influences both EXT (? = 0.521) and EPT (? = 0.614), both transformation pathways positively predict WBP (EXT: ? = 0.278; EPT: ? = 0.347), DC retains a significant direct effect on WBP (? = 0.192), both EXT and EPT partially mediate the DC–WBP relationship, and guanxi significantly amplifies both transformation–performance links. Dimension-differentiated analysis further reveals that ganqing more strongly amplifies the EXT?WBP path, renqing more strongly amplifies the EPT?WBP path, and xinren amplifies both comparably. The integrated model explains 51.2% of variance in WBP (SRMR = 0.062). Findings illuminate how, through which pathway, and under what relational conditions DC converts into women's business value, with direct implications for capability-focused policy and ecosystem design in emerging digital economies.
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