Factors Influencing Women's Economic Empowerment Through Financial Technology: Evidence from Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia

Financial technology (FinTech) has emerged as a key enabler of financial inclusion and digital entrepreneurship, offering women greater opportunities to improve their financial management, business performance, and economic participation. Despite the increasing adoption of FinTech, limited empirical evidence exists regarding how technology acceptance factors contribute directly to women's economic empowerment, particularly among women microentrepreneurs in Malaysia. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study examines the relationships between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and women's economic empowerment. A quantitative cross-sectional research design was employed, and data were collected from 581 female entrepreneurs registered under Sahabat Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) using a structured questionnaire. Simple random sampling was adopted to ensure equal representation of eligible respondents. The collected data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for descriptive analysis and SmartPLS 4 for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity, while the structural model revealed that performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions significantly and positively influenced women's economic empowerment. In contrast, effort expectancy did not exhibit a significant relationship. Among the predictors, facilitating conditions emerged as the strongest determinant, highlighting the critical role of technological infrastructure, digital capability, and institutional support in enabling women to leverage FinTech for economic advancement. The findings extend the application of UTAUT beyond technology adoption by demonstrating its relevance in explaining broader socioeconomic outcomes, particularly women's economic empowerment. Practically, the study provides valuable insights for policymakers, microfinance institutions, and FinTech providers in designing digital financial ecosystems that strengthen women's entrepreneurial capacity and financial independence. The findings support national initiatives aimed at promoting financial inclusion and sustainable economic development through the effective utilisation of digital financial technologies among women entrepreneurs.

Financial technology (FinTech); Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

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