Institutional Support and Women’s Economic Resilience: A Sequential Capability-Building Model

Women play an important role in domestic enterprises in the fishing sector, but the mechanisms through which institutional support contributes to sustainable livelihoods remain poorly understood. This study aims to develop and validate a sequential capability-building model explaining how institutional support contributes to livelihood resilience among women operating household-based smoked fish enterprises in Indonesia. The study uses a consistent research design of mixed methods combining historical analysis and structural equation modeling using the partial least squares (PLS-SEM) method. The study analyzed materials from 2014-2024 from 40 documentary sources and 20 interviews, and surveyed 368 women employed in domestic enterprises in Tegalsari, Central Java. The results showed that institutional support positively affects women's economic agency (β = 0.697, p < 0.001) and entrepreneurial orientation (β = 0.164, p = 0.005). Women's economic agency enhances entrepreneurial orientation (β = 0.727, p < 0.001) and the ability to market innovation (β = 0.444, p < 0.001), but it has no statistically significant direct impact on the sustainability of livelihoods (β = 0.138, p = 0.149). Entrepreneurial orientation has the strongest direct impact on livelihood sustainability (β = 0.588, p < 0.001), while market innovations also have a significant impact (β = 0.203, p = 0.005). The results obtained confirm a consistent process of opportunity formation, in which institutional support is transformed into sustainable livelihoods primarily through women's economic agency, entrepreneurial orientation, and the ability to innovate in the market.

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