From Microcredit to Financial Well-being: A Systematic Review of Evolution of the Financial Dimension in Rural Women’s Entrepreneurship

Articles in Press

Document Type : Review Articles

Authors

Neda Beiraghi Khatibi

Mahdi Pourtaheri

Zabih-Allah Torabi

Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22067/jrrp.2026.101875.1190

Abstract

Purpose-The financial dimension has emerged as one of the topics of interest in the literature on rural women's entrepreneurship in recent years. However, the researches in this field are fragmented and do not provide a clear picture of the intellectual structure or thematic evolution. The objective of this study is to examine the existing knowledge structure, to identify intellectual and thematic linkages, and to map emerging research paths in the financial dimension of rural women's entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach- A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis were used for this purpose. Studies were searched and screened in the Scopus database, and 80 articles published between 2005 until 2026 were selected and analyzed using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software. The analyses included publication trends, cross-country collaborations, highly cited documents, frequency and co-occurrence of keywords, and conceptual structure of the field.
Findings- The findings indicate the growth of literature in this field in recent years. Alongside the continuing focus on credit and microfinance, this literature has also raised concepts such as financial literacy, financial inclusion and financial well-being. The financial dimension is also linked to issues such as women's entrepreneurship, gender, empowerment, social capital, livelihoods, rural development, and sustainability. The findings show that the financial dimension of rural women's entrepreneurship is not confined access to credit and is studied within the framework of social, institutional and contextual factors and financial capabilities.
Originality/Value- This study presents an integrated account of the thematic and conceptual evolution of research on the financial dimension of rural women's entrepreneurship. Its main contribution is a three-dimensional framework that links financial resources and access mechanisms, women's financial capabilities, and the social, institutional, and developmental contexts shape this dimension. The framework provides a starting point for organizing current knowledge and pointing the way for future research.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship

Rural women

Financial dimension

Systematic review

Bibliometric analysis.

Subjects

• Rural Studies

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