AI-Driven Digital Transformation and Women Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Western Balkans

From 2010 to 2025, this research looks at the Western Balkans to see how artificial intelligence (AI) helped women become more economically independent and entrepreneurs. This study aims to examine the effects of artificial intelligence (AI), digital transformation (DT), innovation (I), and human capital (HC) on the success and longevity of businesses run by women in emerging markets. To investigate the direct and indirect links among the major variables, the study uses an integrated empirical framework that incorporates Fixed Effects (FE), Hausman-Taylor estimation, Difference-in-Differences (DID), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and interaction models. Adopting AI has a favorable and statistically significant impact on innovative ability, company success, and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs, according to the research. The results show that women-led enterprises are more likely to adopt and use AI technologies when they have digital skills, education, and access to finance. Furthermore, the DID analysis verifies that the region's female entrepreneurs have flourished and will continue to thrive thanks to policies that encourage digital transformation and entrepreneurship after 2019. Using a variety of advanced econometric methods that have seldom been combined in prior research on transition economies, this study builds an integrated empirical model that connects the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, company performance, and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs in the Western Balkans.