The influence of the pillars of digital academic entrepreneurship on university students’ entrepreneurial intention
European Journal of Innovation Management
ISSN: 1460-1060
Article publication date: 3 July 2023
Issue publication date: 21 January 2025
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the influence of the pillars (hard and soft skills) of digital academic entrepreneurship on students' entrepreneurial intention.
Design/methodology/approach
This was done by adopting a quantitative methodology involving empirical research with a sample of 761 university students from two countries and adopting structural equation analysis to validate the theoretical model proposed.
Findings
The results indicate a direct influence between hard and soft skills and entrepreneurial intention, and a positive, indirect influence between these and entrepreneurial intention mediated by the dimensions of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) – entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Therefore, the pillars of digital academic entrepreneurship have a direct and indirect influence on university students' entrepreneurial intention.
Practical implications
This study also contributes to better operationalization of entrepreneurial education in university environments, since the development of hard and soft skills can be planned better based on the model proposed here. Considering the relations between the dimensions of hard and soft skills and those of TPB, this study shows there can be an influence on students' entrepreneurial intention.
Originality/value
In this study, a new and innovative construct is inserted in the model of entrepreneurial intention: “structural pillars of digital academic entrepreneurship” through structural equation modelling, to determine the degree of influence of these pillars (hard and soft skills) constructs on HEI students' entrepreneurial intention.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from National Funds of the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project « UIDB/04007/2020».
Citation
Garcez, A., Franco, M. and Silva, R. (2025), "The influence of the pillars of digital academic entrepreneurship on university students’ entrepreneurial intention", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 210-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-01-2023-0051
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited