Ready to go digital? How digital entrepreneurial education shapes entrepreneurial inclination through orientation and alertness

Abstract

Despite growing investments in digital entrepreneurship education, evidence remains limited on how such education translates into students’ readiness to engage in digital venture creation, particularly beyond intention-based outcomes. Drawing on Entrepreneurial Cognition Theory, this study advances the literature by examining the cognitive and conditional mechanisms through which digital entrepreneurial education shapes digital entrepreneurial inclination (DEI) as an underexplored, action-oriented outcome. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of digital individual entrepreneurial orientation (DIEO) and the moderating role of entrepreneurial alertness. A multi-wave, time-lagged survey design was used using data collected on 350 undergraduate students in Higher Education Institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. In AMOS confirmatory factor analysis was done to establish measurement validity and mediation, moderation and moderated mediation effects were tested using bootstrapping and PROCESS Models 4 and 7 by Hayes. The findings indicate that digital entrepreneurial education has a significant positive impact on DEI. This association is partly mediated by DIEO, and this means that the inputs of education are translated into inclination by way of internalised cognitive orientations like innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking. Moreover, entrepreneurial alertness enhances the impact of education on orientation, including the fact that highly alert individuals are more likely to turn educational exposure into entrepreneurial cognition. The indirect impact of education on inclination is also much stronger at a higher alertness level, which proves the existence of a moderated mediation mechanism. The study is contextually restricted to higher education institutions (HEIs) in Punjab, Pakistan, which can restrict generalisability. Future studies ought to confirm the model in various institutional and cultural contexts and test the framework on real digital venture behaviour with longitudinal or experimental designs. The results support the role of including cognitive and perceptual processes in entrepreneurship education research. The findings suggest that universities should move beyond content delivery to design cognitively engaging, digitally immersive learning environments that cultivate entrepreneurial orientation and opportunity recognition. Interventions such as simulations, digital venture labs and opportunity-identification exercises can enhance both orientation and alertness, thereby improving students’ readiness for digital entrepreneurship. This study makes three key contributions: (1) it shifts the focus from intention to DEI as a more action-relevant outcome; (2) it explicates the cognitive pathway (DIEO) through which education influences entrepreneurial readiness; and (3) it introduces entrepreneurial alertness as a critical boundary condition, offering a nuanced, context-sensitive extension of Entrepreneurial Cognition Theory in digitally evolving emerging economies.