Leading with AI: Strategic Leadership, AI-Based Decision Making, and Venture Performance in Student Startups

Abstract

The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizational leaders formulate strategy and make decisions, yet little is known about how AI-driven leadership translates into performance within student-run startups, a context marked by limited resources and heavy reliance on individual decision-makers. This study examines the influence of AI-Driven Strategic Leadership on venture performance, with AI-Based Decision Making as a mediating variable, among student entrepreneurs at Universitas Ciputra Surabaya. A quantitative survey of 200 respondents was conducted through purposive sampling, and data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Squares with SmartPLS 3.0. The results show that AI-Driven Strategic Leadership positively and significantly influences AI-Based Decision Making and venture performance, while AI-Based Decision Making contributes positively to venture performance and partially mediates the relationship. By integrating AI-Driven Strategic Leadership and AI-Based Decision Making into a single explanatory model of venture performance among student entrepreneurs, an approach rarely applied in prior literature that treats AI mainly as a technical support tool, this study offers a distinct contribution. The findings extend strategic leadership theory into AI-enabled entrepreneurial settings and offer practical guidance for startup leaders and university programs seeking to strengthen AI-based decision processes for sustainable venture growth.