Next Generation Entrepreneurs. How Do Digital Skills Affect the Intention to Start Up a New Business?

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Company formation, Business Plans, grade: 1,3, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Department for Business Administration with the focus on Technology, Innovation and Startup Management), language: English, abstract: Facing the progressive digitalization process as well as the increasing resources allocated from the European Union to promote digital basic competences on the one hand and support the growth opportunities of the European Digital Economy on the other hand, the purpose of the present study is to explore the interplay between perceived digital skills, entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs, and the intention to start-up a business venture on the individual-level.

Based on the theory of planned behavior extended by the social cognitive career theory, self-efficacy beliefs play a crucial role in the development of entrepreneurial intentions and, ultimately, entrepreneurial behavior. Perceived digital skills may shape this relationship through an interaction mechanism as a source of self-efficacy expectations. In order to make perceived digital skills measurable, a multidimensional scale was developed on basis of the DigComp Framework published by the European Commission. An explorative and confirmative factor analysis was performed to ensure a consistent and reliable scale.

Based on a sample with 181 German Master¿s students, collected and analyzed data (OLS Regression) reveal that entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs and perceived digital skills have a direct and significant effect on entrepreneurial intentions. A moderation effect of perceived digital skills could not be verified. After testing a mediation model, however, the relationship between perceived digital skills and entrepreneurial intentions is partially mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs.

The results highlight the importance of the acquisition and perception of a broad set of digital skills as a relevant driver for entrepreneurial career intentions and an increasing confidence level in one's entrepreneurial skills. The findings are discussed against the background of economic opportunities as well as challenges in the digital era and open up a new research perspective on the understanding of the interdependencies between the main constructs.