The research was conducted by Iva Khoiril Mala, Agung Winarno, Fuad Abdul Fattah, Rachmad Hidayat, Imanda Nashoikha Dinniyah, and Hidayati Suprihatin, all affiliated with the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia. The article was published in 2026 in the Jurnal Ekonomi dan Bisnis Digital (MINISTAL). The paper was received on June 25, revised on July 20, and accepted on August 22. The article does not specify the exact period when the field data were collected.
The findings are significant for universities seeking to prepare students for a labor market and business environment increasingly shaped by AI. They indicate that producing future entrepreneurs requires more than teaching students how to use digital tools. Students also need the ability to turn technological information into business opportunities.
AI Is Changing Entrepreneurship Education
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how businesses operate, access information, analyze markets, and make decisions. This transformation is also changing what students need to learn before entering the business world.
The researchers describe digital entrepreneurship education as an evolution of conventional entrepreneurship education. Instead of focusing primarily on theoretical business concepts, digital entrepreneurship education incorporates digital business projects, technology-based problem solving, digital platforms, business simulations, and AI-supported opportunity analysis.
Within this environment, digital literacy means more than knowing how to operate digital devices. It includes the ability to access, evaluate, manage, and use digital information and technology for productive and entrepreneurial activities.
Entrepreneurial cognition, meanwhile, refers to the way students recognize opportunities, interpret business information, evaluate uncertainty, think creatively, assess risks, and make entrepreneurial decisions.
The researchers examined how these two capabilities interact with digital entrepreneurship education and ultimately influence students’ intention to become entrepreneurs.
Study Involved 210 Students
The study used a quantitative explanatory design and collected responses from 210 university students drawn from an estimated population of 460 students. Participants were undergraduate students who were taking digital entrepreneurship courses and had experience using digital technology in learning or entrepreneurial activities.
Students answered a questionnaire using a seven-point scale. The researchers then analyzed the relationships among digital literacy, entrepreneurial cognition, digital entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurial intention using a statistical approach designed to test both direct and indirect relationships.
The results showed that all seven relationships tested in the research model were positive and statistically significant.
Entrepreneurial Thinking Emerges as the Strongest Factor
The strongest direct predictor of entrepreneurial intention was entrepreneurial cognition, with a coefficient of β = 0.510. Digital literacy followed at β = 0.414, while digital entrepreneurship education had a direct coefficient of β = 0.326.
The results indicate that students who are better at recognizing business opportunities, thinking creatively, evaluating risks, and making business decisions tend to show stronger intentions to become entrepreneurs.
The study also found:
- Entrepreneurial cognition → entrepreneurial intention: β = 0.510.
- Digital literacy → entrepreneurial intention: β = 0.414.
- Digital entrepreneurship education → entrepreneurial intention: β = 0.326.
- Entrepreneurial cognition → digital entrepreneurship education: β = 0.482.
- Digital literacy → digital entrepreneurship education: β = 0.388.
Digital entrepreneurship education also played an important intermediary role. Its indirect effect between digital literacy and entrepreneurial intention was β = 0.127, while its indirect effect between entrepreneurial cognition and entrepreneurial intention reached β = 0.157. Both relationships were statistically significant.
The research model also showed that digital literacy, entrepreneurial cognition, and digital entrepreneurship education together explained 59.9% of the variation in students’ entrepreneurial intention, leaving 40.1% associated with factors outside the model.
Universities Need to Teach More Than Technology
For higher education institutions, the findings suggest that digital entrepreneurship courses should not be reduced to technical training.
The researchers argue that universities should combine digital technology and AI with learning activities that develop critical thinking, creativity, opportunity recognition, risk assessment, and business decision-making. Such an approach could help students move from simply consuming digital technology to using it to create new products, services, and business opportunities.
An ethical paraphrase of the researchers’ central conclusion is that technology alone is not enough to create prospective entrepreneurs. According to Iva Khoiril Mala and colleagues at Universitas Negeri Malang, entrepreneurial success in the AI era depends substantially on how students interpret technological information and transform it into productive business opportunities.
This distinction could become increasingly important as AI tools become easier to access. Students may have access to the same AI platforms, but their ability to identify useful opportunities and make sound business decisions can determine whether those tools actually lead to entrepreneurial activity.
The researchers acknowledge that the findings have limitations. The study involved undergraduate students from a single university and used a cross-sectional design, meaning the results may not represent students across different institutions or countries. Future studies could include broader populations and examine additional factors such as entrepreneurial self-efficacy, AI readiness, and digital innovation capability.
Author Profiles
Iva Khoiril Mala — Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Negeri Malang. Her research background reflected in the article includes entrepreneurship education, digital entrepreneurship, digital literacy, and entrepreneurial intention. The academic degree is not specified in the journal article.
Agung Winarno — Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Negeri Malang. His contribution to the article concerns management and entrepreneurship research. The academic degree is not specified in the journal article.
Fuad Abdul Fattah, Rachmad Hidayat, Imanda Nashoikha Dinniyah, and Hidayati Suprihatin — Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Negeri Malang, with research contributions within the study of digital entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention. Their individual academic degrees and detailed fields of expertise are not specified in the article.
Research Source
Article title: The Contribution of AI-Based Digital Literacy and Entrepreneurial Cognition through Digital Entrepreneurship Education to Entrepreneurial Intention
Authors: Iva Khoiril Mala, Agung Winarno, Fuad Abdul Fattah, Rachmad Hidayat, Imanda Nashoikha Dinniyah, Hidayati Suprihatin
Journal: Jurnal Ekonomi dan Bisnis Digital (MINISTAL)
Publication: Volume 5, No. 3, 2026, pages 233–252
DOI: 10.55927/ministal.v5i3.21
Official journal: Jurnal Ekonomi dan Bisnis Digital (MINISTAL)
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