Digital skills and entrepreneurial intentions for final-year undergraduates: entrepreneurship education as a moderator and entrepreneurial alertness as a mediator

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to test the impact of digital skills on the entrepreneurial intentions of last-year undergraduate students in Jordanian universities, especially after the Coronavirus disease pandemic and the digital transformation in education and business patterns. In addition, it aims to assess the role of entrepreneurial alertness as a mediator and entrepreneurship education as a moderator in the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative study used a questionnaire distributed to 401 students from different Jordanian universities. The data was collected over 2 months and two structural equation models were developed using AMOS 25 to examine the relationship.FindingsA significant negative relationship was found between digital skills and entrepreneurial intentions of last-year undergraduate students in Jordanian universities post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A fully mediating role of the alertness variable has appeared in addition to a significant moderating role of entrepreneurship education.Originality/valueThis is the first study that attempts to investigate the impact of digital skills on students' entrepreneurial intentions in Jordan after the COVID-19 pandemic, In addition, it is one of the few studies that assess the mediator's and moderator's effects on the same conditions. Finally, the study provided a review of the definitions and models used as part of the contribution to upcoming reviews.