Understanding digital entrepreneurial intentions: A capital theory perspective

Purpose Digital entrepreneurship is a highly topical, sub-specialist and contemporary branch of entrepreneurship which is providing ever-increasing range of platforms for pursuing entrepreneurship-related career options. While the academic discourses in this area are increasingly growing, there is an equal level of scant attention paid to inquire how proclivity toward this career choice is developed and influenced. In the present study, this gap has been addressed by identifying major antecedents of digital entrepreneurship intentions under the aegis of capital theory. Design/methodology/approach Using the survey data from 287 respondents, structural equation modeling was utilized to explore the association of four antecedents: digital entrepreneurial competence, innovative cognition, social media adroitness and digital entrepreneurship role models on the goal intentions. Subsequently the association between goal intention and implementation intention to start a digital venture was also examined. Findings The analysis confirms the significant impact of the identified antecedents on the digital entrepreneurial volition of potential entrepreneurs. Our results demonstrate that innovativeness has the greatest impact on the goal intentions to create new digital ventures followed by the presence of role models. Digital competence is also a significant contributor in enhancing the propensity to start digital ventures while being digitally adroit has the least impact on such inclination. Lastly, our study provides empirical evidence to the linkage between goal and implementation intentions. Originality/value This paper informs practice on entrepreneurship education especially the role of skill-based education programs to enhance the information technology–related knowledge of students and incubation support for hands-on-training on the various dimensions of digital ventures. At policy-level institutions providing entrepreneurial education can design special tasks and learning activities that are focused on acquainting students with design thinking perspectives and lean start-up approaches.