Bridging Parental Influence and Entrepreneurship Education: The Role of Entrepreneurial and Digital Competencies in Shaping Entrepreneurial Career Aspirations

Despite the changes in the tourism industry that are more oriented toward digital services, extant studies on entrepreneurship education tend to overlook the role of entrepreneurial and digital competencies in shaping the aspiration of university students in tourism and hotel management to become entrepreneurs in the era of the digital economy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether support from students’ closest environment, such as their parents and their education institutions through entrepreneurship education, can shape their entrepreneurial career aspirations. More specifically, this research examines whether parental attitudes toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education contribute to the development of entrepreneurial and digital competencies, which in turn affect students’ entrepreneurial career aspirations. By using survey data on 442 university students majoring in tourism, retail, and hotel management in Indonesia, this study employs the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test the direct and indirect effects of entrepreneurial and digital competencies on entrepreneurial career aspirations. Moreover, the study uses Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to reveal specific competencies that contribute to entrepreneurial career aspirations. Our findings indicate significant effects of entrepreneurial and digital competencies in mediating the relationship between parents’ positive attitude toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial career aspirations. Entrepreneurial and digital competencies are found to be critical mediators, acting as necessary conditions for entrepreneurial career aspirations. Our findings thus highlight the important role of both entrepreneurial and digital competencies in shaping students’ entrepreneurial career aspirations and reveal the specific competencies required to shape their entrepreneurial career aspirations.