Digital entrepreneurship intention among Chinese and Vietnamese students: an EEM-imprinting-informed SEM-ANN model

Amid the growing use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), it is important to understand how university students form digital entrepreneurship intention (DEI). Drawing on the Entrepreneurial Event Model (EEM) and an imprinting-informed perspective, this study examines how infusion of GenAI, engagement in entrepreneurial activities, AI-based entrepreneurship education, and perceived family support are associated with students’ perceived entrepreneurial desirability, perceived entrepreneurial feasibility, opportunity recognition, and DEI. Survey data were collected from 389 students in the Chinese sample and 286 students in the Vietnamese sample. PLS-SEM results show that perceived entrepreneurial feasibility was positively associated with DEI in both samples (China: β = 0.440, p < 0.001; Vietnam: β = 0.435, p < 0.001), as was perceived entrepreneurial desirability (China: β = 0.271, p < 0.001; Vietnam: β = 0.365, p < 0.001). Opportunity recognition was positively associated with DEI only in the Chinese sample (β = 0.221, p < 0.001), but not in the Vietnamese sample (β = 0.102, p = 0.134). PLS-MGA results indicate a significant cross-sample difference only for the path from GenAI infusion to perceived entrepreneurial desirability (difference = 0.181, two-tailed p = 0.020). ANN sensitivity analysis further identifies perceived entrepreneurial feasibility and perceived entrepreneurial desirability as the two strongest predictors of DEI in both samples, with normalized importance values of 100% and 74.85% in China, and 97.95% and 77.35% in Vietnam, respectively. These findings suggest that students’ DEI is closely associated with feasibility and desirability evaluations, while technological, educational, activity-based, and family-related factors play more varied roles across paths and samples.