Generative AI-enhanced interactive learning environments in entrepreneurship education: personalization, ethical engagement, and entrepreneurial action tendency

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is increasingly integrated into interactive learning environments (ILEs), yet its role in entrepreneurship education remains theoretically underexplored. Grounded in the Entrepreneurial Event Model and socio-cognitive perspectives, this mixed-methods study examines how GAI-enhanced ILEs relate to university students’ entrepreneurial action tendency through perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, and propensity to act, while considering the moderating roles of socioeconomic status and gender. Combining PLS-SEM with thematic interviews, the findings show that GAI-enhanced ILEs are positively associated with students’ entrepreneurial confidence, motivation, and action readiness through personalized feedback, adaptive support, and interactive learning processes. However, these effects are not uniform. Lower-SES students benefited from AI-supported access and feedback but also faced barriers related to trust, verification, and digital literacy. Gender differences were pathway-specific, with some AI-related effects stronger among female students and feasibility- and action-related pathways stronger among male students. Rather than treating GAI as a deterministic force in educational transformation, this study positions it as a contextual learning resource whose benefits depend on students’ psychological appraisal, digital literacy, and sociocultural conditions. The study contributes to ILE and entrepreneurship education research by extending the Entrepreneurial Event Model to AI-supported learning contexts and by emphasizing transparent, ethical, and equity-conscious design.