FREELANCING SERVICES AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE DIGITAL ERA: EVIDENCE FROM FREELANCE TECHNICIANS IN KARU, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The rapid growth of digital technology is creating new opportunities for individuals to transform technical skills into sustainable entrepreneurial ventures. Against this background, this study examined the effect of freelancing services on entrepreneurship development in the digital era among freelance technicians in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Specifically, it examined the effects of digital technical services and online freelance market participation on entrepreneurship development. The study was anchored on Effectuation Theory and adopted a survey research design. A population of 120 freelance technicians was used for the analysis, with census sampling specified. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis with SPSS Version 28. The results showed that digital technical services recorded a mean of 4.18 and a standard deviation of 0.61, while online freelance market participation recorded a mean of 3.94 and a standard deviation of 0.67. Entrepreneurship development had a mean of 4.06 and a standard deviation of 0.63. The regression model reported an R² of 0.679, indicating that the two independent variables jointly explained 67.9% of the variation in entrepreneurship development. Digital technical services (B = 0.514, t = 7.139, p < .001) and online freelance market participation (B = 0.356, t = 4.944, p < .001) were reported as positive and statistically significant predictors. The study recommends integrating freelancing into entrepreneurship education, improving digital infrastructure, and expanding business support for freelance technicians.