Contemporary Research Analysis Journal

Digitalization is changing how entrepreneurship is learned, practiced, and supported, yet the relationship between digitalization, entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurial potential remains conceptually fragmented. Existing research has examined digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intention, and digital transformation as related but often separate areas. This conceptual paper brings these strands together and explains how entrepreneurship education may function as a pathway through which digital resources are translated into entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and capabilities. Drawing on Human Capital Theory, the paper distinguishes entrepreneurial potential from entrepreneurial intention and positions entrepreneurial potential as a broader state of entrepreneurial readiness that can be developed through learning and experience. A conceptual literature review was undertaken using peer-reviewed studies and established theoretical work on digitalization, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial potential, and human capital. The literature was synthesized around four relationships: digitalization and entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial potential, digitalization and entrepreneurial potential, and the role of entrepreneurship education as an intervening mechanism. The resulting framework proposes that digitalization can influence entrepreneurial potential both directly and through entrepreneurship education, while the strength of this relationship depends on the extent to which digital resources are converted into meaningful learning and capability development. Two propositions are developed to guide future empirical testing. The paper contributes by clarifying the conceptual boundaries between digitalization, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial potential, and entrepreneurial intention and by providing a Human Capital Theory-based framework for future research.

Digitalization, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial potential, human capital theory, digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial capabilities.

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