RT Journal Article
A1 Xu, Tao
A1 Meng, Ying
A1 Guo, Feng
A1 Luo, Nan
A1 Chen, Yanxiang
T1 Beyond AI substitution and cultivation of entrepreneurial competencies: a mediation framework based on the SOR model
JF Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
JO Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
YR 2026
DO 10.1108/APJIE-11-2025-0175
SP 1
OP 25
SN 2071-1395
AB In the era of human–AI symbiosis, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping cognition, knowledge production and labor structures. These transformations, in turn, place growing pressure on higher education institutions to reform entrepreneurship education (EE). This study aims to examine how AI-enabled EE influences students’ entrepreneurial competencies by uncovering the underlying psychological mechanisms that remain resistant to AI substitution.Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, this study explores how AI-enabled EE influences university students’ entrepreneurial competencies. This study conceptualized “AI adoption in higher education (AAHE)” in “entrepreneurship education (EE)” as the stimulus (S), “perceived usefulness (PU)” and “entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE)” as organismic states (O) and “entrepreneurial competency (EC)” as the response (R). A sample of 558 undergraduates from Shanghai and Zhejiang, China’s AI hub, was surveyed, and hypotheses were tested by Structural Equation Modeling.The empirical results showed AAHE positively predicted EE; AAHE and EE both boosted PU and ESE; and PU and ESE mediated the path to EC. These findings highlight the critical role of psychological mechanisms in translating AI integration into competencies development.This study makes two key contributions: theoretically, it extends the application of the SOR model to AI-enabled EE and clarifies the mediating mechanisms of PU and ESE; practically, this research provides guidance for higher education institutions to cultivate students’ entrepreneurial competencies by optimizing AI integration.
RD 4/10/2026
UL https://doi.org/10.1108/APJIE-11-2025-0175