Fostering Student Innovation Through Entrepreneurship Education: The Roles of Alertness, Proactivity, and University Support

Although widely studied, the way entrepreneurship education drives innovative behavior in resource-limited contexts is still unclear. While prior research has explored its influence on entrepreneurial intention, few studies have examined how individual traits and institutional contexts shape the link between education and innovation. Drawing on Entrepreneurial Alertness Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigates how entrepreneurship education influences innovative behavior through the cognitive pathway of entrepreneurial alertness and the dispositional factor of proactive personality. It also examines how university support strengthens these relationships. A three-phase survey design was employed among 718 undergraduate students, using structural equation modeling for analysis. The results reveal that both entrepreneurial alertness and proactive personality significantly explain how education fosters innovation, and that university support enhances these effects. The study contributes a theoretically integrated model of student innovation, with implications for entrepreneurship educators and institutional leaders in emerging economies.