Pedagogy over Technology: Evidence from a European Study of Generation Z Students in Entrepreneurship Education

The rapid expansion of Generation Z in entrepreneurship education has intensified debates about whether educational innovation should prioritise digital technologies or pedagogical quality. Although technology-enhanced learning is widely promoted, empirical evidence comparing the relative importance of teaching methods and digital pedagogical tools in meeting students’ educational expectations remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between teaching methods, technology-based pedagogical tools, and students’ perceived fulfilment of expectations in entrepreneurship education. Using survey data from 2659 students across multiple European countries, hierarchical regression analysis was employed to assess the incremental explanatory power of teaching methods and digital tools beyond demographic characteristics. The findings demonstrate that teaching methods account for the largest share of explained variance, with practice relevance and integration of theory and practice emerging as the strongest predictors, while support for entrepreneurial activities and psychologically safe learning environments also showed significant positive associations with expectation fulfilment. Technology-based pedagogical tools provide only modest additional explanatory power, with positive associations observed for video platforms, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality. The results are consistent with the view that technology contributes to educational experiences primarily as a complement to coherent pedagogical design. The study contributes to entrepreneurship education by demonstrating that pedagogy, rather than technology adoption alone, remains the primary contributor to perceived educational quality for digitally native learners.