The Impact of GenAI on Entrepreneurial Skills and Intentions of University Students: The Mediating Role of Creativity

The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into entrepreneurship education has attracted growing scholarly attention, yet the mechanisms through which AI tools such as ChatGPT 4.0 influence students’ entrepreneurial skills and intentions remain inadequately understood. This study empirically examines the mediating role of creativity in the relationship between ChatGPT usage and entrepreneurial skills and intention. Drawing on constructivist theory, self-determination theory, and the Theory of Planned Behavior, we propose a conceptual model in which creativity serves as the central mediating mechanism linking AI usage to entrepreneurial outcomes. The model was tested using survey data from 166 students enrolled in an innovation and entrepreneurship course at a Hong Kong university, analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with formal mediation testing. The findings reveal that ChatGPT does not directly enhance students’ acquisition of teamwork, product, or business skills. Instead, ChatGPT positively influences students’ creativity, which, in turn, drives the development of entrepreneurial skills and intention. Mediation analysis confirms that creativity fully mediates the relationship between ChatGPT and all three skill types, while only business skills translate creativity into entrepreneurial intention. The sequential pathway—ChatGPT → creativity → business skills → entrepreneurial intention—is supported, demonstrating that AI’s influence on entrepreneurial outcomes operates through a cascading cognitive and practical process in which creativity serves as the essential mediating link. These findings establish creativity as the critical mechanism through which GenAI contributes to entrepreneurship education, with significant implications for pedagogical design and curriculum development.