Digital Entrepreneurship Awareness and Business Innovation Orientation Among Senior High School Students

Abstract

This study investigated how digital entrepreneurship awareness shaped business innovation orientation among Grade 12 Senior High School students, recognizing that learners’ readiness for digitally driven enterprise increasingly depended not only on business knowledge but also on their openness to innovation. Using a cross-sectional predictive-associational design, data were gathered through a validated researcher-developed questionnaire with strong content validity and excellent internal consistency. Descriptive statistics and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling were employed to analyze the data. Findings revealed that students demonstrated a generally high level of digital entrepreneurship awareness and a high level of business innovation orientation. They were most aware of digital business concepts and online market opportunities, and they were most receptive to new business ideas and product improvement. However, weaker results emerged in areas involving digital payment systems, online business security, confidence in testing new business approaches, and willingness to take calculated risks, indicating the presence of practical developmental gaps. Measurement model results confirmed acceptable indicator loadings, composite reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Structural model findings further showed that digital entrepreneurship awareness significantly predicted business innovation orientation, with moderate explanatory power and meaningful predictive relevance. The results suggested that while students were already cognitively receptive to digital enterprise and innovation, they still needed stronger educational support in operational and risk-related dimensions of entrepreneurship. The study underscored the need for applied school-based experiences that could strengthen students’ digital business understanding and innovation-oriented decision-making.