Investigating the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in shaping digital entrepreneurial intention: the mediating role of self-efficacy

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore the growing significance of digital entrepreneurship, which remains in its early stages within entrepreneurship research, with limited understanding of its determining factors. Specifically, it seeks to address the motivations driving individuals to pursue digital entrepreneurship, the factors shaping their intentions, and the essential requirements for success as digital entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach - This study introduces a model that uses challenge and enjoyment as intrinsic motivation, compensation and outward factors as extrinsic motivation and self-efficacy as theoretical elements to predict digital entrepreneurial intention. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research establishes nine hypotheses in a model tested through structural equation modeling with a survey involving 303 students from various Indonesian universities. Findings - The findings underscore the essential role of self-efficacy in forecasting digital entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, self-efficacy is a significant positive mediator in the relationships between challenge motivation, compensation motivation, outward motivation and digital entrepreneurial intention. The study also indicates that enjoyment motivation does not influence self-efficacy, and self-efficacy does not exhibit significant positive mediating effects on enjoyment motivation and digital entrepreneurial intention. The conclusions highlight the significance of intrinsic motivation through challenge, extrinsic motivation through compensation and outward factors and the role of self-efficacy in motivating students to participate in digital entrepreneurship. Originality/value - This study contributes significantly to the expanding field of digital entrepreneurial intention by developing a conceptual framework that elucidates the roles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in fostering self-efficacy, thereby shaping individuals’ intentions toward digital entrepreneurship.