How ChatGPT adoption stimulates digital entrepreneurship: A stimulus-organism-response perspective

Abstract

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its transformative effects across different sectors, including entrepreneurship, there is a pressing need to understand how AI is integrated into entrepreneurial practices. This study applies the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory to explain the impacts of ChatGPT adoption in entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition, and digital entrepreneurial knowledge on digital entrepreneurial self-efficacy, which in turn, increases digital entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors. Moreover, our study examines the moderating role of technostress in the relationship between digital entrepreneurial self-efficacy, digital entrepreneurial intention, and digital entrepreneurial behaviors. Drawing on the sample of 1326 MBA Vietnamese students who used ChatGPT for their entrepreneurial activities, with the stratified random sampling approach, structural equation modeling is employed to test formulated hypotheses. This study reveals that ChatGPT adoption in entrepreneurship positively influences opportunity recognition, digital entrepreneurial knowledge, and digital entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Digital entrepreneurial self-efficacy was also found to significantly mediate the impacts of AI-related stimuli on digital entrepreneurial intention and behavior. Furthermore, technostress negatively moderates the relationship between digital entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention. The findings of this research thus extend the theoretical understanding of AI-driven entrepreneurship and offer practical implications for practitioners.