From Awareness to Action: Online Learning and the Enhancement of University Students’ Understanding and Intentions in Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This study explores university students’ awareness and understanding of social entrepreneurship and examines changes associated with participation in an online learning intervention based on the upskillingRural modular course. The research aims to identify both existing knowledge gaps and the extent to which changes in students’ self-reported competences were observed following participation in structured digital education. A predominantly quantitative pre-post research design, complemented by a qualitative focus group component, was applied. The quantitative component involved 404 students from rural areas who completed the upskillingRural modular online course. Awareness and knowledge were positively, but weakly correlated (rₛ = 0.14, p = 0.005), indicating that greater awareness was associated with only slightly higher substantive knowledge. The quantitative pre-post assessment was complemented by 50 focus group discussions involving 300 students across five participating countries (Poland, Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Austria). The focus groups explored students’ educational needs, perceptions of rural entrepreneurship, barriers to applying entrepreneurial knowledge, and the perceived usefulness of the course. The questionnaire assessed awareness, conceptual understanding, and attitudes toward social entrepreneurship. For students who completed the upskillingRural online course, pre- and post-course comparisons were conducted to assess changes in self-reported knowledge and competences. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, paired-samples t-tests, and effect sizes were used to analyse the data. The intervention comprised twelve interconnected modules (M1-M12) combining social entrepreneurship with digital, environmental, relational, and market-oriented competencies. Descriptive and exploratory focus-group observations suggested as application-level gap: although students appeared familiar with individual business-model components, integrating these elements into a coherent business concept remained challenging. Participants also identified limited promotion of rural opportunities and youth migration towards larger cities as barriers, while targeted training and advisory support were perceived as important support mechanisms. Before the upskillingRural course, students showed general awareness of the social mission of entrepreneurship, but limited understanding of its operational and financial mechanisms. Following the online course, participants reported statistically significant pre-post increases in self-reported competence, including perceived understanding of operational models (+24.3%), self-reported knowledge of funding mechanisms (+23.1%), and perceived ability to assess social impact (+50.6%). The overall self-assessment score increased from 3.12 (SD = 0.98) before the course to 4.27 (SD = 0.89) after the course. This change was statistically significant, t(403) = 17.73, p < .001, with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.88). The study provides that empirical evidence of improvements in self-reported competences following participation in the upskillingRural modular online course can effectively strengthen both theoretical and applied competencies in rural entrepreneurship. By linking questionnaire outcomes with the learning objectives of each upskillingRural module, the findings suggest the potential of digital pedagogies to foster pro-social, entrepreneurial, and digital skills in higher education. The findings offer valuable guidance for the design of comprehensive, competency-based e-learning course in social entrepreneurship. The measurable improvements observed after participation in the online course indicate that modular, interactive online education such as that developed within the upskillingRural framework may have potential to support the transition from theoretical understanding to practical application. Educators are encouraged to integrate experiential and practice-oriented digital components, including simulations, collaborative projects, and virtual incubators, to enhance students’ engagement, critical thinking, and applied learning outcomes. Moreover, aligning course content with established modular frameworks can improve the coherence and transferability of learning objectives across institutions.