What is the Paper About?
The paper develops the AI-Enabled Entrepreneurial Learning Progression Framework, which extends the established about–for–through tradition in entrepreneurship education to account for the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) within entrepreneurial practice. The paper argues that AI is reshaping opportunity recognition, innovation, decision-making, and venture management, creating the need for a more structured and theoretically grounded approach to AI integration in entrepreneurship education. In response, the framework conceptualises AI capability development as a staged progression, moving from conceptual literacy and analytical understanding (About AI in Entrepreneurship), to applied integration and evaluative judgement (For AI in Entrepreneurship), and ultimately to entrepreneurial capability, identity formation, and responsible agency within AI-enabled venture contexts (Through AI in Entrepreneurship). By aligning learning purpose, pedagogy, curriculum design, teaching activities, and assessment across these stages, the framework provides a coherent developmental architecture for AI-enabled entrepreneurship education.
Why is it Important?
This paper responds to growing calls for more systematic and theory-informed approaches to integrating AI within entrepreneurship education. While AI is increasingly embedded within entrepreneurial ecosystems, existing educational responses have often been fragmented, tool-focused, or based on ad hoc experimentation rather than coherent pedagogical design. The framework developed in this paper addresses this gap by demonstrating that AI integration is not simply a technical addition to entrepreneurship curricula, but a developmental process that reshapes how entrepreneurial knowledge, judgement, capability, and responsibility are formed. In doing so, the paper provides educators with a structured basis for curriculum sequencing, assessment alignment, and the development of responsible AI-enabled entrepreneurial capability. The framework also advances entrepreneurship education theory by reconceptualising the about–for–through tradition as a staged developmental architecture for cultivating AI-enabled entrepreneurial judgement, reflexive capability, and accountable agency within increasingly AI-mediated entrepreneurial environments.
Robin Bell 