Regular Article Building sustainable businesses: How education, digitalization, and collaboration drive long-term success Muh Fahrurrozi Faculty of Social and Economics, Universitas Hamzanwadi, Indonesia A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Business sustainability Entrepreneurship education Digital skills Team collaboration Stakeholder satisfaction Government policy Structural equation modeling ABSTRACT Sustainable business practices are essential in today’s global context. This study examines how entrepreneurship education, digital skills, and team collaboration affect business sustainability in Indonesian MSMEs, with stakeholder satisfaction as a mediator and government policy as a moderator. Using PLS-SEM with data from 142 MSMEs, results show team collaboration has the strongest direct effect, followed by entrepreneurship education and digital skills. Stakeholder satisfaction plays a key mediating role. Government policy supports entrepre- neurship and digital skills but does not significantly influence team collaboration directly (0.046). However, it may affect collaboration indirectly through supportive programs. The model’s explanatory power (R 2 = 0.675) is moderately strong, aligning with similar studies in emerging markets. The findings offer guidance for businesses and policymakers: prioritize stakeholder engagement, digital adoption, and capacity-building. Future research should consider longitudinal methods and sector-specific strategies to deepen the understanding of sustainability outcomes. 1. Introduction In recent years, integrating sustainable practices into core business strategies has become increasingly essential for firms navigating the complexities of environmental and societal demands. In Indonesia, this urgency is amplified by growing pressure on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to meet sustainability expectations despite limited institutional support, digital access gaps, and variable implementation of government programs (Ardiana, 2022; Klaus-Rosi´ nska et al., 2024). Field observations and regional reports reveal that many MSMEs in West Nusa Tenggara, Java, and South Sulawesi still struggle to convert entrepreneurship education and digital infrastructure support into measurable sustainability performance. These challenges are often attributed to gaps in digital literacy (Fan & Wang, 2022; Moreno-Morilla et al., 2021), weak internal coordination (Hashim et al., 2021), and low stakeholder engagement (Fobbe & Hilletofth, 2022), all of which demonstrate a critical disconnect between policy interventions and practical business realities. Although sustainability is widely recognized as a strategic impera- tive (Gagn´e et al., 2021; Trana et al., 2024), many MSMEs remain reactive rather than proactive in embedding sustainable practices into their core operations. While programs designed to support entrepre- neurship and digital adoption exist, they often fall short in translating into behavioral and structural change on the ground (Dzomonda, 2020; Pauna et al., 2023). These limitations signal the need for an integrative framework that not only fills theoretical gaps but also reflects empirical challenges encountered at the MSME level. By grounding this research in the lived experiences of Indonesian MSMEs and emphasizing stake- holder engagement as a mediating force, this study provides a more responsive and evidence-informed model for understanding the inter- section of internal capability, policy context, and sustainable business transformation. Moreover, stakeholder engagement plays a critical role in shaping corporate sustainability strategies. A growing body of research high- lights that actively involving stakeholders including employees, cus- tomers, and community representatives is essential for fostering sustainable innovation and adaptive change (Fobbe & Hilletofth, 2022; Pauna et al., 2023). In parallel, the expansion of digital technologies and sustainability-oriented innovation in international technology-based firms has underscored the importance of foresight and scenario plan- ning in addressing sustainability challenges (Salamzadeh et al., 2022). As a result, companies equipped with innovation foresight and collab- orative frameworks are more resilient and responsive to changing en- vironments. Studies suggest that robust stakeholder engagement enhances transparency and accountability while cultivating a collabo- rative culture that supports continuous improvements in sustainability E-mail address: fahrurrozi@hamzanwadi.ac.id. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Social Sciences & Humanities Open journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/social-sciences-and-humanities-open https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101707 Received 16 March 2025; Received in revised form 19 June 2025; Accepted 19 June 2025 Social Sciences & Humanities Open 12 (2025) 101707 Available online 26 June 2025 2590-2911/© 2025 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/).