Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Business Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres Creating knowledge and entrepreneurial capacity for HE students with digital education methodologies: Differences in the perceptions of students and entrepreneurs Maria José Sousa a,b,c, ⁎ , Manuel Carmo a,d , Ana Cristina Gonçalves a,c , Rui Cruz a , Jorge Miguel Martins a,e a Universidade Europeia, Portugal b Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal c CIEO, Universidade do Algarve, Portugal d CIMA-UE, Universidade de Évora, Portugal e Reykjavik University, Iceland ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Entrepreneur's skills and knowledge Digital learning Learning methodologies Learning systems ABSTRACT This main paper goal is to propose a model of digital education methodologies and tools to develop knowledge and entrepreneurial capacity in Higher Education (HE) students. Digital education is increasingly influencing both classroom/campus-based teaching, but more import is leading to new models or designs for teaching and learning. The paper makes a literature review on e-education, start-up stages and e-education methodologies and tools to develop the entrepreneurial capacity and uses quantitative methodology based on an online questionnaire applied to a sample of 75 HE Students and 75 Entrepreneurs in order to identify differences in their perceptions regarding the stages of the start-up process and also the most relevant methodologies to develop the en- trepreneurial capacity of a potential entrepreneur. The paper is structured of the following research questions: RQ1. What are the most important stages of the entrepreneurial start-up process? Moreover, RQ2-Which methods and methodologies can be employed to pro- mote the entrepreneurial activity? Besides the analysis of the methodologies and the tools of digital education, the research will also propose a model of E-Education methodologies for entrepreneur's strategic knowledge and skills development in each stage of the start-up process. 1. Introduction Academics and policymakers agree that entrepreneurs, and the new businesses they establish, play a critical role in the development and well-being of their societies. As such, there is increased appreciation for, and acknowledgment of the role played by new and small businesses in an economy. (GEM, 2017). Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs have become increasingly im- portant worldwide considering the positive impact in employment, productivity, innovation and economic growth, by analysts, economic theoreticians and researchers (Ahmad & Hoffmann, 2008; Reynolds, Carter, Gartner, & Greene, 2004) and by Policymakers and international organizations. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 1 points out, in its 2008 Executive report, that is worldwide consensual that entrepreneurship plays a critical increasingly role in economic development. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and De- velopment (OECD) in its Entrepreneurship at Glance 2012 report quote that the global crisis heightened interest in entrepreneurship as an es- sential element to foster economic recovery and employment growth (OECD, 2012); Other the European Commission (EC) in the Employ- ment and social situation in Europe - Report 2013 and the International Labour Organization (ILO) throughout the ILO Global employment trends 2014 report and the Global employment trends for youth 2015 report also recognize the potential of entrepreneurship to help regions and countries to overcome socio-economic issues such as https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.02.005 Received 15 August 2017; Received in revised form 31 January 2018; Accepted 2 February 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Universidade Europeia, Portugal. E-mail address: maria-jose.sousa@universidadeeuropeia.pt (M.J. Sousa). 1 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a global consortium that conducts research is on world economies regarding entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 0148-2963/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Sousa, M.J., Journal of Business Research (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.02.005