A Theoretical Study on the Pathways through Which Entrepreneurship Education Strengthens the Employability of Industrial Design Students
Abstract
(Background and Purpose) University entrepreneurship education has evolved into a universal competency education for students across all majors, yet its outcomes continue to be evaluated primarily by start-up rates. This study theoretically examines the proposition how entrepreneurship education within undergraduate industrial design curricula can strengthen students' employability, even when it does not lead to actual business start-ups. (Methods) Adopting a narrative integrative literature review, this study reviews prior domestic and international discussions and maps the entrepreneurial competencies cultivated through entrepreneurship education onto the job competencies demanded in the industrial design labor market, using the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) as the analytical reference. (Results) The review identifies six pathways in three categories: within the job-competency dimension, (1) expanding the range of attainable positions through business literacy and (2) differentiating portfolios grounded in validated real-world experience; within the attitudinal and relational-competency dimension, (3) internalizing entrepreneurial attitudes extending to intrapreneurship and (4) strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration and communication; and within the career and psychological-competency dimension, (5) concretizing career awareness and career self-management and (6) accumulating psychological capital. AI utilization ability was found to be trained together as transversal capability that runs through six paths. (Conclusion) Based on these findings, the study proposes a three-stage curriculum integration model organized by academic year, suggesting that entrepreneurship education should be repositioned not as an “alternative to employment” but as education that cultivates the core of employment competitiveness. The six pathways were further formalized into six testable propositions for future empirical research.