Readiness to Engage in Digital Platform-Based Business Among University Students: An Exploratory Study in Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

This study examines how personal and educational enablement, family and peer support, community and social climate, technological facilitating conditions, perceived policy and legal support, and digital skills are associated with university students’ self-reported readiness to engage in digital platform-based business in Hanoi, Vietnam. The supplied research report describes an exploratory cross-sectional survey of 358 students from 15 higher-education institutions in Hanoi. Measures were assessed using internal-consistency analysis and exploratory component analysis, followed by Pearson correlations and ordinary least-squares regression in SPSS 26. Additionally, a preliminary qualitative component involved interviews with 10 students. The regression model accounted for 60.8% of the variance in readiness (adjusted R² = .601; F(6, 351) = 90.558, p < .001). Personal and educational enablement showed the largest standardized association (β = .339), followed by technological facilitating conditions (β = .188), digital skills (β = .154), perceived policy and legal support (β = .107), family and peer support (β = .104), and community and social climate (β = .084). The study broadens the digital-entrepreneurship literature by examining readiness as a multi-layered, socio-technical phenomenon in an emerging-economy higher-education setting. It also shows why personal agency, institutional learning support, technological access, digital skills, and external support should be considered jointly. The findings remain associational and perception-based and are not interpreted as causal effects or as evidence of actual business participation.