Given the growing role of entrepreneurial companies in international markets, recent research endeavors direct their attention towards understanding the role of digital technologies for the internationalization efforts of new ventures. Thereby, existing research is mostly focused on explaining the enabling role of digital technologies as a contextual frame, but widely neglects the role of the individual and his/her capabilities to make use of those technologies. This paper aims at closing the above research gap by focusing on digital capabilities and investigating their effect on the intention to engage in international entrepreneurship. With the help of structural equation modeling, we integrate the concept of digital capabilities into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and empirically analyze the complex relationship between digital capabilities, the three TPB dimensions, and international entrepreneurial intention (IEI). Using a student sample from a major German university (n = 198), we find evidence for the significant role of digital capabilities for IEI through its positive effects on an individual’s attitude towards international entrepreneurship and perceived behavioral control.

Considerations on sustainability have growing attention not only for scholars and businesses, but also for almost everyone. However, accomplishing sustainable progress is complicated and cannot be completely reached by single individuals or organizations. Consequently, entrepreneurs striving for sustainable change might search for collaborations with universities to overcome their resource and technology constraints. A quantitative research method was employed to explore the value of such collaborations. Data were gathered via questionnaires, between February and March 2020, from entrepreneurs/start-ups that are spin-offs of the ten leading higher education institutions in Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany). Correlation and logistic regression disclosed that start-ups with different sustainability goals employed dissimilar formats of collaboration with universities. Ecological-oriented entrepreneurs tend to utilize all three forms of university–start-up collaboration. On the contrary, social-driven start-ups are not likely to adopt any kind of collaboration with universities. While ventures with economical SDGs are prone to employ product and prototype development along with support from professors. The study extends the knowledge about the search for collaborations of start-ups when pursuing different SDGs. In the practical domain, this research can encourage entrepreneurs to cooperate with universities in order to achieve their sustainable goals beyond incubation and acceleration. Additionally, it can also trigger universities to supply resources for supporting start-ups, especially social-driven ventures, to facilitate them to accomplish sustainability as well as to reach the third mission of universities in terms of supporting society.