Abstract

Purpose: At the end of the pandemic, many digital startups had negative performances. For that, this study aims to analyze the mediating role of entrepreneurial competence and digital entrepreneur career maturity. Seven hypotheses were proposed, namely the effect of entrepreneurship orientation, digital entrepreneurship experience, and digital entrepreneur career maturity on digital entrepreneurial competence, the effect of digital entrepreneurial experience on digital entrepreneurial career maturity, the influence of entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial competence, and digital entrepreneur career maturity on business performance. Research design, data and methodology: The population is digital entrepreneurs in Central Java, Indonesia with a business duration of more than 4 years. The number of samples as many as 184 people were carried out by questionnaire distribution through face-to-face, email, and Google forms. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the path coefficient statistics. Results: The results showed that all the hypotheses proposed were accepted. Digital entrepreneurial competencies and digital entrepreneurial career maturity are also proven to have a mediating role. Conclusions: The findings of this study can contribute to the development of digital entrepreneurship research. Practically, the government's role is needed to facilitate the three main elements of digital business: e-commerce, payment methods, and distribution channels.