Fostering global-ready leaders: a mixed-methods study of an AI-Driven Sustainable Entrepreneurship curriculum for the globalized hospitality sector

The global hospitality industry operates at the confluence of powerful globalizing forces, including deep economic integration, rapid digitalization, and intensifying sustainability mandates. These macro-level structural forces have fundamentally reshaped the labor market, creating an urgent demand for a new generation of “glocal” leaders capable of translating transnational standards into local socio-economic realities. However, traditional educational models do not equip them to develop these boundary-spanning, integrative competencies. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a pedagogical innovation, an AI-Driven Sustainable Entrepreneurship (AISE) curriculum specifically designed to cultivate these capabilities through a facilitator-led, experiential learning model. The study employed a longitudinal, explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to evaluate the impact of the curriculum. The initial phase involved a reflexive thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with program participants, which revealed critical themes related to transformative learning, including systems thinking, human-centric technology deployment, and the development of personal agency. The second phase utilized Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on pre- and post-intervention data from 235 students to test a quantitative model of the pedagogical effects. The findings demonstrate a strong association between participation in the AISE curriculum, with its unique emphasis on instructor facilitation and simulated application, and a statistically significant positive increase in students’ Sustainability Mindset, AI Literacy, and, ultimately, their Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy. The results indicate that a sustainability-oriented worldview and a deep understanding of artificial intelligence serve as crucial mediating variables in the development of entrepreneurial confidence. This research offers a robust, empirically validated potential model for higher education, providing an initial blueprint for cultivating leaders who can navigate the “glocal” (global–local) challenges of the contemporary world. It further discusses the critical role of the instructor and the resource implications for scaling such an intensive model, steering the hospitality sector toward a more resilient, responsible, and regenerative future