Objective

In recent decades, entrepreneurship education has increasingly been recognized as a tool for empowering the younger generation and preparing them to face complex economic and social challenges. Within this context, the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship—which encompasses not only economic success but also social and environmental dimensions have gained significant importance. However, existing studies reveal that current school curricula often lack the conceptual coherence and targeted structure required to develop the necessary competencies for sustainable entrepreneurship among adolescents. Accordingly, there is a pressing need for a scientifically grounded and evidence-based framework to identify, categorize, and stratify entrepreneurial competencies aligned with sustainability principles. This study aims to address this gap by identifying and analyzing the key dimensions and components of sustainable entrepreneurial competencies for adolescents, thereby contributing to the design of effective entrepreneurship education programs in schools by Interpretive Structural Modeling of Entrepreneurial Competencies for Adolescents in Schools with a Sustainable Development Approach.

Methodology

This applied-descriptive research employs a mixed-methods approach consisting of three sequential stages: document analysis, the Delphi method, and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). In the first stage, a systematic review of existing academic literature was conducted to extract an initial list of relevant competencies. In the second stage, these components were evaluated by fifteen experts in adolescent entrepreneurship education and sustainable development through three rounds of the Delphi process, ensuring content validity and expert consensus. In the final stage, the validated components were used to analyze causal relationships and determine the levels of influence and dependence among the competencies using ISM, thus establishing their relative positioning in the final model.

Findings

The analysis revealed that sustainable entrepreneurial competencies for adolescents can be categorized into three major dimensions: general competencies, managerial competencies, and specific competencies. These dimensions encompass six sub-clusters: personal, sustainability-related, functional, communicative, technological, and business-related competencies. The personal cluster—which includes skills such as creativity, critical thinking, self-awareness, and intrinsic motivation was positioned at the foundational level of the model and identified as a strong and independent driver for the development of other competencies. In contrast, the sustainability cluster comprising attitudes and commitments toward social and environmental responsibility exhibited the highest level of dependence on other components and was recognized as the ultimate outcome of the sustainable entrepreneurship education process.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that strengthening adolescents’ personal competencies during their formative years can serve as a solid foundation for the development of other entrepreneurial dimensions and ultimately foster sustainable entrepreneurial behavior. The proposed framework offers both theoretical and practical value for revising school curricula, designing educational content, training specialized entrepreneurship educators, and informing educational policymaking. Through such initiatives, future generations of entrepreneurs can be cultivated who not only pursue economic success but are also deeply committed to human, social, and environmental values.