Title: Entrepreneurial Leadership, Access to Capital, Digital Skills, and Employment Growth in Youth-Owned Businesses: A Pathway to Reducing Youth Unemployment in Emerging Economies
Authors: Sunday Paul Etuh, Kehinde Felix Lamidi, Emmanuel Yusuf Attah
Volume: 10
Issue: 5
Pages: 168-177
Publication Date: 2026/05/28
Abstract:
This study examines the effects of entrepreneurial leadership and access to financial capital on employment growth in youth-owned businesses and investigates the moderating role of digital skills in these relationships as a pathway to addressing youth unemployment in emerging economies. Using a longitudinal panel design, the study tracked 250 youth-owned businesses in Nigeria over a 24-month period (2024-2026), generating 1,000 firm-period observations. Entrepreneurial leadership was measured using a validated 12-item scale, access to capital as the log of total start-up and growth funding, and digital skills through a performance-based assessment. Employment growth was captured as the net increase in full-time equivalent employees over six-month intervals. Firm fixed-effects panel regression with clustered standard errors was employed for the analysis. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial leadership has a significant positive effect on employment growth (? = 0.42, p < 0.001), while access to capital also positively influences employment growth (? = 0.35, p < 0.01). Digital skills strengthen both relationships, amplifying the effects of leadership and capital on job creation. Results remain robust across alternative model specifications, instrumental variable estimation, and placebo tests. By integrating entrepreneurial leadership theory with labour economics, this study contributes empirical evidence from Nigeria showing that leadership capability and digital competence enhance the employment-generating potential of youth entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that policy interventions should combine financial support with leadership development and digital skills training to maximise employment outcomes.