FROM CLASSROOM TO ENTERPRISE: AI ADOPTION AND DIGITAL EDUCATION
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Abstract
The European Union's 2030 target of 75% enterprise AI adoption faces a structural paradox: adoption rates remain well below the trajectory, yet citizen surveys reveal broad awareness of the need for digital transformation. This paper argues that the adoption gap cannot be adequately explained by firm-level factors alone. Its objective is to determine the extent to which educational pipeline conditions constrain enterprise AI adoption in the EU and to extend the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework accordingly. Drawing on the TOE framework and integrating evidence from DESI 2025, the State of the Digital Decade 2025 report, and Flash Eurobarometer 564 on Future Needs in Digital Education (May 2025), we map a systemic constraint linking the educational pipeline to organizational AI capacity and environmental policy effectiveness. Using Portugal as an illustrative case, the analysis shows that a high degree of citizen-level awareness and institutional willingness to embrace AI in education coexist with material infrastructure deficits, gaps in teacher preparation, and low AI literacy in the adult workforce. These findings enrich the TOE framework by surfacing the educational-pipeline dimension as a structurally prior condition for enterprise AI adoption. Policy implications are drawn for the EU's Digital Decade agenda and for member states seeking to accelerate AI take-up among enterprises and SMEs. The paper contributes to TOE-based AI adoption research by linking organizational readiness to upstream education and skills formation processes.
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Funding data
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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Grant numbers UIDB/00685/2025 -https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00685/2025 -
Secretaria Regional do Mar, Ciência e Tecnologia
Grant numbers CEEAplA | School of Business and Economics of the University of the Azores, from the Regional Directorate for Science, Innovation and Development - Azores Govern-ment through the research grant M1.1. A/FUNC.UI&D/018/2025 (PROSCIENTIA).
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