Generative AI can enhance venture creation education, yet faculty adoption remains limited. This study explores why through a three-stage mixed-methods approach. Stage 1 reviewed 2020–25 literature to identify 23 barriers across pedagogical, technical, institutional, and ethical domains. Stage 2 involved interviews with experienced entrepreneurship educators, refining and reducing the list to 15 context-specific challenges. Stage 3 used a fuzzy-DEMATEL survey to capture expert causal judgments, while thematic coding of interviews added narrative depth. The resulting influence map highlights a clear hierarchy: lack of staff training, unclear governance, and weak technical support are key upstream barriers, while concerns like plagiarism and over-reliance are downstream effects. Cluster analysis groups drivers into pedagogical, organisational, and infrastructural clusters, suggesting a phased response: begin with training and transparent policy, then invest in tools and assessments.

Generative AI holds promise for venture-creation curricula, yet faculty adoption remains hindered by poorly understood incentives and barriers. This study employs a three-stage mixed-methods design to clarify those drivers. A systematic review identified 28 factors, refined by expert panel to 16 key variables. A fuzzy-DEMATEL survey revealed that faculty training, institutional support, and curricular integration exert the strongest causal influence. Clustering these factors yields three intervention domains—pedagogical, organizational, and technological—suggesting a phased adoption strategy. This framework shifts focus from tool access to educator-led implementation, offering academic leaders an evidence-based roadmap for cost-effective AI integration.