Effect of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy on Entrepreneurial Intention: Career Adaptability as a Mediating Variable

Purpose This study aims to develop a conceptual framework that integrated insights from Shapero and Sokol (1982)’s model of entrepreneurial event, Bandura (1977)’s social learning theory and clinical psychology to empirically test and discover the underlying mechanism of how attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) symptoms can influence student entrepreneurial intention. Design/methodology/approach The study uses structural equation modeling with a sample of 2,218 students from 14 universities in Vietnam. Findings The research reveals that although ADHD symptoms are not found to have the direct role in shaping student perceived feasibility entrepreneurial intention, these psychiatric symptoms have more influences and significances in the growth of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived desirability. Also, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and perceived desirability are found to be full mediators in ADHD symptoms and entrepreneurial intention linkage. Besides, both perceived desirability and perceived feasibility partially mediate the entrepreneurial self-efficacy effect on entrepreneurial intention. Practical implications The findings provide policymakers and universities with important insights into how to nurture intention to become entrepreneurs among college students, especially those individuals. Originality/value The present study offers a new insight about the linkage between ADHD symptoms and entrepreneurial intention. Also, the model of entrepreneurial event and the social learning theory are shown to be unifying theoretical construct of the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and entrepreneurial intention among Vietnamese students.

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Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions of College Students: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and the Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Competition Experience

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.727826 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Lihao Wu ◽

Suo Jiang ◽

Xiaomin Wang ◽

Linwei Yu ◽

Yansu Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Family Background ◽

Entrepreneurship Education ◽

Entrepreneurial Intention ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Self Employment ◽

The Relationship

This study aims to explore effective ways to improve college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intentions through entrepreneurship education. The survey used a random sample of 804 college students in Zhejiang Province, China. The results show that: (1) In terms of the characteristics of entrepreneurial intention, there are significant differences in gender, entrepreneurial experience, entrepreneurial competition experience, and family background of self-employment. (2) There are significant differences in the characteristics of entrepreneurship education in gender, entrepreneurial competition experience, and the family background of self-employment. (3) In the relationship among entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship education is significantly and positively related to entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is significantly and positively associated with entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy plays a complete mediating role between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy also has a suppressing effect on the relationship between the two. (4) Entrepreneurial competition experience moderates the second half of the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Finally, the study offers several proposals for the teaching practice of entrepreneurship education.

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