Purpose The study clarifies the relationship between students’ perceptions of university support and heterogeneous entrepreneurial intentions in the Chinese context. It proposes a new construct with the classification of growth- and independence-oriented intentions and examines the moderating role of the Chinese sense of face. This study aims to enrich entrepreneurship education research by incorporating cultural factors. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a questionnaire survey to examine the research hypotheses. Further, the authors collected data from 374 students from Mainland China and applied a regression analysis. Findings The study clarifies the positive relationship between perceived university support and growth-oriented/independence-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. Further, it proposes the differences in the moderating role of the Chinese sense of face in the relationships between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and growth- and independence-oriented intentions. Research limitations/implications Because of the chosen method, the study results may lack generalizability. Hence, future studies are encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses. Practical implications The study results have important implications for entrepreneurship education development. Social implications The study is conducted against the background of the “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” policy in China and combines country-specific characteristics to enrich entrepreneurial education and social entrepreneurship. Originality/value This study fulfills the intention to examine the influence of cultural factors on entrepreneurship education and identify the heterogeneous entrepreneurial intentions in a single construct.

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