Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Prosocial Tendency in the Relation Between College Students’ Post-traumatic Growth and Entrepreneurial Intention in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Abstract

In this study, we explore the psychological mechanisms underlying the relation between college students’ post-traumatic growth and their entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era. Using the post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, prosocial tendency, and entrepreneurial intention scales, we tested 690 valid samples of Chinese undergraduates (including 445 men and 245 women). The results revealed that post-traumatic growth of college students in the post-COVID-19 era will have a significant and positive effect on their entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the results indicated that students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies play a partial mediation role between post-traumatic growth and entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era and that there is a chain mediating effect between students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies. This study provides valuable insights into the influence of post-traumatic growth on entrepreneurial intentions among college students in the post-COVID-19 era and suggests that colleges and universities can improve students’ entrepreneurial intentions by adopting measures to foster their post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and prosocial tendencies.

Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…The study by Shigemoto et al [ 58 ] also revealed that those who identified as religious tended to experience higher levels of PTG. Wang and Huang’s study [ 60 ] showed that PTG significantly and positively influenced university students’ entrepreneurial intention and that self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies mediated this relationship. In the study by Xie et al [ 63 ], the results showed that COVID-19-related PTG was a positive factor in university students’ life satisfaction and that personal values played a mediating role in this relationship.…”

Entrepreneurial intentions among medical laboratory technology students: effect of education and self-efficacy

“…High self-efficacy gained through EE [32]- [35] means that people are highly motivated to be entrepreneurs [36], [37], and this makes people more likely to become entrepreneurs [38]- [42]. Although previous findings indicate the mediating capability of self-efficacy as a mediator [11], [43]- [46], it is limited to the context of medical laboratory technology students.…”

Sociocultural factors and social entrepreneurial intention during the COVID-19 pandemic: Preliminary evidence from developing countries

“…More recently, related research examining the SE-EI nexus during the COVID-19 pandemic remains inconsistent and contradictory. For instance, Prior research has found that SE increases college students' entrepreneurial intentions as a result of their positive perception of the COVID-19 epidemic (Alshebami, 2022;Uansa-Ard & Wannamakok, 2022;Wang & Huang, 2022). Conversely, other scholars argued that, in disrupted times like the COVID-19 pandemic, risk and uncertainty feelings become the cornerstone of university students' SE, decreasing their entrepreneurial intention.…”