The Relationship between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions of College Students in China: Focus on Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education (EE) plays a significant role on improving the entrepreneurial intention and willingness of youth and future entrepreneurs. This study aims to identify the effects of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial intention of students in higher education institutions in China. A structural equation is used to analyze data collected from 406 Chinese students from business and management majors across 5 universities. Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and self-efficacy were introduced as the mediating variable in this model. Results showed that 1) EE has a positive effect on the entrepreneurial intentions of the students, 2) partly mediating effects of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and mediating effect of self-efficacy were found between Entrepreneurship education (EE) and entrepreneurial intentions (EI). The findings suggest that educational institutions should place a greater emphasis on entrepreneurship education and the recognition of business opportunities in order to promote entrepreneurial intent among students. Although a longitudinal study may be necessary to understand the long-term effect of entrepreneurship education, through empirical evidence this study demonstrates that the perception of entrepreneurship education among Chinese college students significantly influences entrepreneurial self-efficacy and indirectly influences entrepreneurial intention.

Research on the Management of Student Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education

“…The study suggests that EA partially mediates the relationship between EL and EOI. In line with scholars Wang and Sun (2012), and Wang and Tang (2020). Through EL, entrepreneurs constantly pay attention to market dynamics and benchmark companies in their industry, and the entrepreneurial knowledge accumulated during learning also contributes to the improvement of entrepreneurs' cognitive abilities, which in turn promotes EA (Zhang & Xu, 2017).…”

“…In line with scholars Wang and Sun (2012), and Wang and Tang (2020). Through EL, entrepreneurs constantly pay attention to market dynamics and benchmark companies in their industry, and the entrepreneurial knowledge accumulated during learning also contributes to the improvement of entrepreneurs' cognitive abilities, which in turn promotes EA (Zhang & Xu, 2017). EA enables people to organize and interpret information from various knowledge domains relevant to the identification of new opportunities, and entrepreneurs with high levels of alertness show sharper market insight than others, always paying attention to and searching for market imbalances (Gaglio & Katz, 2001), where there are a large number of undiscovered opportunities and only entrepreneurs with high levels of EA are able to identify these profit opportunities (Kirzner , 1973).…”

“…Persistent entrepreneurial knowledge accumulation and learning in the entrepreneurial process helps to improve the probability of EOI (Bhave, 1994). Continuous learning is an important way for entrepreneurs to improve their capabilities, which include the ability to identify opportunities (Zhang & Xu, 2017). Entrepreneurs' own experiences (successes or failures) cannot be directly translated into entrepreneurial knowledge; to successfully access the resources and information needed, they must go through an EL process, and the information and knowledge gained through learning plays an important role in their opportunity identification (Minniti & Bygrave, 2001).…”

“…For most entrepreneurs, EA is one of the very important entrepreneurial competencies in the process of starting a business, but this sensitivity to opportunities is not something that a particular entrepreneur brings with him or her innately, but is acquired through continuous learning (Rasmussen et al, 2011). Thus, in a constantly changing environment, entrepreneurs need to continuously learn in order to improve their alertness to market changes (Zhang & Xu, 2017). The essence of entrepreneurship is the process of finding and exploiting business opportunities, in which individuals with higher EA tend to be more likely to explore business opportunities with value potential (Kirzner, 1973).…”

“…EOI can be achieved through the pathway of "EL to EA to EOI," with EA playing a partially mediating role between EL and EOI (Zhang & Xu, 2017). EA plays a mediating role between EL and EOI (Wang & Sun, 2012). EA has a partially mediating role between EL and EOI among university students (Wang & Tang, 2020).…”