The impact of university entrepreneurship support on college students' entrepreneurial intention: A cognitive-affective perspective

Abstract

This study constructs a cognitive-affective analysis framework, takes 5468 college graduates in Shaanxi Province, China, as samples, and utilizes two partial least squares structural equation models (PLS-SEM) to systematically examine the impact of university entrepreneurship support (UES) and its sub-dimensions on college students' entrepreneurial intention (EI). The findings show that in the overall PLS-SEM model, UES significantly affects students' EI. Likewise, UES affects the fear of entrepreneurial failure (FEF), entrepreneurial attitude (EA), and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), which in turn determines EI. Meanwhile, the mediating roles of FEF, EA, and ESE in the relationships of UES and EI are validated. Furthermore, Findings point out that in the sub-dimension PLS-SEM model, some dimensions of UES have significant direct effects on FEF, EA, ESE, and EI, while others have no significant influences. More importantly, we reveal that FEF, EA, and ESE do not mediate the relationship between all of UES's dimensions and EI. The results also illustrate that FEF and ESE significantly impact EA. These findings enrich entrepreneurship research and offer practical implications for university administrators to improve UES and EI.