An Empirical Study on the Effectiveness of E-commerce Entrepreneurial Learning: The Mediating Effect of Social Media Flow Experience

Abstract

This study investigated students’ flow states and attitudinal beliefs in a social media-mediated e-commerce entrepreneurship education (EE) context that mediates the entrepreneurial intention-behavior relationship by a structural equation model using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the flow theory. This study collected questionnaire data from students to examine the conceptual model. Such learning environments enhanced students’ perceived behavioral control, increased their flow experience, improved attitudes toward social media-assisted entrepreneurial learning, and facilitated the intentions, which led to learning behavior performance achievement in a digital economy. Notably, the flow and attitudes constructs mediated the linkage between students’ perceived entrepreneurial feasibility and the intention-behavior relationship in the social media-assisting EE context. This study contributed to theory by emphasizing the importance of digital entrepreneurial learning in facilitating prospective entrepreneurs’ TPB cognitions, by identifying the mediation effects of learners’ flow and attitudes on the intention-behavior relationship, and by adding the flow concept into the TPB to understand the mechanism through which EE influences students’ exploratory behavior. The findings highlighted EE practices in computer-mediated environments that facilitate students’ active and meaningful learning for flow experience and attitude enhancement, which likely increases their entrepreneurial intentions and behavior in a digital business environment.