Investigating Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions among High Vocational College Students: Micro-Level Evidence from Entrepreneurship Education in China

Abstract

In tandem with the transformative trajectory of the Chinese economic landscape, entrepreneurship has emerged as a primary avenue for career development among graduates of higher education. This study adopts the theoretical framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior and employs a questionnaire survey methodology involving 1010 third-year students enrolled in higher vocational programs in Shanghai, China. The research delves into the critical determinants influencing entrepreneurial intentions among higher vocational students, as well as the intricate mechanisms underpinning these determinants. The findings underscore that the incorporation of entrepreneurship education within higher vocational institutions significantly and positively shapes students' proclivity towards entrepreneurial endeavors, fostering a heightened inclination for such activities post-graduation. Notably, entrepreneurial attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and entrepreneurial subjective norms are identified as exerting mediating roles in the intricate pathway through which entrepreneurship education interfaces with entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, discernible gender differentials are observed in the aftermath of the influence of entrepreneurship education. Male higher vocational students exhibit conspicuously elevated path coefficients in relation to their entrepreneurial intentions, eclipsing those of their female counterparts. This discernment accentuates the nuanced nature of the impact of entrepreneurship education, contingent upon gender differentials among students. The outcomes of this study conclusively validate that the integration of entrepreneurship education during the higher vocational stage substantively contributes to a positive modulation of students' entrepreneurial intentions. However, the manifestation of this influence is subject to differentials among students of varying genders and academic majors.