NAVIGATING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: INSIGHTS INTO SOCIAL NETWORKING AND SELF-EFFICACY DYNAMICS

This study explores the impact of social media use (SMU) on vocational students’ entrepreneurial intention (EI) in China, examining entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) as a mediating factor and gender as a moderating variable. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted using Amos 26 to analyze the hypothesized relationships. The study surveyed a sample of 1,250 vocational students from nine higher education institutions across China. SEM analysis tested the relationships between social media use, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention, while multi-group analysis examined gender differences. The results indicate that (1) both content-based and social-based social media use significantly enhance students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, which positively influences entrepreneurial intention; (2) content-based social media use has a distinct positive impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy; (3) gender moderates the relationship between social media use and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, with the effect being more pronounced among male students; and (4) social media use is a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intention among vocational students. These findings suggest that targeted social media strategies in entrepreneurship education could enhance students’ entrepreneurial potential, with attention to gender-specific approaches.

Objective: This study investigates the influence of digital mindset, technological self-efficacy, and social media usage on entrepreneurial intention among digital business students, with innovation capability as a mediating variable and digital literacy as a moderating variable. It clarifies how digital competences and innovation jointly shape entrepreneurial aspirations in an educational context. Design/Methods/Approach: A quantitative research design was applied with data from 250 undergraduate students in digital business programs across several universities. A stratified proportional random sampling technique ensured campus representation. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS4 through the PLS-SEM approach, including measurement and structural model assessment, mediation moderation analysis, and control variables (gender and campus). Findings: The results reveal that digital mindset, technological self-efficacy, and social media usage significantly influence entrepreneurial intention both directly and indirectly through innovation capability. Innovation capability plays a mediating role, while digital literacy strengthens the relationship between innovation capability and entrepreneurial intention. All proposed hypotheses were supported, indicating the robustness of the model. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on digital entrepreneurship education by integrating digital mindset, self-efficacy, and social media usage into a mediation–moderation framework. It extends the Technology Acceptance Model, the Resource-Based View, and Social Capital Theory by demonstrating how innovation capability and digital literacy shape entrepreneurial intention in the context of students in emerging economies. Practical/Policy implication: The findings suggest that higher education institutions should design curricula that integrate digital competences, experiential learning, and innovation-based projects to foster entrepreneurial aspirations. Educators are advised to leverage social media platforms and digital tools in teaching, while policymakers should create supportive ecosystems that strengthen digital literacy and innovation capability among students to prepare them for entrepreneurial engagement in the digital economy.

This study aims to investigate the effect of entrepreneurship education and social media use on students' entrepreneurial interest using the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Social Media Use Theory approaches. This study used a survey method with a quantitative research approach, involving 139 student respondents from Semarang City, Indonesia, through an online questionnaire. The data analysis techniques used were Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Partial Least Square (PLS). The results of this study indicated a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurship education, social media, and students' entrepreneurial intention. Thus, based on the principles of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Social Media Use Theory, entrepreneurship education provided understanding, skills, and support to consider self-employment as a career. In contrast, social media provides access to information, social interaction, motivation, role model influence, and norms that support entrepreneurship, creating an ecosystem that supports students' entrepreneurial intentions.

Social media is becoming a platform for student entrepreneurship; however, little is known about the influence of social media use on students' entrepreneurial intention. This study investigated social media use as a predictor of students' entrepreneurial intention, with consideration given to the mediating role of self-efficacy. Questionnaires were given to undergraduate students at three Chinese public universities, and 524 effective responses were received. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. The results show that social media use was indirectly related to students' entrepreneurial intention via self-efficacy. Our findings extend the literature on the social media use–entrepreneurial intention link, and highlight the importance of self-efficacy in this link. Thus, educators could endorse social media tools and encourage students to incorporate these into their entrepreneurial activities.

Purpose: Social media use has become pervasive in the lives of students in both academic and nonacademic activities. This study aimed to assess the influence of social media use on the entrepreneurial intention of final-year students of the Higher National Diploma (HND) final year students of Accra Technical University (ATU). Research Methodology: The study used a descriptive research methodology that adopted a quantitative research approach; with a population of HND final-year students, data were gathered from 200 respondents through questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to select participants for the study. The data received from the respondents were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics 24. Results: The results showed that students were very active on social media and found it very useful. Five-year students considered entrepreneurship a career choice after school. The results also indicated that social media use had a significant direct effect on students’ entrepreneurial intention. Limitations: This study focused on social media use as a determinant of entrepreneurial intention, and was limited to final-year HND students. Contribution: Tertiary institutions, as part of entrepreneurship education, should allow students to explore the use of social media to advance the entrepreneurship drive as this increases entrepreneurial intention. Practical Implications: Educators must inculcate the use of social media in practical activities during entrepreneurship education. Future research should examine how specific social media sites contribute to improving entrepreneurial intention among final-year students in tertiary institutions. Novelty: This study examined social media as a factor influencing students’ entrepreneurial intentions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderation effect of self-efficacy and social context on the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation (push and pull) and entrepreneurial intention. The participants were sampled from six physical education (PE) departments in north Taiwan (N = 330). The experimental instrument was comprised of 4 scales concerning entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial intention, self-efficacy, and social context. The questionnaires from participants were collected from September to November, 2014. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results showed that: (1) Entrepreneurial motivation (push, pull) was positively influenced the entrepreneurial intention, and pull motivation was higher than push motivation. (2) Self-efficacy weakened the relationship between entrepreneurial motivation and intention. (3) Social context strengthened the relationship between push motivation and entrepreneurial intention. We concluded that: (1) Entrepreneurial motivation was positively related to the entrepreneurial intention. For PE major' entrepreneurial intention, the influence of intrinsic entrepreneurial motivation was higher than the external entrepreneurial motivation. (2) In higher entrepreneurial motivation of PE major, having higher self-efficacy, having lower entrepreneurial intention than others. (3) For those PE major with higher entrepreneurial motivation, investing more efforts to develop social context, had higher entrepreneurial intention than others. We suggest that: (1) The entrepreneurship concept and materials should be concluded in their teaching curriculum to strengthen PE major' entrepreneurial motivation. (2) For the PE major with higher entrepreneurial motivation but having less self-efficacy, school can hire the teachers having entrepreneurial experiences and construct entrepreneurial support platform to develop and promoter PE major systematically. (3) The PE major with higher entrepreneurial intention should develop official and non-official social context simultaneously to promote higher entrepreneurial intention.

Personality traits and situational characteristics influence the level of entrepreneurial intention in individuals. This study investigated the relationship between the five-factor model of personality, entrepreneurial education, social norm and entrepreneurial intention of final-year business students. Based on the cognitive appraisal theory, the mediating role of entrepreneurial education and social norms was proposed between five personality factors and entrepreneurial intention. A cross-sectional and a quantitative research design was adopted. Data was collected by administrating a survey to final year bachelor of business management students of a public sector university. The data from 200 students was analyzed through partial least square structural equation modelling in SMART PLS 3. The results revealed that openness to experience, neuroticism, entrepreneurial education and social norms were significantly related to entrepreneurial intentions. Openness to experience and conscientiousness was related to entrepreneurial education, while openness to experience, conscientiousness and neuroticism were related to social norms. The mediation analysis revealed that entrepreneurial education and social norms mediate the relationship between openness to experience and conscientiousness with entrepreneurial intentions, while social norms negatively mediate the relationship between neuroticism and entrepreneurial intentions. Interestingly social norms and entrepreneurial education fully mediate the relationship between conscientiousness and entrepreneurial intentions. This study's findings have helped us to understand how social norms and entrepreneurial education shape the way different personality traits influence the entrepreneurial intention of students. Interventions to enhance the quality of entrepreneurial education and social norms supporting entrepreneurship would promote entrepreneurship among individual high in openness to experience and conscientiousness.

How entrepreneurship education affects college students’ entrepreneurial intention: Samples from China

This paper, based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), surveys over 600 undergraduates studying in the Sanya University, the most typical private university in Hainan Province, to figure out main factors influencing entrepreneurial intention of this kind of students studying in private universities in the Province. Entrepreneurship have been considered as key factors for achieving economic development goals by a company, a region, or even a country. Scholars from all over the world studies diversified aspects, including national entrepreneurial environment, the relationship between innovation and socio-economic development and other macro matters, as well as characteristics of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial process, teams, performance and intention and other micro problems, of which all result in fruitful achievements. However, the decision to start a business is the result of several interacting factors. Based on summarizing opinions, this paper focuses on studying the relationship among entrepreneurial education, motivation, support environment and intention of undergraduates in private universities. Results show that entrepreneurial education has a distinctively positive impact on entrepreneurial motivation, which significantly positively influences the entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, entrepreneurial support environment surrounding universities plays a positively mediating role between entrepreneurial motivation and intention. Meanwhile, although entrepreneurial education has no striking effect on entrepreneurial intention, the motivation bridges the two. Therefore, private universities should continue improving entrepreneurial education, reinforcing undergraduates’ entrepreneurial motivation, and collaborating with local government, industries and relevant institutions for sound entrepreneurial support environment, in order to underpin the students’ entrepreneurial intention.

Although entrepreneurial intention has been widely studied using cognitive models, we still lack entrepreneurial vocation and, therefore, lack disruptive innovations. Entrepreneurship scholars have some understanding of the reasons underlying this weakness, although there is much room for improvement in our learning concerning how to promote entrepreneurship among university students, especially in the transformed context of digital technologies. This paper focuses on the early stages of start-up, and in particular seeks to evaluate what role social and psychological factors play in the development of entrepreneurial intentions. Drawing on network theory, we consider the impact of social networks on entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, we analyze the influence of two types of social networks: face-to-face and online social networks, with the latter proving especially important in digital transformations. In addition, based on affective congruency theory, we relate affect with entrepreneurial intention. Particularly, we evaluate the influence of positive and negative dispositional affectivity on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. Finally, since affect and emotions can also be related with social relationships, we analyze whether dispositional affectivities influence entrepreneurial intention through the mediation effect of social networks. Using structural equation modeling, we confirm the impact of both online and face-to-face social networks, as well as positive dispositional affectivity on entrepreneurial intention for 589 higher education students in Spain. However, negative dispositional affectivity is not seen to influence entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, both face-to-face and online social networks are influenced by positive dispositional affectivity. Moreover, these two types of networks can even partially mediate the relationship between positive dispositional affectivity and entrepreneurial intention. Positive dispositional affectivity can thus influence entrepreneurial intention in two different ways: directly and indirectly through both face-to-face and online social networks. This study provides further insights and adds to the literature on affect, social networks, and entrepreneurial intention. From a broader perspective, we also contribute to the literature on disruptive innovations by explaining how the development of entrepreneurial intentions would have positive consequences for university students vis-à-vis achieving these disruptive innovations.

This research examines the influence of opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention, with social norms as a moderating variable. Using multiple regression analysis (MRA), the study investigates the direct impact of both opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention and the moderating role of social norms in these relationships. The results show that both opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship education significantly positively affect entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, the interaction between opportunity recognition and social norms and between entrepreneurship education and social norms are also significant, indicating that social norms strengthen the effects of these two variables on entrepreneurial intention. These findings support the hypothesis that social norms moderate the relationship between opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship education with entrepreneurial intention. This study contributes to the existing literature by reinforcing the importance of external social factors in enhancing entrepreneurial intentions. It underscores the need for institutions and policymakers to focus on fostering entrepreneurship education and recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities while considering the role of social context. The results align with previous studies, confirming the relevance of these factors in shaping entrepreneurial behavior and intention.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, pro-activeness, and risk-taking) on entrepreneurial intention employing the mediating factors of family business involvement, personal views, social norms, and perceived behavioral control. Design/methodology/approach: Primary data were gathered using questionnaires. This study analyzed 445 valid responses from Egyptian enterprises. The hypotheses were tested by conducting correlation and structural equation modeling. Findings: The analysis's findings unequivocally affirm the connections between social norms and entrepreneurial intention, family business engagement and entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurial orientation and personal attitude. The findings also partially corroborate the associations between entrepreneurial orientation and intention, social norms, perceived behavioral control, family business engagement, and entrepreneurial orientation. However, the investigation did not support the association between perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intention were found to be partially mediated by personal attitude, social norms, and family business involvement; the mediating function of perceived behavioral control was not substantiated. Implications: The findings suggest that fostering these traits can significantly boost entrepreneurial intentions. Policymakers and educators should focus on promoting these qualities to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Funding Statement: The Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Alexandria division of the Foundation of Basic Research, provided funding for the study. This research was conducted in Egypt under the auspices of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport's (AASTMT) Graduate School of Business. Ethical Compliance: Every method carried out in this study involving human subjects complied with the national and institutional research committee's ethical standards as well as those of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), its subsequent amendments, or similar ethical standards. Plain Language Summary: This paper used proofreading techniques to ensure clarity of the text, which in turn provided clarity regarding the topic of the paper. Grammarly was also used to refine grammar, spelling, and style, enhancing the overall quality of writing.

Navigating Social Media in #Ophthalmology

This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the impact of personal attitudes towards entrepreneurship, social norms, and perceived behavioral control on students' entrepreneurial intentions. Conducted on a sample of 184 students in Croatia, the research study applies the practical adaptation of the TPB model so as to reflect the realistic context in which students develop their entrepreneurial intentions. The multiple regression analysis conducted in the study reveals that all the components of the theory positively and significantly affect entrepreneurial intentions. The most influential factor is perceived behavioral control, only to be followed by personal attitude and social norms. These findings enhance the understanding of the critical elements shaping students' entrepreneurial aspirations. Additionally, the study offers useful information for higher education institutions, helping them understand students' entrepreneurial behavior and guiding the development of targeted programs and internal policies. Ultimately, this research serves as a valuable resource for a broader academic community to help them design the strategies that promote students' entrepreneurial ambitions.

This study explores female entrepreneurship by examining how parental background influences entrepreneurial Intentions, given entrepreneurship’s growing significance in economic development. Using survey data from 282 female university students, it analyzes connections between parental education, occupations, and daughters’ entrepreneurial aspirations. Contrary to expectations, the findings did not reveal statistically significant links between parents’ education levels or occupational backgrounds and their daughters’ entrepreneurial Intentions. However, Subjective Norms and perceived institutional support from the university and country significantly influenced entrepreneurial Intentions. Conducted in the United Arab Emirates, where entrepreneurship is actively promoted, this research underscores the role of institutional support and societal norms over familial background. Practical implications recommend that educational institutions and policymakers create programmes involving parents to foster supportive home environments. Socially, understanding these familial dynamics can encourage broader empowerment of women as leaders and innovators, thus enhancing economic growth.