Parents’ effects on Chinese students’ digital entrepreneurship motivation on live streaming platforms: regional perspective using multi-group analysis

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore the effects of parents’ support factors on Chinese university students’ digital entrepreneurship motivation on live streaming platforms. Based on the Social support theory, this study divides influencing factors into emotional, instrumental, informational and appraisal aspects. Meanwhile, considering the impact of China’s regional differences, the paper refers to the Regional difference theory and performs a multi-group analysis to assess the differences based on Chinese university students’ regional backgrounds. Design/methodology/approach By testing 556 samples based on the partial least squares path modelling and variance-based structural equation modelling, all support factors parents provide can stimulate Chinese university students’ digital entrepreneurship motivation. Findings Based on the multi-group comparison, parents’ informational support exerts a more substantial influence on the digital entrepreneurship motivation for university students from central and east regions rather than those from the western region, and parents’ instrumental support exerts a lower influence on digital entrepreneurship motivation for east university students than for west university students. Originality/value This paper applies the Social support theory as a theoretical framework to divide the impact factors, and it uses the Regional difference theory as a guide for the multi-group analysis of correlations, which is significant for online entrepreneurial motivation research and a better understanding of student groups. In addition to testing the hypotheses, the study also measures the importance–performance map analysis to explore additional findings of influencing factors and discuss managerial implications.