Student’s Entrepreneurial Intention: Investigating Predictor Latent Variable via Mediating Analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Having the intention of starting one’s own business influences entrepreneurial behavior, particularly among college students who are still figuring out their professional identities . The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial education (EE) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) using both direct and indirect route analysis, with an emphasis on EE as a separate factor. Students in India’s commerce and management programs who have taken management courses were the subjects of an empirical study that tested a proposed model. The presence of a mediation effect, which can be seen as indirect predictors of intentions, was tested using hierarchical regression analysis and the methods developed by academics, including the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and entrepreneurial attitude (EA), which is a mediator between entrepreneurial education and student intention (Anwar et al. 2020). A comprehensive survey was conducted with the help of a Google form. Seven hundred and four students from two states in India, four from each of the country’s federal and state institutions, filled out the form, and the data was gathered using a combination of judgmental, simple random, and convenience sampling methods. The data were examined using CFA and SPSS to ascertain the components’ reliability, validity, and modal test. The three-way hypothesis testing using SPSS and AMOS led to two important findings. When it comes to the EA and EI, EE is the silver bullet. Secondly, the “entrepreneurial attitude – entrepreneurial intention relationship” is positively impacted by EA when it functions as a mediator. Researchers in the future should utilize this study’s framework and substitute a different school of thinking on psychological traits for the variable. These results support the researchers’ calls for a community-university partnership to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among college students.