The Effect of Social Capital on Social Entrepreneurial Intention among Vietnamese Students

Abstract

This study develops the model to estimate the links between social capital, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived desirability and social entrepreneurial intention. Besides exploring the direct impacts of social capital, social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and perceived desirability on social entrepreneurial intention, this study also focus on discovering the mediating roles of perceived desirability and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy on this relationship. Throughout adopting measures from some previous studies, the authors design the questionnaires and distribute to students in Vietnam. The study presents some demographic information of 289 students, who are studying at university and colleges in Vietnam. Then, the validity and reliability of scales are assessed using the value of Cronbach's alpha, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). In addition, by utilizing the structural modeling structure (SEM), the authors show that social capital plays the important role in shaping social entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived desirability, and social entrepreneurial intention. Interestingly, besides the direct effects on social entrepreneurial intention, perceived desirability and social entrepreneurial self-efficacy also mediate the correlation between social capital and social entrepreneurial intention. Also, with the interesting findings of the study, the authors propose several recommendations for policy-makers, educators and academics to promote the social entrepreneurship and innovation among Vietnamese students.