Edited by: Yenchun Jim Wu, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Reviewed by: Ye Susan Yi, Kunsan National University, South Korea; Sherry Liu, Hansei University, South Korea
This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
To study the improvement of the entrepreneurial performance of start-ups and achieve an organic combination of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance, the entrepreneurial group of college students was taken as the springboard to discuss the entrepreneurial performance of start-ups initiated by college students. First, through questionnaire design and scale selection, the results of the questionnaire survey and the reliability and validity of the scale tool were tested. Second, the variable of college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy based on psychological factor analysis was introduced. The correlations among entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial performance were analyzed. Finally, the intermediary role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy was verified by using the hierarchical linear regression analysis method combined with the BARON three-part verification method. The results show that the response rate of the questionnaire is 92%, and the selection of research samples is scientific. The Cronbach’s α reliability coefficients corresponding to each scale are all above 0.8, and the common factor variances are all above 0.7. Therefore, the reliability and validity of scale tools are good. Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial performance are significantly correlated with each other. The college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a good explanatory ability and plays an intermediary role; in the entrepreneurial innovation learning dimension, its corresponding β = 0.257; in the dimension of school organizational support, the corresponding β = 0.439; in the dimension of social interaction, the corresponding β = 0.238. The results have a reference value for studying entrepreneurship education and the improvement of entrepreneurial performance from a psychological level.
Currently, with the rapid development of information technology, many opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship have emerged, and entrepreneurship education has attracted attention (
Therefore, college entrepreneurs were taken as research samples, who came from different types of colleges and universities in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province. The entrepreneurial self-efficacy of college students was introduced as an intermediary variable based on the analysis of psychological factors. The linear regression analysis method was utilized to analyze the correlations among entrepreneurship education in colleges, entrepreneurial performance, and self-efficacy (
Globally, there have been many studies on entrepreneurship education.
In China, there are a variety of studies on entrepreneurship education.
As shown in the previous researches, there have been many studies on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, few studies were conducted in combination with several aspects, and the researches that consider the psychological factors of individual participants are even more lacking (
Generally, performance is characterized by objective evaluation and consideration of organizational or individual behaviors. The definition of entrepreneurial performance is mainly rendered from three different aspects: result-oriented, behavioral process-oriented, and comprehensive impact (
In the process of entrepreneurship, the reality represented by entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a psychological feeling of entrepreneurs, which can be attributed to the level of psychological elements. Specifically, it is a manifestation of confidence in entrepreneurial results and is a positive component that can promote successful entrepreneurship (
There is a significant difference in the level of individual creativity. As one of the important abilities of individuals, entrepreneurial self-efficacy is an important personality factor in terms of creativity. Previous research results have found that individuals with good entrepreneurial self-efficacy have more positive evaluations for themselves (
Correlations among psychological factors, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial performance.
During the implementation of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, the inspection and summary feedback on the achievements of entrepreneurship education activities were ultimately realized in the form of entrepreneurial performance. At the same time, the establishment of the psychological element of individual entrepreneurial self-efficacy of college entrepreneurs had a huge influence on the effect of entrepreneurship. Therefore, the higher the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of individual entrepreneurs, the faster they can adapt to the competitive market environment. Furthermore, the psychological element of entrepreneurial self-efficacy is not a constant personality trait, which is constantly improved with learning and time. The development of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities helps students promote the implementation of entrepreneurial practice, master the entrepreneurial skills that adapt to society, and embody a sense of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Research has shown that college students who choose entrepreneurship-related courses show a higher level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (
Model construction.
Proposal of research hypotheses.
H1 | Entrepreneurial and innovation learning has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H2 | School organizational support has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H3 | Social interaction has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H4 | The self-efficacy of college students’ entrepreneurship under the analysis of psychological factors has a positive impact on entrepreneurial performance. |
H5 | Entrepreneurial and innovation learning has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H6 | School organizational support has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H7 | Social interaction has a positive impact on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the analysis of psychological factors. |
H8 | The self-efficacy of college students’ entrepreneurship under the analysis of psychological factors plays an intermediary role in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship performance. |
Considering that Xi’an has many colleges and universities and tremendous students, to ensure that the data are uniform, Shaanxi Normal University and Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an were chosen as samples, and student entrepreneurs in these two universities were surveyed. According to differences in sex, educational levels, and other aspects, surveys were performed. For the design of the questionnaire, the suggestions of teachers and students were considered, and its content had been thoroughly considered. For the selection of individual research samples, there were two main focuses. One was the independent operation by student entrepreneurs, and the other was that the start-ups were the first company that students initiated. Considering that the development of entrepreneurship education was mainly carried out in colleges and universities, its main audience was college students; thus, participants of this questionnaire survey were college students. The questionnaire was filled in by a combination of an offline paper questionnaire and an online network questionnaire. The paper copies were distributed to selected universities. The invalid questionnaires, such as questionnaires with many blanks or highly blank options, were eliminated. To ensure the quality of the data collected by the questionnaire survey, before the questionnaire was issued, expert evaluation and internal testing were performed in advance (
In the selection of measurement scales for each component research variable, the entrepreneurship education scale was based on the scale of student participation in innovation and entrepreneurship education, which contained three subscales for a total of 10 questions. For entrepreneurial self-efficacy based on psychological elements, the scale was based on the general self-efficacy scale, including five questions (
Composition of measurement scale for each research variable.
Entrepreneurship Education | Entrepreneurship and innovation learning | 1.1 Spend a lot of time on professional study. |
1.2 Participate in Entrepreneurship and innovation activities. | ||
School organizational support | 2.1 Release of policy information on entrepreneurship and innovation. | |
2.2 Opening of elective courses of entrepreneurship and innovation. | ||
2.3 Provide funds and venues for entrepreneurship and innovation activities. | ||
2.4 Entrepreneurship and innovation skills training. | ||
Social interaction | 3.1 Resource integration and judgment ability can be improved. | |
3.2 Improvement of project performance level. | ||
3.3 Explore entrepreneurial ideas. | ||
3.4 Participation in Entrepreneurship and innovation practice projects. | ||
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy | 4.1 Go all out to deal with the problem. | |
4.2 It is easy in any situation. | ||
4.3 As long as we are diligent and practical, we can solve many problems. | ||
4.4 Believe in my social skills to cope with any situation. | ||
4.5 Be able to consider and solve problems from multiple perspectives. | ||
Entrepreneurial performance | 5.1 There are a few financial difficulties. | |
5.2 The company is doing well. | ||
5.3 The company has existed for a long time. | ||
5.4 The growth rate of return on investment is higher than that of peers. | ||
5.5 The profit is considerable. |
Linear regression analysis belongs to the quantitative analysis methods, which is widely used in the statistical analysis of data. The application of this method can determine the correlation between two or more variables (
Given that entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is a relatively broad concept, it is divided into three dimensions in the subsequent correlation research – —the entrepreneurship innovation learning (A1), the school organizational support (A2), and the social interaction (A3). According to theoretical analysis, it is believed that the personality traits of college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, a psychological element, can be used as an intermediary variable in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance. To test the intermediary effect, the hierarchical linear regression analysis method was combined with the BARON duality innovation intermediary three-part verification method. The specific implementation process of the three-part verification method was to study first the independent variables and dependent variables. Then, it verified the entrepreneurial self-efficacy through the independent variables. Finally, through the hierarchical regression analysis method, these two steps were verified. If the regression coefficients of the corresponding independent variables and intermediary variables are significant, and the reduction of the significant coefficient occurs in the independent variables, the corresponding intermediary variables will have a partial intermediary role in them. Therefore, the third step is verified by using the college entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial self-efficacy to explain entrepreneurial performance at the same time, thereby making judgments based on data changes in control variables.
The demographic characteristics of the selected research samples are shown in
Demographic characteristics of the research samples.
Sex | Male | 57.5% |
Female | 42.5% | |
Age | Over 27 years old | 45% |
21–27 years old | 48% | |
20 and under years old | 7% | |
Educational background | Master | 21.9% |
Undergraduate | 64.1% | |
Junior college | 14% | |
Years of establishment | More than 5 years | 11.9% |
3–5 years | 37.2% | |
1–3 years | 42.8% | |
Within 1 year | 8.1% | |
Industry | Traditional manufacturing | 15% |
Science and technology service industry | 58% | |
Hi-tech industry | 20% | |
General service industry | 7% |
A total of 400 questionnaires were issued, and 380 questionnaires were recovered. After invalid questionnaires were removed, the total number of valid questionnaires was 350. The response rate of this questionnaire survey is 95%. The valid rate is 92%. As shown in the
For the entrepreneurship education scale, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale under the psychological elements, as well as the reliability test results of the entrepreneurial performance scale, are shown in
Results of reliability test.
Entrepreneurship Education | 1.1 | 0.916 |
1.2 | 0.912 | |
2.1 | 0.905 | |
2.2 | 0.907 | |
2.3 | 0.905 | |
2.4 | 0.907 | |
3.1 | 0.905 | |
3.2 | 0.906 | |
3.3 | 0.912 | |
3.4 | 0.911 | |
The total scale | 0.928 | |
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy | 4.1 | 0.899 |
4.2 | 0.894 | |
4.3 | 0.882 | |
4.4 | 0.892 | |
4.5 | 0.896 | |
The total scale | 0.918 | |
Entrepreneurial performance | 5.1 | 0.913 |
5.2 | 0.904 | |
5.3 | 0.893 | |
5.4 | 0.911 | |
5.5 | 0.910 | |
The total scale | 0.925 |
An analysis of the Cronbach’s α coefficient values in the figure shows that at the level of entrepreneurship education, the Cronbach’s α value corresponding to each question in the scale is above 0.9, and the comprehensive measurement value of the scale is 0.928. At the entrepreneurial self-efficacy level of the entrepreneurs’ psychological elements, the Cronbach’s α value corresponding to each question in the scale is above 0.8, and the comprehensive measurement value of the scale is 0.918. At the level of entrepreneurial performance, the Cronbach’s α value corresponding to each question in the scale is above 0.8, and the comprehensive measurement value of the scale is 0.925.
For the entrepreneurship education scale, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale under the psychological factors, the KMO and Bartlett test results of the entrepreneurial performance scale, and the results of common factor variance test for each scale are shown in
KMO and Bartlett test results. In the figure, the abscissa
Results of common factor variance test for each scale. In the figure, 1.1–5.5 correspond to the questions in the scale.
According to
For entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance, the linear regression analysis results of the correlation between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance based on psychological elements are shown in
Results of linear regression analysis.
C | C | C | C | B | B | B | |
A1 | 0.522*** | 0.551** | |||||
A2 | 0.665** | 0.623** | |||||
A3 | 0.577** | 0.665** | |||||
B | 0.676*** |
Results of linear regression analysis. C-H1 in the figure represents the R2 and Adj.R2 values corresponding to entrepreneurial performance under H1; the rest may be deduced by analogy.
The analysis of
In terms of the correlation between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance based on the psychological elements, the corresponding
According to the hierarchical linear regression analysis method, the analysis results of the entrepreneurial self-efficacy under the psychological element analysis of college students in college entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance are shown in
Test for the intermediary role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance.
Entrepreneurship and innovation learning | Entrepreneurial performance | 0.257*** |
School organizational support | 0.439*** | |
Social interaction | 0.238*** | |
Intermediary variable | βIv | |
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy | 0.370*** |
As shown in
In the increasingly competitive network information society, the number of students and entrepreneurial teams developing entrepreneurship as a direction is also increasing (
According to the previous analysis, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of college students is a manifestation of college students’ psychological activities, which is a kind of personality traits and an expression of individual behavioral quality. It is analyzed based on psychological factors. The linear regression analysis results of the correlation between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance of college students indicate that start-ups of college student entrepreneurs can utilize the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of students to improve their comprehensive ability, thereby affecting the entrepreneurship performance (
The linear regression analysis method is an important statistical analysis method. The correlation analysis of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial performance of college students proves this point with quantitative results. For the universality and scientificity of the research samples selected for the questionnaire survey, the reliability test and validity test of the scale tool are very important. Through the analysis of these two indicators, the validity of the scale tools was verified. Entrepreneurship performance is a key indicator to measure entrepreneurial ability and entrepreneurial level. At the same time, entrepreneurial psychology possessed by entrepreneurs has a direct or indirect influence on their entrepreneurial outcomes. Among college students, as a manifestation of their psychological activities, entrepreneurial self-efficacy also has an important impact on college entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurs combined with their personality traits. The research results based on linear regression analysis have also proved this point. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a component of mediating regulation. When analyzing entrepreneurship education based on psychological factors, it is very necessary to consider entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
The concept of entrepreneurial self-efficacy based on the analysis of psychological factors was introduced. The research results of college entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance show significant positive correlations among the three factors. Besides, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy serves as an intermediary role between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance. This fully proves the correlation between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial performance. This has a positive effect on analyzing the entrepreneurial behaviors of college students from a psychological perspective and promoting the improvement of entrepreneurial performance in the context of entrepreneurship education. However, there are still some limitations to the research process. Due to various factors, the research samples selected were merely universities in Xi’an, leading to a limited sample size. Besides, the selection of independent variables is not yet comprehensive and systematic. These aspects need to be strengthened in the future.
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Xi’an Medical University Ethics Committee. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
KM: writing – original draft preparation. QS: resources and data curation. YM: validation and formal analysis. JT: writing – review and editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The third prize of the 2019 Routine Task of Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Sports (2018006).