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Specific Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention Among Newly Returned Chinese International Students

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A growing group of Chinese students is returning to China following graduation, especially young returnees. This group is seen as one of the most innovative sectors of Chinese society. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and three kinds of capital theories, this study explores entrepreneurial intention (EI) and its influencing factors among Newly Returned Chinese International Students (NRCIS). A survey of 211 NRCIS showed a low level of EI and little knowledge of supporting policies about entrepreneurship. Influencing factors included culture harmony as culture capital, overseas social networks as social capital, and foreign entrepreneurship education and foreign language proficiency as human capital. Attitude mediated the effects of foreign language proficiency, culture harmony, and foreign entrepreneurship education on EI. Perceived behavior control mediated the effect of foreign language proficiency, Chinese language proficiency, culture harmony, foreign entrepreneurship education, domestic entrepreneurship education, and overseas social networks on EI, and subjective norms have no significant mediating effect in any mediation path. Based on these findings, policymakers could pay attention to examining whether the current policies are working and accessible for NRCIS, and domestic entrepreneurship education could keep cultivating students' cross-cultural communication and understanding abilities, and society and education sectors could encourage positive cognition of entrepreneurship and guide students to form a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship and enhance their confidence.
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 22 April 2021
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622276
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 622276
Edited by:
Sukanlaya Sawang,
Coventry University, United Kingdom
Reviewed by:
Haibin Liu,
Northeast Normal University, China
Yongchuan Shi,
Wenzhou University, China
Francesco Scafarto,
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
Zeinab Zaremohzzabieh,
Putra Malaysia University, Malaysia
*Correspondence:
Yinghua Ye
yeyinghua79@126.com
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Educational Psychology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 28 October 2020
Accepted: 23 March 2021
Published: 22 April 2021
Citation:
Mao Y and Ye Y (2021) Specific
Antecedents of Entrepreneurial
Intention Among Newly Returned
Chinese International Students.
Front. Psychol. 12:622276.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622276
Specific Antecedents of
Entrepreneurial Intention Among
Newly Returned Chinese
International Students
Yue Mao 1and Yinghua Ye 2
*
1Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, Faculty of Education, The University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
A growing group of Chinese students is returning to China following graduation, especially
young returnees. This group is seen as one of the most innovative sectors of Chinese
society. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and three kinds of capital theories,
this study explores entrepreneurial intention (EI) and its influencing factors among Newly
Returned Chinese International Students (NRCIS). A survey of 211 NRCIS showed a low
level of EI and little knowledge of supporting policies about entrepreneurship. Influencing
factors included culture harmony as culture capital, overseas social networks as social
capital, and foreign entrepreneurship education and foreign language proficiency as
human capital. Attitude mediated the effects of foreign language proficiency, culture
harmony, and foreign entrepreneurship education on EI. Perceived behavior control
mediated the effect of foreign language proficiency, Chinese language proficiency, culture
harmony, foreign entrepreneurship education, domestic entrepreneurship education, and
overseas social networks on EI, and subjective norms have no significant mediating
effect in any mediation path. Based on these findings, policymakers could pay attention
to examining whether the current policies are working and accessible for NRCIS, and
domestic entrepreneurship education could keep cultivating students’ cross-cultural
communication and understanding abilities, and society and education sectors could
encourage positive cognition of entrepreneurship and guide students to form a positive
attitude toward entrepreneurship and enhance their confidence.
Keywords: entrepreneurial intention, newly returned Chinese international students, bicultural identity integration,
ambidextrous social network, bilingual proficiency, entrepreneurship education
INTRODUCTION
For decades, Chinese students have been going abroad for their education, and many of them
choose to stay and pursue careers overseas. However, with the rapid development of China’s social
economy, a growing number of returnees has been a decade-long trend. According to the National
Bureau of Statistics of China, the ratio of the number of students returned back over that of who
went abroad in the corresponding year has increased, from 47.34% in 2010 to 82.49% in 2019.
Figure 1 shows this increasing trend in the last 10 years. Moreover, it is noteworthy that
the number of young returnees accounts for a significant proportion of returnees’ total number.
According to the Report on Employment and Entrepreneurship of Chinese Returnees (the Center for
China and Globalization, 2018), more than 80% of the returnees were born between 1985 and 1995.
Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
A series of published works discussed the trend in the context
of brain gain, brain exchange, and brain circulation, as opposed
to brain drain (Saxenian, 2005; Docquier and Rapoport, 2012;
Giannetti et al., 2015). The Chinese government initiated support
policies to encourage venture creation to unleash returnees’
potential (Wang and Liu, 2016; Xia et al., 2020). However,
despite the favorable policy toward returnee entrepreneurs, a
survey showed that 95.2% of the young returnees in Hunan
province did not enjoy any support policies for their employment
and entrepreneurship, and 80.9% of the young returnees with
entrepreneurial experience are funded by relatives and friends
(Zhong, 2016).
Therefore, the target population of the present study is the
NRCIS, specifically those who were born after 1980, underwent
public or self-funded study at a formal overseas university or
academic institution and successfully graduated with a bachelor’s
or higher degree, and have received degree certification from the
Overseas Education Service Center of the Ministry of Education.
They usually return to China within 3 years after graduation. It
is reasonable to look at the EI and the potential predictors of this
young, vital, and yet neglected group. The research questions are
as follows:
1. What is their level of EI?
2. What factors affect their EI, especially factors that may be
specific to them? For example, does the entrepreneurship
education they received at home and abroad influence their
EI in the same way?
This study contributes to the EI literature by investigating the
EI of an interesting and enlarging yet uninvestigated group
of people. Moreover, it can be used to improve practices in
policymaking and entrepreneurship education.
FIGURE 1 | Number of Chinese students studying abroad and returned. Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
The following section introduces the theory of planned
behavior (TPB), a frequently used model to research EI, and
three kinds of capital theories, the framework we use to analyze
the characteristics of the NRCIS and find potential predictors
of their EI. Next, the paper presents the study’s theoretical
framework and hypotheses, followed by the materials and
methods used to measure the variables and collected data. In the
data analysis process, we used structural equation modeling to
test the hypotheses. Finally, we discuss the results and propose
some implications.
Entrepreneurial Intention and the TPB
Entrepreneurial Intention (EI)
EI is the belief in planning entrepreneurial action in the future
(Tsai et al., 2016). It provides a way to explain and predict
entrepreneurship and has been attracting researchers’ attention
for decades (Krueger et al., 2000). There are numerous studies
on EI that explore its predictors, which can be divided into
individual internal factors such as personality (Brandstätter,
2011; Mathieu and St-Jean, 2013), and external environmental
factors such as social environment (Santos et al., 2016), and
some demographic factors (Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno,
2010). Studies also analyzed the EI of certain groups, such as
university students, middle school students, farmers, and migrant
workers. Predictors of EI are different across these groups; for
example, entrepreneurship education is an essential predictor
for students (Zhang et al., 2014) but probably not of the same
significance for farmers (Khoshmaram et al., 2020) and migrant
workers (Duan et al., 2020). There are few studies on EI and the
predictors of NRCIS. A survey-based on 288 returnees showed
that the education degree earned overseas, the business model
brought from overseas, and whether the business was in the
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
secondary industry had a significant and positive relationship
with returnees EI (Miao et al., 2015). Fu and Si (2018) studied the
effect of second-generation returnees on family firm corporate
entrepreneurship in China and found a positive relationship. The
longer they stay overseas, the more likely they are to promote
corporate entrepreneurship. Our study attempted to enrich the
literature of NRCIS’ EI and evaluate what factors contribute to
their EI, including factors commonly shared by other groups and
those specific for young international graduates. We first focused
on the framework of TPB.
TPB
Among studies on EI, the TPB has been widely practiced (Gird
and Bagraim, 2008; Maresch et al., 2016; Miranda et al., 2017).
Developed from the theory of rational action, TPB holds that
human behavior is the result of planning. The intention is the
predictive variable of behavior, and attitude (A, refers to one’s
own positive or negative feelings about an act/ entrepreneurship),
subjective norms (SN, refers to one’s perception of others’ social
pressure for or against an act/entrepreneurial behaviors), and
perceived behavior control (PBC, refers to individuals’ cognition
of the available resources and foreseeable obstacles for an
act/ a start-up business) are three antecedents of intention,
with other individual and environmental factors working by
influencing these three factors (Ajzen, 1991, 2011). Given the
pervasive application of TPB in EI research (Souitaris et al.,
2007; Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno, 2010; Liñán et al.,
2011), an empirical study used longitudinal data to investigate
the effectiveness of TPB in predicting EI and subsequent
entrepreneurial behavior, and the results support a model
showing that A, SN, and PBC are significant predictors for EI.
Subsequently, EI and PBC significantly predict entrepreneurial
behavior (Kautonen et al., 2013).
Some previous studies assume that A, SN, and PBC mediate
other predictors’ effects on EI. Peng et al. (2012) have explored
the mediating effect of entrepreneurial attitudes, subjective norm,
and entrepreneurial self-efficacy between the relationship of
gender, prior entrepreneurial experience, personality traits, and
others, and EI of university students. Moreover, researchers have
tested the mediating effect of personal attitude, perceived social
norms, and perceived feasibility between the relationship of
entrepreneurial knowledge and EI (Liñán et al., 2011).
Based on the literature mentioned above, the current study
explores A, SN, and PBC’s mediating role between the different
kinds of capital and EI of NRCIS. The next section provides
a brief overview of three different kinds of capital and
those predictors.
Capital Theories and Characteristics of
Returned International Students
Three kinds of capital theories analyze capital at the individual
level, including the cultural, social, and human capital theories
of representative scholars such as Coleman, Bourdieu, and
Becker. Social capital, acquisition, and the utilization of social
network resources emphasize the “mutual recognition and
acknowledgment” of individuals through “investment in social
networks”; cultural capital is the “reproduction of dominant
values” which focuses on the “internalization or misrecognition
of dominant values”; human capital is the “accumulation of
surplus value through investment in skills and knowledge” (Lin,
1999).
Three kinds of capital theories provide perspectives to depict
the characteristics of returned international students. Given
that these returnees have studied in foreign countries for a
considerable time, they are likely to be influenced by both the
mainstream culture of their country of origin and host countries
(Chen et al., 2008), which can be seen as the cultural capital. They
also develop a social network in the two countries, which can be
seen as social capital (Wahba and Zenou, 2012). These students
primarily gain knowledge and skills through overseas education,
which can be seen as human capital (Liu et al., 2010). Such capital
can be useful for venture creation and potentially influence young
returnees’ EI.
Bicultural Identity Integration (BII)
Some refer to what we term the cultural capital of international
students as biculturalism possessed by people who have been
exposed to a second culture for a long time. To quantify
the returned international students’ attributes, we chose the
variable BII, which captures the degree to which people view
their dual cultural identities as compatible. High BII individuals
can shift appropriately between cultures and respond in a
culturally congruent way (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002). No
study has explored the direct relationship between BII and EI.
This study considers the merit gained from staying overseas
as being that it improves the usage of cultural knowledge,
psychological adjustment, sociocognitive skills, and creativity
(Tadmor et al., 2009; Mok and Morris, 2010; Chen et al., 2013).
These subsequently affect the returned international students’ EI.
Ambidextrous Social Network (ASN)
The current study considers returnees’ social capital mainly as
social network resources both locally and overseas. According to
Pruthi (2014), local ties and local networking are indispensable
for returnee entrepreneurs to start a venture. Furthermore,
overseas networks are seen as a unique advantage for returnee
entrepreneurs (Qin and Estrin, 2015). ASN is a network that
has both close local connections and international connections.
Returnees are relatively likely to have family members, friends,
classmates, tutors, and colleagues, both in their country of birth
and abroad, compared with other groups. It can be a unique
strength when engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Therefore,
the present study includes ASN, which consists of local social
networks (LSN) and overseas social networks (OSN), as a
potential predictor of EI among NRCIS.
Bilingual Proficiency (BP) and Entrepreneurship
Education (EE)
As for human capital, it is an increment of knowledge and skill.
The overseas education experience can lead to an increase in
knowledge and skills in many aspects. Considering the impact on
EI, we chose BP and EE as potential predictors.
BP is proficiency in two languages: the ability and skill to use
them competently. In the current research context, one of the
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
languages is Chinese, and the other language can be any language
used abroad. It is a common belief that exposure to a second
language is of great use in picking up a second language. Young
returnees have experienced living in environments where they
use one or both languages daily. They may have better language
abilities. As a cross-cultural communication tool, language ability
is considered necessary for start-ups (Johnstone et al., 2018). It is
reasonable that BP may increase young returnees’ confidence in
entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, this study examines the effect
of BP on EI.
EE consists of programs, courses, workshops, contests, and
other content organized by universities to help students build
the skills to identify opportunities and encourage entrepreneurial
activity, such as creating a new product or service, opening
a company, or helping charitable organizations. Numerous
universities across nations provide EE (Robinson and Haynes,
1991; Iacobucci and Micozzi, 2012; Semenov and Eremeeva,
2016), and reports often show how successful EE is in creating
entrepreneurial climates, increasing entrepreneurial intentions,
and building student entrepreneurs (Raposo and do Paço, 2011;
Zhang et al., 2014; Maresch et al., 2016; Bergmann et al., 2018;
Ni and Ye, 2018). Therefore, we examined the effect of EE on the
EI of returnees. Because EE has been a global trend for decades
(Kuratko, 2005), both EE received in the home country and
abroad are considered.
In summary, overseas study backgrounds bring NRCIS unique
cultural, social, and human capital. These capitals may have an
impact on their EI. Specifically, in this study, BII represents
cultural capital, ASN represents social capital, BP and EE
represent students’ human capital.
Theoretical Model and Hypotheses
The following theoretical framework (Figure 2) summarizes the
research design; the study focuses on the following issues:
(a) What is the level of EI of NRCIS, and are there
demographic differences?
(b) Do BII, ASN, BP, and EE influence their EI?
(c) Are A, SN, and PBC mediators of the relationship between
predictors and EI in (b)?
The main hypotheses are (1) all the potential predictors listed
here have a significant effect on EI, and (2) these predictors affect
EI through A, SN, and PBC.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sample and Procedure
This study employed an online questionnaire. Because of the
difficulty in recruiting large-scale participants of the target
population, we adopted snowball sampling. Samples were taken
by recommendation and re-recommendation, which is possible
when samples are difficult to obtain (Goodman, 1961). The initial
samples include friends of the researchers’ acquaintances, and the
following samples include friends of the initial samples.
From December 2018 to March 2019, the researchers collected
255 questionnaires. Among them, 211 were valid, making for
an effective rate of 82.75%. The sample size of 211 is acceptable
for the current study as it is more than the minimum sample
size suggested by the rule of thumb, that is, at least 100 samples
(Boomsma, 1985) and 10 cases per variable (Nunnally, 1967).
Table 1 describes the characteristics of the sample. One hundred
sixty-nine participants were born in the 1990’s, with the rest
being born in the 1980’s. The number of females (114) is
slightly greater than that of males (97). Fourteen participants
had entrepreneurial experience, 95 thought of it, and 102 had
never considered entrepreneurial behavior. A large percentage
of the participants (137) had little knowledge of the supporting
policies of returnee entrepreneurship, and only 14 reported an
awareness of the relevant policies. According to their knowledge
FIGURE 2 | Theoretical framework.
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
TABLE 1 | Descriptive statistics of the sample.
Demographic
variables
Level Frequency Percentage
Year of birth 1980–1989 42 19.91
1990–1999 169 80.09
Gender Male 97 45.97
Female 114 54.03
Family residence City 144 68.25
Town 43 20.38
Countryside 24 11.37
Siblings Zero 148 70.14
At least one 63 29.86
Degree BA 45 21.33
MA 132 62.56
PhD 34 16.11
Starting of oversea High school 12 5.69
education Undergraduate 65 30.81
Master 116 54.98
Doctor 18 8.53
Destination of oversea Asia 30 14.22
study Europe 91 43.13
North America 73 34.60
Australia 17 8.06
Major Natural science 25 11.85
Medical and pharmaceutical
science
4 1.90
Engineering and technology 62 29.38
Humanities and social
sciences
119 56.40
Missing 1 0.47
Oversea intern Yes 74 35.07
experience No 137 64.93
Oversea work Yes 26 12.32
experience No 185 87.68
Entrepreneurial Yes 78 36.97
experience of Close
family members (CFM)
No 133 63.03
Entrepreneurial Have never thought of 102 48.34
experience of the
participant
Have thought of but have
not taken action
84 39.81
Have not taken action but
with plan
11 5.21
Currently in practice 8 3.79
Used to but not currently in
practice
6 2.84
Knowledge of the Quite lack of 77 36.49
supporting policies (SP) Somewhat lack of 60 28.44
Average 60 28.44
Somewhat know 12 5.69
Quite know 2 0.95
Perceived reasonability Quite unreasonable 2 0.95
of the supporting
policies
Somewhat unreasonable 5 2.37
Average 118 55.92
(Continued)
TABLE 1 | Continued
Demographic
variables
Level Frequency Percentage
Somewhat reasonable 42 19.91
Quite reasonable 1 0.47
Missing 43 20.38
Perceived accessibility Quite inaccessible 9 4.27
of the supporting Somewhat inaccessible 44 20.85
policies Average 81 38.39
Somewhat accessible 29 13.74
Quite accessible 1 0.47
Missing 47 22.27
Total 211 100
of the policies, several participants chose not to respond to the
reasonability (43) and accessibility (47) of these policies. Those
who responded generally tended to think that policy reasonability
was average or above but that policy accessibility was average
or below.
Measures
Outcome Variable
EI
The six-item EI scale developed by Liñán and Chen (2009)
was translated into Chinese and cut to four items for brevity.
The remaining items, such as “I have very seriously thought
about starting a firm someday.” “The scale was given in
seven points, with “1” representing “totally disagree” and “7”
representing “totally agree.” Confirmatory factor analysis showed
good structural validity. The fit indices of the unidimensional
structure were χ2/df =1.983, GFI =0.991, AGFI =0.954, NFI
=0.994, IFI =0.997, and RMSEA =0.068.
Predictors
BII
This study used BIIS-2 (Huynh, 2009) to measure BII. For
questionnaire brevity, only six items (cultural harmony and
cultural distance dimension, CH & CD) were adapted and
retained, such as “I find it easy to balance both Chinese
culture and the culture of the other country (cultural harmony
dimension” and “I know the differences between the two cultures
clearly (cultural distance dimension). “The answers were on
a 5-point rating scale ranging from” “1” (“totally disagree”)
to “5” (“totally agree”). Confirmatory factor analysis showed
good structural validity. The fit indices of the two-dimensional
structure were χ2/df =1.773, GFI =0.980, AGFI =0.946, NFI
=0.969, IFI =0.986, and RMSEA =0.061.
ASN
This study adapted the ASN scale from Yuan and Xiao
(2013), which contained 12 items for local and overseas social
networks; the local network includes the local business network
(LBN), which includes connection with local industry alliances,
sellers and other companies, and the local institutional network
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
(LIN), includes connections with local government, venture
capital companies, and financial institutions. The overseas
network includes the overseas market network (OMN), which
includes connections with overseas business partners, suppliers,
and customers, and the overseas technique network (OTN),
which includes connections with overseas research institutes,
universities, and academic staff. The answers were on a 5-point
rating scale, with “1” representing that the respondent has no
such connection, and “5, indicating that the respondent has
many such connections. Confirmatory factor analysis showed
good structural validity. The fit indices of the four-dimensional
structure were χ2/df =2.568, GFI =0.909, AGFI =0.851, NFI
=0.946, IFI =0.966, and RMSEA =0.086.
BP
We measured BP using an adapted version of the Foreign and
Chinese language proficiency and usage scale (FLP & CLP)
developed by Benet-Martínez and Haritatos (2005). The adapted
scale had eight items measuring the use-frequency of the foreign
language used in the other country and Chinese in childhood
and adulthood as well as when communicating with friends and
reading newspapers and magazines. The answers were on a 6-
point rating scale with “1” representing “almost never” and “6”
representing “very often.” Confirmatory factor analysis showed
good structural validity. The fit indices of the two-dimensional
structure were χ2/df =1.289, GFI =0.973, AGFI =0.948, NFI
=0.957, IFI =0.990, and RMSEA =0.037.
EE
We measured EE using the scale used by Xu et al. (2016).
It contains eight items asking respondents whether they
attended any course on economics, entrepreneurial theory,
entrepreneurial awareness, or entrepreneurial practice in China
or other countries (domestic and foreign EE, DEE & FEE).
The items were answered on a 3-point rating scale where “1”
represents “no, “2” represents “unclear, and “3” represents “yes.”
Confirmatory factor analysis showed good structural validity.
The fit indices of the two-dimensional structure were χ2/df =
2.539, GFI =0.948, AGFI =0.901, NFI =0.945, IFI =0.966, and
RMSEA =0.086.
Mediators
A, SN, and PBC
The scale developed by Liñán and Chen (2009), with 14 items
measuring potential mediators, was taken from TPB. A includes
five items (e.g., “Being an entrepreneur would entail great
satisfaction for me”), SN includes three (e.g., “If you decided to
create a firm, would your close family approve of that decision?”).
Furthermore, PBC includes six (e.g., “I can control the creation
process of a new firm”). The answers were given on a 7-point
rating scale ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree).
Confirmatory factor analysis showed good structural validity.
The fit indices were χ2/df =3.073, GFI =0.855, AGFI =0.794,
NFI =0.910, IFI =0.938, and RMSEA =0.099.
Cronbach’s Alpha, Composite Reliability (CR) and
Average Variance Extracted (AVE) of Each Research
Variables
According to Nunnally (1967) and Fornell and Larcker (1981),
when the Cronbach’s Alpha>0.7, CR >0.7, AVE >0.5, it
indicates that the consistency between the items is acceptable
(Yang, 2016). When the CR >0.7 and AVE >0.5, the
convergence validity of the variable is high (Yang, 2016). As
shown in Table 2, the variables in the present study have good
reliability and convergence validity.
Testing of Common Method Biases
This study mainly uses the self-report scale to collect data, and
the same data collection methods may produce common method
biases (Tang and Wen, 2020). Therefore, Harman’s single-factor
test was used to test the common method bias. Results of
exploratory factor analysis showed that a total of 12 factors were
exacted with eigenvalues >1 when unrotated, and the amount of
variance explained by the first common factor was 25.79%, which
was less than the critical value of 40%. Therefore, the current
study reported no serious standard method bias.
Data Analysis
This study used SPSS20.0 and AMOS21.0 for data processing.
First, we used SPSS to run the descriptive statistical analysis and
test the significance of each variable’s demographic differences.
Second, we checked the correlation between these variables.
Finally, we used AMOS and Bootstrap methods to conduct
structural equation modeling (SEM) to further explore the
mediating effect.
RESULTS
Descriptive and Correlational Results
Table 3 shows the descriptive and correlational results. As
Table 3 shows, NRCIS reported low scores of EI (mean =3.70,
7-point) and PBC (mean =3.12, 7-point), although they held a
positive A (mean =4.60, 7-point) and SN (mean =4.97, 7-point)
toward entrepreneurship. The correlational results show that EI
had significant positive correlations with almost all the variables.
Demographic Differences in Each Variable
Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were employed
to find differences in the main variables at different
levels of the demographic variables, such as gender and
education (Table 4).
NRCIS with more entrepreneurial experiences, more
knowledge of related supporting policies, and close family
members with entrepreneurial experiences scored higher
on EI as well as in A, SN, and PBC. Male participants
scored higher in BII, EI, A, SN, and PBC. Participants with
a bachelor’s degree had more EE and PBC and higher EI
than those with a master’s or doctoral degree. Participants
born in the 1990’s reported more entrepreneurship education
than those born in the 1980’s. Participants who started
overseas education as undergraduates also reported more
entrepreneurship education than those who started high
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
TABLE 2 | Cronbach’s alpha, CR, and AVE of each research variables (N=211).
EI BII ASN BP EE TPB
CH CD LBN LIN OMN OTN FLP CLP DEE FEE A SN PBC
Alpha 0.93 0.82 0.79 0.88 0.88 0.90 0.91 0.81 0.79 0.81 0.84 0.93 0.83 0.94
CR 0.93 0.82 0.79 0.88 0.89 0.91 0.92 0.81 0.81 0.84 0.85 0.93 0.85 0.94
AVE 078 0.61 0.57 0.71 0.72 0.76 0.78 0.52 0.52 0.58 0.61 0.72 0.66 0.72
TABLE 3 | Mean, SD and correlations (N=211).
M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. BII 3.64 0.65 1
2. ASN 3.58 0.84 0.33** 1
3. BP 4.44 0.72 0.38** 0.28** 1
4. EE 1.88 0.60 0.16* 0.09 0.10 1
5. A 4.60 1.40 0.20** 0.28** 0.14* 0.28** 1
6. SN 4.97 1.25 0.32** 0.32** 0.30** 0.16* 0.56** 1
7. PBC 3.12 1.43 0.27** 0.21** 0.13 0.46** 0.58** 0.45** 1
8. EI 3.70 1.67 0.27** 0.27** 0.19** 0.38** 0.74** 0.51** 0.75** 1
*p<0.05. **p<0.01.
TABLE 4 | Demographic differences in the scores for main variables.
Gender Degree Major E-experience of
CFM
E-experience of
the participant
Knowledge of the
SP
BII Male >female* No difference No difference Y >N* No difference No difference
ASN No difference No difference No difference No difference No difference No difference
BP No difference No difference Humanities and
social >medical and
pharmaceutical
science*
Y>N* No difference No difference
EE No difference BA >Ph.D.* Other >medicaland
pharmaceutical
science*
No difference No difference Quite lack of <
average***
A Male >female* No difference No difference Y >N* “Have never thought
of” had the lowest
scores
“Quite lack of” had
the lowest scores
SN Male >female* No difference No difference Y >N** “Have never thought
of” had the lowest
scores
“Quite lack of” had
the lowest scores
PBC Male >female** BA >MA**, Ph.D.** No difference Y >N** “Have never thought
of” had the lowest
scores
“Quite lack of” had
the lowest scores
EI Male >female* BA >Ph.D.* No difference Y >N*** “Have never thought
of” had the lowest
scores
“Quite lack of” had
the lowest scores
*p<0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.
school. Participants with internship experience had a more
pronounced bilingual proficiency. The year of birth, the year
starting overseas education, and overseas internship experience
are not shown in Table 4 because they only show differences
in one variable, which is not very important. Furthermore,
four demographic variables, family residence, siblings, overseas
study destination, and work experience are not shown in the
table because they did not contribute to any differences in the
key variables.
Mediating Analysis
Casual Steps Approach and Products of Coefficients are
commonly used methods in mediating analysis. The coefficient
product method directly tests the significance of the product of
ab, so the Non-parametric Bootstrap Method (Bias-corrected),
which is a method of Product of Coefficients, was used in
the current study. The mediating effect of A, SN, and PBC
was tested by the structural equation model. The sample
number of Bootstrap was set as 5,000, and the confidence
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 7April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 622276
Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
FIGURE 3 | Impact of EE, BP, BII, and ASN on EI—mediated by A, SN, and PBC. *p<0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.
TABLE 5 | Total, direct and indirect effect of four independent variables on EI.
Effects EE BP BII ASN
DEE FEE CLP FLP CH CD LSN OSN
Total effect 0.20 0.40*** 0.14 0.44** 0.38** 0.07 0.06 0.29**
Direct effect 0.01 0.03 0.08 0.03 0.12 0.15 0.02 0.01
Indirect effect 0.20* 0.37*** 0.21* 0.41** 0.49** 0.08 0.05 0.28*
*p<0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.
interval (CI) was set as 95%. If 0 is excluded from the
upper and lower limits of the 95% CI, the mediating
effect is significant; if 0 is included, the mediating effect is
not significant.
Four mediating models were constructed to test the mediating
effect of A, SN, and PBC in the process of four independent
variables (EE, BP, BII, and ASN) influencing dependent variables
(EI). The four models are shown in Figure 3, and the total, direct,
and indirect effects of four independent variables on EI are shown
in Table 5.
According to Figure 3 and Table 5, FEE, FLP, CH, and OSN
had a significant total effect on EI, but DEE, CLP, CD, and
LSN had no significant effect. Moreover, if the three mediation
variables are taken as a whole, they are all significant in other
paths except for the fact that the effects of CD and LSN on EI
were not significantly mediated.
The estimate and significance of each mediation path are
shown in Table 6. SN has no significant mediating effect in any
mediation path.
The fit indices of four mediating models are shown in
Table 7. According to Table 7, all the four mediating models
are acceptable.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Low Level of EI and Little Knowledge of
Supporting Policies
The mean EI score in our sample was low (3.70, <4 on a
seven-point scale). In contrast, Xu et al. (2016) and Ni and
Ye (2018) investigated the EI of 1,034 and 730 secondary
school students using the same scale and found higher scores
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Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
TABLE 6 | Estimates and significance of each mediation path.
Mediation Path Estimate LLCI ULCI P
EE
FEEPBCEI 0.79 0.47 1.32 p<0.001
FEESNEI 0.03 0.04 0.14 P>0.05
FEEAEI 0.38 0.10 0.76 p<0.01
DEEPBCEI 0.44 0.06 1.01 p<0.05
DEESNEI 0.01 0.02 0.13 P>0.05
DEEAEI 0.30 0.03 0.77 P>0.05
BP
FLPPBCEI 0.33 0.16 0.60 p<0.001
FLPSNEI 0.003 0.07 0.07 P>0.05
FLPAEI 0.18 0.05 0.39 p<0.01
CLPPBCEI 0.37 0.77 0.18 p<0.001
CLPSNEI 0.001 0.03 0.05 P>0.05
CLPAEI 0.03 0.31 0.19 P>0.05
BII
CDPBCEI 0.13 1.03 0.18 P>0.05
CDSNEI 0.002 0.07 0.09 P>0.05
CDAEI 0.07 0.89 0.26 P>0.05
CHPBCEI 0.47 0.24 2.12 p<0.01
CHSNEI 0.003 0.09 0.21 P>0.05
CHAEI 0.32 0.10 2.12 p<0.01
ASN
OSNPBCEI 0.26 0.01 0.57 p<0.05
OSNSNEI 0.01 0.04 0.08 P>0.05
OSNAEI 0.16 0.05 0.44 P>0.05
LSNPBCEI 0.03 0.27 0.19 P>0.05
LSNSNEI 0.01 0.02 0.08 P>0.05
LSNAEI 0.09 0.15 0.34 P>0.05
TABLE 7 | The fit dices of four mediating models.
Model χ2/df IFI CFI RMSEA
EEA, SN, PBCEI 2.48 0.91 0.90 0.08
BPA, SN, PBCEI 2.47 0.90 0.90 0.08
BIIA, SN, PBCEI 2.61 0.90 0.90 0.09
ASNA, SN, PBCEI 2.70 0.89 0.89 0.09
(3.75 and 4.69), which, from their perspective, were lower than
the EI of Chinese undergraduates. It is a rough comparison
that requires more rigorous research to confirm whether the
difference is statistically significant. Further, more efforts are
needed, at least as much as the effort needed for other groups,
if Chinese society wants more entrepreneurs to show up among
NRCIS. These young returnees showed little knowledge of
the supportive policies for entrepreneurship specially made for
them by the Chinese government. Those who know some
of the supportive policies reported the low accessibility of
the concrete support measure. Policymakers and practitioners
could consider how to make policies known to the public or
target group.
Three Capital Theories as a Framework
The study found that the three kinds of capital theories are
suitable theoretical bases for analyzing returned international
students’ characteristics. Guided by the three capitals, we
specified four variables as potential predictors of EI among the
target population, and the FEE, FLP, CH and OSN showed
significant total effects on EI.
As for cultural capital, one dimension of BII, CH had a
significant total effect on EI, although the other dimension,
CD, did not. This result suggests that the more those
returnees are attuned to Chinese culture and the culture
abroad, the higher their EI will be. In this study, the BII
measures young returnees’ cultural capital due to their
overseas study backgrounds. It describes the subjective
feeling of compatibility or contradiction between the
two cultures that they are experiencing. Existing research
lacks literature on exploring and testing the relationship
between being bicultural and EI from cultural identity
integration. Based on a large number of studies on the
benefits of being bicultural and multicultural (Benet-Martínez
et al., 2002; Chen et al., 2008; Leung et al., 2008; Tadmor
et al., 2009), this work proposed a positive correlation
between the BII and EI of returnees, which is supported by
empirical evidence.
As for social capital, the OSN of ASN had a significant
effect on EI. However, the influence of LSN on EI is not
significant. Previous studies have found that local ties and
networking are essential for returnees to create a venture
(Pruthi, 2014), and OSN is a unique advantage for returnees
(Qin and Estrin, 2015). Our results proved that the impact of
OSN is more significant for NRCIS than LSN. The relationship
between ASN and EI is an exciting topic and worthy of
further investigation.
In terms of human capital, it is unsurprising that FLP
and FEE showed significant effects on EI. There are a
few revelations according to these results. The positive
influence of FEE confirmed the effectiveness of overseas
study of entrepreneurship on EI. The influence of BP is
hardly addressed in content research on EI and language
ability, a neglected part in EE. Combining the impact of
BII, European communities’ key competencies for lifelong
learning are insightful. Among the eight key competencies
identified by the EU, three are “communication in the mother
tongue, “communication in foreign languages, and “cultural
awareness and expression” (European Communities, 2007).
This study’s significant predictors were overseas social
networking, foreign language proficiency, and foreign
entrepreneurship education; these are unique predictors
for NRCIS.
TPB
The current study supported the TPB model partly. Most of
the significant relationships between EI and the predictors were
mediated by at least one of the three mediators proposed
in TPB. To be more precise, they are mediated by A and
PBC; SN has no significant mediating effect in any mediation
path. The effects of A and PBC on EI were confirmed to
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 9April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 622276
Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
be significant, while SN was not. These findings suggest that
others’ opinions and attitudes do not influence young returnees
considering whether to engage in entrepreneurial activities.
This conclusion is consistent with the finding of Ceresia and
Mendola (2020). Some studies have shown that the three
predictors of planned behavior theory have different effects on
EI. Compared with subjective norms, behavioral attitude and
perceived behavioral control have more significant effects on EI
(Liñán et al., 2011).
Furthermore, attitude mediates the effects of FEE, CH,
and FLP on EI, and PBC meditates the effects of FEE,
DEE, CH, FLP, CLP, and OSN on EI. These significant
mediating effects make sense as the scope of business
activities has become highly connected worldwide because
of globalization (Johnstone et al., 2018). Therefore, people
who accept more entrepreneurship education and feel better
about bicultural harmony and foreign language competence
may feel more positive and confident about entrepreneurship.
These results also suggest that entrepreneurship education
courses and training might enable students to gain global
vision and the ability to participate in international
exchanges and cooperation, encouraging international
entrepreneurship education, facilitating multicultural teaching
resources, and recruiting teachers with an international
background (Bell et al., 2004; Elenurm, 2008; Wu and Martin,
2018).
In this study, PBC mediated the effect of OSN on EI, but
the LSN did not have the same effect. Compared with LSN,
OSN are of more significance in predicting NRCIS’ EI. As PBC
reflects their confidence in entrepreneurial activities, how to
help NRCIS build their OSN is a crucial aspect to consider
in policymaking.
CONCLUSION
The current study contributes to the literature on EI by
exploring an essential yet not much-investigated group NRCIS,
introducing the three kinds of capital theories framework to
analyze potential predictors, and combining planned behavior
theory to explore how each of the predictors takes effect.
The three kinds of capital theories contribute to perfect and
supplement the diversity of the three kinds of capital and different
situations of different effects. For the planned behavior theory,
one of the most critical theories in the study of entrepreneurial
intention is to show that SN’s mediating effect is still weaker
than the other two variables (A and PBC) in the NRCIS.
The findings of this study suggest that overseas study has an
essential effect on NRCIS’ EI, which can be generalized to a
certain extent.
However, for the parsimony of the model, we have not
take into account the possibility of the indirect effect of SN
on EI, which has been found possible by previous study
(Liñán and Chen, 2009). The mediation effect of SN may be
insignificant because its effect on EI is mediated by A and PBC.
This is one of this study’s limitations. Another limitation is
the compromise of convenience samples because of the great
difficulty in recruiting sufficient samples. Therefore, we would be
cautious in generalizing our findings to the general population.
This study is more of exploratory work. The specific antecedents
that we explored add new insights to explain the core TPB model’s
functioning, but to the best of our knowledge, there are few prior
studies that link BP, BII and ASN to EI. The interesting reulsts call
for more future studies on the topic. Hopefully, future research
directions can extend these findings by testing the model in other
countries and regions, or by replicating the same model with
new samples using better sampling strategy. Moreover, the EI of
individuals tends to change over time. Bernhofer and Li (2014)
investigated the EI of more than 800 students in 16 Chinese
universities and found that their EI was the lowest when they
graduated, while after working for 5 years, starting their own
business became the top choice. Gruenhagen (2020) also found
that the perception of a stable institutional environment and the
support’s availability might have a positive effect on returnees’ EI.
It is a limitation that we have not taken environment and policy
as critical predictive variables. As we found that NRCIS generally
were not familiar with the available entrepreneurial supporting
policy and a relatively low EI, we suggest getting NRCIS to know
the policies and track their EI changes.
In short, this study found that (a) the EI of NRCIS was
low, and (b) CH, OSN, FEE, and FLP had a total direct
effect on NRCIS’ EI, and (c) FEE, CH and FLP influenced
EI through A, and FLP, CLP, CH, FEE, DEE, and OSN
influenced EI through PBC. Based on these results, some
suggestions are carefully proposed. First, policymakers could
pay greater attention to examining whether the current policies
are working and accessible for NRCIS, ensure that they
provide tailored policies for this young group, and ensure
that they can access and understand the policies. It includes
conducting specific investigations before making policy and
choosing propaganda channels that reach the NRCIS. Second,
domestic entrepreneurship education could keep cultivating
students’ cross-cultural communication and understanding
abilities. Possible strategies are building entrepreneurship
education platforms for exchanges and cooperation with overseas
universities, using entrepreneurship education textbooks and
resources with multicultural characteristics, recruiting teachers
with overseas backgrounds, adopting bilingual education. Third,
based on SN and PBC’s significant effect on EI, society
and education sectors could encourage positive cognition of
entrepreneurship and guide students to form a positive attitude
toward entrepreneurship and enhance their confidence.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
ETHICS STATEMENT
Ethical review and approval was not required for the
study on human participants in accordance with the
local legislation and institutional requirements. Written
informed consent for participation was not required for this
study in accordance with the national legislation and the
institutional requirements.
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 10 April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 622276
Mao and Ye Entrepreneurial Intention of Returned Student
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
YM and YY contributed at all the work of the paper together,
more research design work done by YY, and more essay writing
work was done by YM. Both authors contributed to the article
and approved the submitted version.
FUNDING
The funding was provided by the National Educational Science
Planning Project the Research of Influential Mechanism and
Policy on New Generation of Returnees’ Entrepreneurial
Intention and Action (Grant No. BIA170195).
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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.
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 12 April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 622276
... According to Otache et al. (2019), the various studies' conclusions were contradictory, unclear, complex (as opposed to having a straightforward direct link), and inconsistent (Amofah & Saladrigues, 2022). Some studies have validated a positive relationship between EE and students' EI (Alshebami et al., 2020;Mao and Ye, 2021), while other studies have found an insignificant effect of EE on students' EI (Ashari et al., 2022;Paray and Kumar, 2020). Moreover, some research reveals that the relationship between EE and students' EI is moderated by a diversity of factors such as gender (Feder and Niţu-Antonie, 2017), intended timing (Ramos-Rodríguez et al., 2019), entrepreneurial prior experience , family background (Khadri et al., 2020), characteristics' attractiveness (Wu et al., 2020), self-efficacy (Srivastava et al., 2019), and even the attitude toward entrepreneurship education indicates that EE and the students' EI association is more complex than a simple direct connection (Amofah & Saladrigues, 2022;Ashari et al., 2022;Otache, 2019b). ...
... First, the personal aspects include psychological characteristics Ramos et al., 2019), personal traits (Marques et al., 2012;Xu et al., 2014), selfperceived creativity (Laquia et al., 2019), entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Shi et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2020;Mensah et al., 2021), and the locus of control and gender (Marques et al., 2012;Xu et al., 2014). Second, the family aspects include family background/family support (Galvao et al., 2018, Marques et al., 2012Ramos et al., 2019), role models Iglesias et al., 2016), cultural harmony (Mao & Ye, 2021), cultural distance, and social support (Farooq et al., 2018;Nguyen et al., 2020). Third, the institutional aspects include student internship motivation (Laguia et al., 2019), know-what about entrepreneurship (Sun et al., 2016), know-how of entrepreneurship (Sun et al., 2016), and level of education/major in education . ...
... to create new innovative plans for businesses, or start a business.Tabel 2. The Articles by country/territoryAshari et al., 2022;Cui et al., 2019;Mao & Ye, 2021; Mensah et al., 2021;A. T. Nguyen et al., 2019;Paray & Kumar, 2020;Xu et al., 2016;J. ...
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Introduction/Main Objectives: The aim of the study is to: 1) identify the role entrepreneurship education (EE) in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model, and how it enhances students’ entrepreneurship intention (EI), 2) identify various other exogenous variables commonly paired with EE that increase EI, 3) map the various roles of EE and the exogenous variables in improving students’ EI into a single model. Background Problems: What is the role of entrepreneurship education and the exogenous variables in the TPB model, and how do they increase students’ entrepreneurship intention? Novelty: This paper’s novel contributions include 1) filling the knowledge gap in the field of entrepreneurship related to the TPB model, 2) proposing a map to depict the integration of EE and other exogenous variables into the TPB model, to make one comprehensive model. Research Methods: The data sets were drawn from the Scopus database with a systematic literature review approach, with a protocol that used the keywords "entrepreneurship education," "entrepreneurial education," and "TPB." The protocol found 108 articles in the Scopus database, published between 2006 and 2023, which were extracted. Then, the articles underwent further analysis using exclusion and inclusion criteria, resulting in 24 articles that met our requirements. Quantitative and qualitative analysis were then carried out, using statistical descriptive and bibliometric analysis. Finding/Results: This study shows that entrepreneurship education and the exogenous variables that influence entrepreneurship intention in the TPB model have various roles. Conclusion: The results expose critical research gaps and the need to develop new theoretical frameworks that combine and extend the TPB model with other relevant variables in higher education.
... Social support significantly influences personality traits (β = 0.258, P < 0.05). In addition, personality traits influence entrepreneurial intention significantly, thus confirming hypothesis 7. Mao and Ye (2021) revealed that social capital is directly tied to the individual. Huang et al. (2021) found that the accessibility of opportunities and financial support leads to real entrepreneurial behaviorthe more favorable the entrepreneurial environment perceived by college students, the likelier they are to obtain environmental resources and to improve their entrepreneurial Frontiers in Psychology frontiersin.org . ...
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Introduction The entrepreneurship rate of Chinese college students is relatively low. This study investigates the environment factors that influence college students' entrepreneurial intention as mediated by personality traits. Methods According to the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, a hierarchical model of the environment factors was established which included three layers: personality traits as the micro system, family and education as the meso system, and social and policy support as the macro system. The structural equation model of the environment factors was constructed to reveal the significant influence path of various factors and the mediating role of personality traits. Data were collected from 436 undergraduate students in Henan Province, China. Results Findings indicate that family, education, social, and policy factors have no significant direct influence on entrepreneurial intention. However, personality traits significantly influence entrepreneurial intention and mediate the effects of various factors on entrepreneurial intention. Discussion Suggestions such as improving college students' entrepreneurial practice and promoting college students' proactive personalities are also put forward.
... Second, returnees, as an important subject of sustainable entrepreneurship, optimizing the policy attention distribution pattern in order to promote the entrepreneurship sustainability of this group is of great significance for their own livelihoods and local development and should be taken more seriously; however, studies on this issue are relatively scarce. Third, most existing studies provide an interpretation of local governments' policy on promoting sustainable entrepreneurship of returnees from the perspective of "what it should be" [37] and follow an "idealized" path [38]. This focuses on qualitative research from a logical reasoning standpoint yet lacks quantitative analysis of the reality of local government behaviors. ...
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As an important livelihood strategy choice to promote the sustainable development of themselves and regions, returnees’ entrepreneurship has played a vital role in the governance of all-level Chinese local governments since the 21st century. The policy attention reflects the importance that the local governments attach to this issue, and the evolution process also reflects relevant policies’ internal rules and characteristics. Based on this, this paper, taking 242 policy texts related to returnees’ entrepreneurship issued by local governments from 2000 to 2021 as the research objects, uses grounded theory and social network analysis in order to explore the policy attention evolution from the aspects of time, space, specific policy domains and cooperative relationship among policy subjects. Finally, this research finds the main conclusions as follows: (1) The policy attention evolution on time dimension has the characteristic of synchronism, different levels and “reciprocal U”. (2) The policy attention evolution on space dimension is closely linked to “pull” and “push” forces of local population flow and has neighborhood effects. (3) The policy attention evolution on specific policy areas will gradually spread and diversify with the change in local governance environment and stage goals. (4) The evolution trend of collaborative social network among policy objects has the characteristic of “loose-central-loose”.
... Secondly, based on abundant sampling data, various analysis methods are adopted for in-depth research and a more convincing conclusion, thereby overcoming the common problems in the research of EI assessment in China, such as insufficient sample size and lack of persuasion. Thirdly, some suggestions are advanced to help the new entrepreneurs overcome the influence of cross-cultural adaptation to the entrepreneurial environment, thus encourage their EI and innovation ability in an adverse environment (Qian et al., 2018;Rogoza et al., 2018;Mao and Ye, 2021;Neslihan et al., 2021;Otache et al., 2021;Pérez et al., 2021;Racine, 2021). ...
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In the context of economic slowdown and unemployment upsurge in China, many college graduates set their goals on entrepreneurship. To help more new entrepreneurs improve their innovation ability and entrepreneurial success rate, the synergy theory of entrepreneurial psychology and entrepreneurial ability in the entrepreneurial period was put forward from the perspective of cross-cultural adaptation. On the basis of positive psychology, the entrepreneur’s psychological quality and innovation ability were combined to help explore the entrepreneur’s inner psychology and innovation ability. The study first analyzed the current development status and characteristics of new entrepreneurs through the literature review method, and explored the relationship between cross-cultural adaptation and new ventures. Second, it examined the relationship among achievement incentives, knowledge level, and the role of communication and entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial intentions from the perspective of positive psychology. Finally, based on the influence relationship and personal experience, research hypotheses and models, the study verified the hypotheses by designing questionnaire surveys, and used the controlled variable method to conduct single-factor test analysis on influencing factors and perform a t-test on the data. The results show that the Cronbach’s α coefficient in the QS is 0.894, which has good reliability. According to the regression analysis results, achievement motivation (AM) can significantly affect entrepreneurial intention (EI) (β = 487, p < 0.05), knowledge level (KL) and EI (β = 316, p < 0.05), and the regression coefficient is greater than 0, but there is no significant effect of communicate effectiveness (CE) on EI (p = 0.109 > 0.05). In the control variables influence analysis, the level of education of new entrepreneurs was negatively correlated with AM. When the college students’ educational level improved, their EI decreased. It shows that AM can promote new entrepreneurs to pursue higher goals, and different level of education has a greater impact on entrepreneurs’ AM, which has a more significant impact on entrepreneurial intention. The results further prove that entrepreneurs’ psychological factors have a particular impact on the development of enterprises.
... As five of the six items in entrepreneurial intention have undergone significant changes after coming to study in Hungary, we consider that there is a great difference in entrepreneurial intentions of international students before and after coming to Hungary, and H1 is confirmed. Likewise, Mao and Ye [56]'s research on returned Chinese international students also shows that studying abroad has an essential influence on their entrepreneurial intention. This is because the existing international academic education experience can well overcome the obstacles to the formation of international entrepreneurial intention [42]. ...
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With the global development of the regional mobility of education, Hungary has gradually become a priority country for overseas students to pursue tertiary education. Meanwhile, the experience of studying abroad can prepare international students to engage in international business and new entrepreneurial activities around the world. In this context, the research on the change of entrepreneurial intention brought about by studying abroad in Hungary deserves great concern and exploration. Given that, this paper contributes to finding out whether the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of international students has changed after coming to Hungary and what environmental factors would bring about changes in entrepreneurial intention before (EI-before) and after (EI-after) coming to Hungary. Here, the environmental factors tested include multiple network construction (MNC), overseas entrepreneurial perception (OEP) and multicultural cognition (MC). Additionally, an Exploratory Factor Analysis, Paired Samples t-Test and Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis were conducted to process data. The output reveals that after coming to study in Hungary, the entrepreneurial intention (EI-after) of international students has indeed been improved, whilst OEP and MC make a significant impact on the entrepreneurial intention to a similar degree under the control of demographic variables and EI-before.
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Purpose Policymakers, academics and practitioners have recognised the potential of returnee entrepreneurs for the transfer of advanced knowledge to emerging and developing countries. Yet what factors determine the decisions to start a business – and what type of business – upon returning to the home country is relatively unclear. This paper aims to reveal to what extent different contextual factors influence the intention to return home to start a venture. In addition to overall intentions to start a returnee business, this study covers intentions towards starting businesses with different orientations. Design/methodology/approach This study builds upon a sample of 273 individuals originating from emerging economies who are on track to complete their overseas tertiary education in an advanced economy. Using primary survey data obtained from the participants, a structural equation model (SEM) based on our theoretical model was defined for hypothesis testing. Findings Findings suggest that the perception of a stable institutional environment stimulates returnee entrepreneurship, and that the perception of estrangement negatively affects the intention to start a new venture in the home country. The results further show that the availability of support may reduce perceived estrangement, thereby exerting an indirect, positive effect on returnee entrepreneurship. Importantly, the findings confirm that these effects vary across intentions to start ventures with different orientations. Originality/value This study extends previous literature on the phenomenon of returnee entrepreneurs which has primarily investigated returnee-owned ventures that are already in operation. In particular, the authors provide theoretical links between institutions and other contextual factors affecting returnee entrepreneurial intentions, and this study highlights that it is meaningful to consider not only the strength but also different types of intentions. Thereby, this paper provides refined perspectives on the assumed beneficial impact of returnee entrepreneurs on the economic and societal development of emerging economies.
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The bottom of the pyramid (BOP) market has gained importance in international entrepreneurship due to its large market potential. Drawing on the literature of international business education, as well as social entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship education, we propose a course to educate students how to develop business intimacy with the BOP community. We employ the experiential-learning pedagogical framework and design elements including a short-term study abroad service trip, an entrepreneurship project, and structured reflections. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, we demonstrate that the course facilitates students’ learning in the key areas of international and social entrepreneurship, including the economic and social value of community embeddedness for BOP ventures, the emotional intelligence in interacting with BOP communities, and the attitude toward social entrepreneurship.
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