A Study on the Influencing Factors of Entrepreneurial Intention of College Students in Vocational Colleges with Business Characteristics ()
1. Introduction
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, “Mass Entrepreneurship and Mass Innovation” has become a national strategy. Youth entrepreneurship is an important engine for the new round of China’s economic development under the new normal, and it is also an important starting point for further promoting the innovation-driven development strategy. China has become one of the countries active in entrepreneurship. “Youthization”, “Technology” and “Internetization” are the distinctive features of the entrepreneurial ecology in the digital economy era. The Chinese government has achieved certain results by encouraging youth entrepreneurship through favorable policy guidance and providing college student entrepreneurs with preferential policies such as legal consulting services, business project promotion, business subsidies, business incubation, and tax fee waivers through the construction of creator airs and business communities. Youth entrepreneurship is a complex and dynamic process that is comprehensively affected by various fields, levels and economic entities of the national economy. At present, Chinese college students, as the main force of youth entrepreneurship, have a low overall entrepreneurial rate and a low entrepreneurial survival rate. Start-ups can directly or indirectly create jobs, form new industries or revitalize old industries, promote social and economic growth, and enhance China’s global competitiveness. The low survival rate of start-ups has always been a reality that plagues entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers. Difficult problems (Velu, 2015; Wang & Chen, 2018) indicate that there are many factors restricting the development potential of this start-up group. To this end, many scholars have carried out research on college students’ entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial efficacy, entrepreneurial willingness and other aspects. However, the willingness of college students to start a business is the result of both subjective and objective factors, and it is necessary to have both objective and subjective factors in order to reasonably guide more college students to have the willingness to start a business, and at the same time eliminate the obstacles of college students to start a business, improve the effect of entrepreneurship education for college students in China, and enhance the success rate of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurial intention is the best entry point to study the entrepreneurial behavior of entrepreneurs, and has become the focus of entrepreneurial research. College students are one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial potential groups, and it is urgent to strengthen the research on college students’ entrepreneurial willingness. The research on entrepreneurial intention in China is still in its infancy. Although experts and scholars have carried out certain research on the influencing factors of entrepreneurial intention, there are still some problems. For example, the research is not perfect, and a practical theoretical framework has not yet been formed. The research on different groups is not yet systematic, the talent training of higher vocational education and general higher education is significantly different, and the impact mechanism of vocational college students’ entrepreneurial intention still needs to be further explored.
In China, with the government’s continuous emphasis on vocational education, higher vocational education has ushered in the spring of development, and it also shoulders the task of cultivating talents for innovation and entrepreneurship. Because higher vocational colleges with business characteristics have their own characteristics, this study takes the influencing factors of college students’ entrepreneurial willingness as the research object, and carefully sorts out the mechanism that affects college students’ entrepreneurial willingness. It is of great practical significance to promote economic progress and social employment.
The research based on the theory of planned behavior, self-efficacy theory and entrepreneurial theory, and adopts the method of combining theoretical analysis and empirical research, distribute questionnaires to students of different professional departments, use SPSS software for analysis, and use structural equation model to conduct path analysis and model test to draw valuable conclusions, and put forward some suggestions for innovation and entrepreneurship education in higher vocational colleges.
2. Theoretical Basis
2.1. Entrepreneurial Willingness
Low & MacMillan (1988) first believed that entrepreneurial intention is a psychological tendency, which is a prerequisite for entrepreneurs to implement behavior. Entrepreneurial intention guides potential entrepreneurs to take actions to achieve the goal of self-employment. The stronger the entrepreneurial intention, the greater the possibility of the entrepreneur to take action, that is, the entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior are positively correlated. Krueger (2000) believes that entrepreneurial intention is the subjective idea of potential entrepreneurs, and it is a psychological idea that is more likely to choose to carry out entrepreneurial activities in the future. The stronger the idea, the greater the possibility of starting a business. Thompson (2009) believes that entrepreneurial intention is a belief that changes with time and different external environments, between individual factors and social factors.
Regarding domestic scholars’ discussion on entrepreneurial intention, for example, Fan and Wang (2006) defined entrepreneurial intention as the subjective opinion and general description of potential entrepreneurs to carry out certain entrepreneurial activities in the future, and at the same time compared the potential entrepreneurs and actual entrepreneurs. The degree of difference in possessing characteristics; Wu (2008) proposed that entrepreneurial intention is a process of interaction between potential entrepreneurs, external environment and entrepreneurial activities; Li and Zhang (2014) believed that entrepreneurial intention is hidden behind entrepreneurial behavior, Entrepreneurial willingness is the internal driving force of entrepreneurial behavior. A person must have a certain entrepreneurial willingness to start a business.
To sum up, entrepreneurial intention is the degree of psychological tendency of an individual to engage in entrepreneurial activities in the future, and it is the inner driving force of entrepreneurship. For college students, entrepreneurial willingness is an individual’s psychological expectation of whether they will engage in self-employment behavior in the future. The strength of willingness predicts the possibility of choosing a business in the future to a certain extent. Therefore, this study believes that the entrepreneurial intention of college students refers to the psychological expectation that college students may implement entrepreneurial behavior in the future, and this psychological expectation is affected by individual cognition and external environment.
2.2. Planned Behavior Theory
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was proposed by American scholars Fishbein and Ajzen (1975). This model studies the determinants of conscious behavioral intentions and is one of the most basic and influential theories on human behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen on the basis of rational behavior theory. It believes that individual behavior will be affected by both individual and external factors, and human behavior is not completely voluntary. , but is under some kind of control, so the variable of perceived behavior control is added to make up for the inadequacy of rational behavior theory.
Based on the theory of planned behavior, this study believes that for college students with entrepreneurial potential, their behavioral attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behaviors will all affect their entrepreneurial intentions.
2.3. Social Cognitive Theory
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was proposed by American scholar Bandura (1989), which mainly includes three parts: ternary interactive determinism, observational learning theory and self-efficacy theory. Triadic interactive determinism means that in the cognitive process, the individual, the environment and the individual behavior are mutually causal, and there is a two-way interaction and deterministic relationship between the two. Observational learning theory means that individuals can learn some new responses by observing the behavior of others, so as to correct or strengthen some original behavioral responses on this basis. Self-efficacy is a core concept of social cognitive theory. The stronger the self-efficacy of an individual, the higher his or her self-confidence in entrepreneurial behavior, and thus the stronger his or her entrepreneurial intention; therefore, the stronger the self-judgment that entrepreneurial college students show about whether they can successfully start their own business, the higher their entrepreneurial intention will be.
Based on social cognition theory, this study explores the moderating role of entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavior control between entrepreneurial courses and college students’ entrepreneurial intentions according to observational learning theory and self-efficacy theory.
2.4. Self-Efficacy Theory
Self-efficacy theory is an extension of social cognitive theory. Bandura (1977) first expounded the concept of “self-efficacy” in his paper “Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change”. Bandura believes that self-efficacy is the degree of confidence in an individual’s response to the expected outcome of a specific behavior in a specific situation. An individual’s behavioral, environmental, and cognitive factors are highly correlated and play a key role in an individual’s motivation and achievement. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how much effort a person expends on a task and how long he or she can persevere. People with strong self-efficacy will work harder to meet challenges, while those with low self-efficacy may reduce their efforts or even quit.
3. Research Models and Research Assumptions
It can be seen from the previous introduction that scholars have not reached a consensus on the impact of college students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Based on research results at home and abroad, taking into account the Chinese context, and according to the theory of planned behavior, social cognition theory and self-efficacy theory, this research studies the effects of entrepreneurial efficacy, entrepreneurial spirit, birth and growth environment, field of study, gender, etc. on entrepreneurial intention mechanism.
Most scholars believe that self-efficacy plays a positive role in individual entrepreneurial intention (Boyd & Vozikis, 1994; Tang, 2009; Ding et al., 2009). Urban (2006) found in a social study of underdeveloped areas that under a differentiated cultural background, entrepreneurial efficacy has a more significant effect on an individual’s entrepreneurial intention. The research of domestic scholars Tang et al. (2007) and Xu & Guo (2015) also confirmed the positive effect of entrepreneurial efficacy on entrepreneurial intention. There is no doubt that good self-efficacy has a greater impact on entrepreneurial intention.
Based on the above research status at home and abroad, the paper puts forward the following hypotheses:
H1: College students’ entrepreneurial efficacy significantly affects college students’ entrepreneurial intention, and there is a positive correlation.
H2: Entrepreneurship is positively correlated with college students’ entrepreneurial efficacy.
H3: Entrepreneurship is positively correlated with college students’ entrepreneurial intention.
H4: There is a positive correlation between growth environment and college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
4. Empirical Research
4.1. Research Objects and Data Collection
This study collects samples from all professional departments of a commercial higher vocational and technical college. The reasons for choosing Shandong Commercial Vocational and Technical College are: First, the school is a unit with outstanding entrepreneurial performance and has a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere; second, the school covers science and engineering, art In design, economics and management disciplines, students have a distinct professional orientation, face practical problems in the industry and society, and have a high counterpart employment rate. The questionnaire survey was conducted online, and the respondents all used the WeChat terminal to log in to answer the questions, which ensured the recovery rate of valid questionnaires.
On the basis of literature review and theoretical analysis, the questionnaire of this study was redeveloped based on the entrepreneurial intention questionnaire of college students formulated by Liu (2013). The study was measured using the Likert 5-point scale. Self-efficacy includes three dimensions: innovation ability measurement, social ability measurement, observation ability measurement. The planned behavior theory measurement is based on entrepreneurial intention and includes four items such as “I often consider whether to start my own business”.
4.2. Analysis and Results
A total of 1070 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the samples were distributed in different disciplines such as science and engineering, art design, economics and management, with a wide professional span and a wide range, which showed the universality and reliability of research. From the distribution of gender characteristics of the samples, there are 401 females, accounting for 37.48%; 669 males, accounting for 62.52%.
4.2.1. Related Analysis
Through the correlation coefficient analysis of the data, it is found that: entrepreneurial willingness and social ability, observation ability, innovation ability, entrepreneurial spirit, gender, place of birth, grade, major, family, participation in events or courses, a total of 10 correlations. Use the Pearson correlation coefficient to express the strength of the correlation. The specific analysis shows that: The correlation coefficient values between entrepreneurial willingness and social ability, observation ability, innovation ability, entrepreneurial spirit, and family are 0.780, 0.796, 0.705, 0.764, and 0.121, respectively, and show a significant level of 0.01, thus indicating that entrepreneurial willingness and social There is a significant positive correlation between ability, observation ability, innovation ability, and entrepreneurial spirit.
The correlation coefficient values between entrepreneurial intention and gender, place of birth, participation in events or courses were 0.075, −0.069, and 0.067, respectively, and showed a significant level of 0.05, thus indicating the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and gender, participation in events or courses. There was a significant positive correlation between them and a negative correlation with birthplace.
There is no significant relationship between entrepreneurial intention and family, major and grade.
4.2.2. Reliability and Validity Analysis
It can be seen from Table 1 that the reliability coefficient value is 0.933, which is greater than 0.9, indicating that the reliability of the research data is of high quality. Regarding the “alpha coefficient whose item has been deleted”, if entrepreneurship is deleted, the reliability coefficient will increase significantly, so it can be considered to amend or delete this item.
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Table 1. Cronbach reliability analysis.
Standardized Cronbach’s alpha coefficient: 0.934.
It can be seen from Table 2 that the common degree values corresponding to all research items are higher than 0.4, indicating that the research item information can be effectively extracted. In addition, the KMO value is 0.883, which is greater than 0.6, which means the data is valid. In addition, the variance explanation rate values of one factor are 79.307%, respectively, and the cumulative variance explanation rate after rotation is 79.307% > 50%. It means that the information of the research item can be extracted effectively. When the absolute value of the factor loading coefficient is greater than 0.4, it means that there is a corresponding relationship between options and factors.
4.2.3. Factor Analysis
From Table 3, it is found that the use of factor analysis (exploratory factor analysis) to conduct information enrichment research, first of all to analyze whether the research data is suitable for factor analysis, it can be seen from the above table: KMO is 0.883, greater than 0.6, which meets the premise requirements of factor analysis, Means that the data can be used for factor analysis studies. The data passed the Bartlett sphericity test (p < 0.05), indicating that the research data were suitable for factor analysis.
4.2.4. Structural Equation Modeling (Figure 1)
Structural equations are used to test the constructed theoretical model, and the adaptive model is further obtained on the basis of the saturated model. The fit test of the structural equation (see Table 4) shows that except for the p-value and the chi-square degree of freedom ratio exceeding the index range, other indices meet the requirements of the recommended values, indicating that the overall fit of the model is acceptable.
5. Research Conclusions and Implications
Entrepreneurship, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness were measured by questionnaire survey, and 1070 data were analyzed by using structural equation model. It can be concluded that: First, college students’ entrepreneurial willingness and entrepreneurial efficacy and entrepreneurial spirit are related to
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Table 2. Validity analysis results.
Remarks: Blue indicates that the absolute value of the load factor is greater than 0.4, and red indicates that the common degree (common factor variance) is less than 0.4.
gender. There are significant differences in grades and majors. Second, the scale of entrepreneurial efficacy of college students includes three dimensions, innovation ability, observation ability, and social ability. After testing, it has good reliability and validity. Constructing the scale of entrepreneurial validity of college students has important application value for the research related to college students’ entrepreneurial intention, will provide a basis for the psychological mechanism and value mechanism of college students’ entrepreneurial behavior, is conducive to the qualitative analysis of entrepreneurial behavior, and has high revelation significance for related research. Third, through the path analysis of college students’ entrepreneurial efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness, it can be concluded that entrepreneurial efficacy, entrepreneurial willingness and entrepreneurial spirit have obvious predictive effects respectively, and there is a significant correlation. This shows that college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy plays an important role in predicting whether college students take entrepreneurial actions. Therefore, strengthening the education of college students’ innovation ability, interpersonal communication, observation and research ability, etc., will help college students cultivate entrepreneurial awareness. Besides, entrepreneurship has a significant positive correlation and positive predictive effect on entrepreneurial intention. This shows that, in entrepreneurship education, we should pay attention to the ideological education of college students’ adult growth, ideals and beliefs, strengthen the cultivation of positive outlook on life and values, and improve the motivation of college students to achieve career and personal value, which will directly motivate college students’ willingness to start a business.