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. 2022 Sep 6:13:976675.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.976675. eCollection 2022.

Modelers of students' entrepreneurial intention during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic times: The role of entrepreneurial university environment

Simona Mihaela Trif  1 , Gratiela Georgiana Noja  1 , Mirela Cristea  2 , Cosmin Enache  3 , Otniel Didraga  4
Affiliations

Modelers of students' entrepreneurial intention during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic times: The role of entrepreneurial university environment

Simona Mihaela Trif et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

This paper examines the shaping factors, drivers, and impact credentials of students' entrepreneurial intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed framework addresses the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among students in Romania, focusing on three focal constructs, namely, risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness, with a keen focus on the mediation effect of the entrepreneurial university environment. The study used self-reported data collected through an online questionnaire during November 2020-February 2021 from a sample of 1,411 students in western Romania. The methodology relies on two modern techniques of modeling cross-sectional data, namely, structural equation modeling (SEM) and Gaussian graphical models (GGMs). The main results highlight that the three constructs positively relate to students' entrepreneurial intention in a comprehensive framework where the entrepreneurial university environment drives innovativeness. The paper brings forward, in an innovative way, that entrepreneurship education and training at the university level enhance students' entrepreneurial intentions as it fosters the attainment of advanced knowledge and skills. The results are well associated with the start-up process as prerequisites for successful entrepreneurship engagement of youth in a globalized digital economy, particularly during this challenging pandemic outbreak, but also post-pandemic times. This research sheds new light on the essential role played by higher education institutions in providing advanced knowledge and necessary skills matched with the labor market needs, thus enhancing students' innovativeness and their entrepreneurial intentions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Gaussian graphical models; entrepreneurial intentions; entrepreneurship education; structural equation modeling; students’ innovativeness.

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Conflict of interest statement

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.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
General configuration of the SEM model. Authors’ contribution in Stata 16.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Results of the SEM 1, processed on the entire sample. Authors’ research in Stata 16.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Results of SEM 2 model processed on the sub-sample acknowledging COVID-19 modelers and influence on the entrepreneurial intention. Authors’ research in Stata 16.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Results of SEM 3 model processed on the sub-sample considering that COVID-19 does not influence the entrepreneurial intention. Authors’ research in Stata 16.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Results of the GGMs processed on the entire sample. (A) EBICglasso method. (B) PCOR method. Authors’ research in RStudio.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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