The Impact of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurship on Entrepreneurial Intention: Entrepreneurial Attitude as a Mediator and Entrepreneurship Education Having a Moderate Effect

In recent years, the Korean government has begun to encourage college students to start businesses due to college students’ employment difficulties. The government has implemented various policies to support college students to start businesses. In this study, we attempted to determine the relationship between ES (entrepreneurship), EA (entrepreneurial attitude), and ESE (entrepreneurial self-efficacy), psychological variables known to affect EI. Data were collected from 415 male and female college students in Korea via a mobile survey. The structural equation model analysis revealed that ES and ESE had positive effects on EI, and the effect of ESE was greater than that of the other variables. The effect of ESE on EA was significant only in the group without EE(NEL) but not in the group with EE(EL). When ES influenced EI, EA had no mediating effect, and when ESE influenced EI, EA played a mediating role positively only in the NEL group. This study identified previously unrecognized ES factors as predictors of EI and showed that ESE is a relatively strong predictor of EI again. This implies that, in order to increase the EI of college students, it is necessary to increase the entrepreneurial ability characterized as objective, rational, realistic, and stable, such as ESE. One of the useful methods is to provide entrepreneurship education to them.