Mediation and moderated mediation in the relationship among entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial attitude and role models

With the more support of country to university students´ innovative undertaking, this paper addresses the effects of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial attitude on forming entrepreneurial intention, and whether the effects vary by role models. Data were collected from 643 undergraduate students. Through the analysis of SPSS15.0, the results suggested as the follows: (1) ESE had a significant and positive impact on entrepreneurial intention, (2) entrepreneurial attitude partially mediated the effect, (3) exposure to entrepreneurial role models moderated it. A moderated mediation relationship was observed such that, ESE influenced entrepreneurial attitude, which, for students who have a higher exposure to entrepreneurial role models, had a much stronger influence on entrepreneurial intention. Results are discussed in terms of implications for theory and practice.