This study examines the relationships between entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, social capital and entrepreneurial intention, while considering the mediating roles of individual entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial attitude.
A quantitative survey questionnaire was administered to 350 graduate students from Iraqi universities in entrepreneurship-related fields. The proposed hypotheses were tested using path analysis within a structural equation modelling framework.
The results indicate that entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social capital are significantly associated with entrepreneurial intention. However, only individual entrepreneurial orientation emerged as a consistent mediator within these relationships, whereas entrepreneurial attitude did not demonstrate a significant mediating effect. These findings suggest that the influence of these antecedents on entrepreneurial intention is conditional on the specific cognitive mechanisms activated within the educational context.
This study emphasises the essential roles of entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social capital in shaping and empowering students’ entrepreneurial mindsets, highlighting the need for targeted entrepreneurial programmes at the university level.
This study refines understanding of entrepreneurial intention within the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework by demonstrating that entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and social capital influence entrepreneurial intention both directly and indirectly through distinct cognitive mechanisms, with individual entrepreneurial orientation emerging as a more consistent mediator than entrepreneurial attitude.
