Entrepreneurial intentions and the role of educational and social support: do the self-efficacy and the theory of planned behavior variables matter?

Purpose - The study aims to ascertain whether educational and social support for entrepreneurs significantly affects university students’ intentions to become successful entrepreneurs. This study examines the mediating role of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables (e.g. entrepreneurial personal attitude, subjective norms and entrepreneurial perceived behavioral control) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in encouraging young entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach - An online survey with a structured questionnaire collected data from different university students in Bangladesh; subsequently, it was analyzed through the structural equation model. Findings - The results suggested that educational support has a direct positive relationship with the three variables of TPB. Moreover, the findings indicated that social support positively influences the variables of TPB, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. The variables of TPB and entrepreneurial self-efficacy were found to have a significant direct impact on entrepreneurial intentions and also exhibited favorable mediating effects of educational and social support on entrepreneurial intentions. Research limitations/implications - First, the study is only generalized to some sectors of entrepreneurship activities because the researchers used samples from university students across Bangladesh. Second, the implicit limitation of survey-based research is that respondents need to know more ways of understanding the questionnaires accurately, and some participants need to be taught how to answer the question items. Practical implications - The main practical implication for the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and educational support involves different entrepreneurial educational programs, which give rise to attitude, behavior, self-efficacy and intentions and enhance the student's awareness of advancing a successful entrepreneurial career. Social implications - This study demonstrated that universities and social communities should promote the improvement of innovative thoughts for entrepreneurs and offer essential information about entrepreneurship. Originality/value - Because entrepreneurial educational support is a crucial factor in entrepreneurial intentions, universities need to develop a practical education system that can help improve the skills required to start new ventures. The results will improve a new route to developing students’ entrepreneurial intentions using the variables of TPB and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Subsequently, these research findings will help to achieve governmental goals and increase the number of startups in the future.