The Effect of startup motivation, individual competencies, and entrepreneurial environmental factors of online platform entrepreneurs in China's four major municipalities on startup behavior: Focusing on the mediating effect of business opportunity c

With the technological advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, traditional manufacturing industries are transitioning to platform entrepreneurship utilizing AI and robotics technology. This shift contributes to national economic growth and job creation, aligning with the “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” initiative advocated by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2015, which drives the development of the platform economy. This study empirically analyzes the impact of entrepreneurial motivation, individual competencies, and entrepreneurial environmental factors on entrepreneurial behavior, with a mediating effect of business opportunity recognition, based on data collected from 515 online platform entrepreneurs in China’s four major municipalities. Using SPSS V. 24.0 and Process Macro 4.0 for analysis, the results indicate that economic and non-economic motivations, interpersonal competencies, digital utilization competencies, entrepreneurial education, financial status evaluation, and entrepreneurial support programs positively influence entrepreneurial behavior, with business opportunity recognition playing a crucial mediating role. Among these factors, financial status evaluation emerged as the most significant variable affecting entrepreneurial behavior. This finding demonstrates that an entrepreneur's ability to identify and evaluate business opportunities significantly impacts their entrepreneurial preparation and execution. Conversely, problem-solving competencies showed no direct effect on entrepreneurial behavior nor a mediating effect through business opportunity recognition. The traditional Chinese culture emphasizing guanxi (relationships) highlights the greater importance of interpersonal competencies over problem-solving or digital utilization competencies in business success. Therefore, to promote online platform entrepreneurship, it is essential to provide systematic financial education and continuous entrepreneurial support, enable networking and interpersonal skill‘s development programs, and offer practical support measures considering the impact of entrepreneurial environmental factors such as financial status evaluation on entrepreneurial behavior.