How positive emotions affect entrepreneurial intention of college students: A moderated mediation model

Entrepreneurial intention (EI) is a crucial requirement for encouraging significant entrepreneurial activity, which is essential for economic growth and social stability. Cultivating college students' EI is a critical element of higher education. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study constructs a moderated mediation model, aiming to explore the intricate processes and conditioning elements that influence the EI of college students and investigate the mediating role of future time perspective (FTP) between positive emotion (PE) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) among Chinese college students, as well as the moderating role of gender. In this study, we used a questionnaire survey method to collect a valid sample of 890 college students in China through Questionnaire Star (https://www.wix.cn; an online questionnaire collection platform widely used in various research fields in China) and used SPSS and AOMS to conduct the preliminary statistics and reliability tests. PROCESS version 3.5 by Hayes (a plug-in for SPSS) was used for hypothesis testing. The findings revealed that PE significantly positively influenced EI, and FTP completely mediated the relationship between PE and EI. However, it was discovered that gender did not exhibit any significant moderating effect on the influence of PE on EI through FTP. The findings of this study enhance our comprehension of the significance of PE among college students and expand our awareness of the mechanisms and circumstances in which PE impacts EI. This study serves as a reminder to educators to prioritize the role of FTP and gender intervention in the development of EI among college students but also offers empirical evidence and practical recommendations for effectively fostering EI among college students. Furthermore, the results of this study establish a foundation to facilitate future researchers' investigation of the causal relationships between these variables.