Mechanisms Linking Restaurant Entrepreneurship Education to Graduating Hospitality Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions: Validating the Theory of Planned Behavior

The current research develops and tests a modified TPB model explaining how restaurant entrepreneurship education (EE) influences graduating hospitality students’ intentions (EI) to start a restaurant business. A total of 283 graduating hospitality students in Taiwan responded to the survey, and the structural equation modeling based on partial least square (PLS) was employed for analyzing the data of the study. The findings indicate that EE positively influences Theory of planned behavior (TPB) factors, such as attitude (AT), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC), which in turn influence startup intentions. However, EE directly lowers entrepreneurial intentions, perhaps due to its emphasis on the risks over the benefits. This study fills gaps in the literature by developing a revised TPB model that explains the mechanisms linking restaurant EE to the EI of graduating hospitality students in Taiwan. It contributes to the literature on modified TPB theory in the context of restaurant entrepreneurial education, providing evidence regarding the indirect effects of specialized EE on entrepreneurial intentions through attitudinal and motivational factors.