How multiple social supports enhance leadership skills among university students in food innovation and entrepreneurship programs

Purpose This paper investigates how distinct forms of social support facilitate the development and utilization of leadership skills among university students engaged in food-focused innovation and entrepreneurship programs. Design/Methodology/Approach Drawing on survey data from 568 undergraduates at the Bio-engineering Colleges within Jiangnan University and Tianjin Agricultural University, a structural equation modeling framework is employed. Social support is operationalized as three latent constructs – service support, caring support and group support – while leadership is expressed through four capabilities: technical, interpersonal, analytical reasoning and food-market control. Findings The measurement model demonstrates robust structural validity; the four-factor solution accounts for 68.76% of the total variance in leadership performance. Path analysis shows that service, caring and group support each exert a positive and significant influence on students’ leadership skills (standardized β > 0.30; p < 0.05), confirming the critical facilitation role of multi-dimensional social support in entrepreneurial settings. Practical implications Universities and program designers should engineer comprehensive support ecosystems – combining mentoring services, pastoral care and peer-to-peer communities – to accelerate leadership growth and, in turn, enhance venture success rates in student-led food innovation projects. Originality/Value By disaggregating social support into functional categories and mapping their differential effects on specific leadership competencies, this paper offers a nuanced, evidence-based blueprint for strengthening entrepreneurship education in the agri-food sector.