Good and bad: how university innovation support influences college students’ innovative behavior

In modern higher education, university innovation support is widely regarded as a key strategy for promoting students’ innovative behavior. However, existing studies mostly adhere to a “more is better” perspective, ignoring its potential negative effects and individual boundary conditions, and failing to fully explore the dual psychological mechanisms and individual differences underlying its role. Based on data from 534 questionnaires, this study uses Mplus 8.0 to explore the underlying mechanism between university innovation support and college students’ innovative behavior. Research findings: (1) University innovation support is positively related to college students’ innovative behavior; (2) Creative self-efficacy mediates the relationship between university innovation support and college students’ innovative behavior; (3) Psychological entitlement mediates the relationship between university innovation support and college students’ innovative behavior; (4) Creative self-efficacy and psychological entitlement serve as chain mediators in the relationship between university innovation support and college students’ innovative behavior; (5) Learning goal orientation moderates the relationship between university innovation support and college students’ innovative behavior, such that the positive relationship is stronger when learning goal orientation is high than when it is low. The conclusions of this study can provide important practical guidance for universities to optimize innovation support systems by balancing the intensity of support to avoid the cultivation of students’ psychological entitlement, balancing the rationality and pertinence of support, and, at the same time, paying attention to individual differences in students’ motivation to accurately stimulate college students’ innovative behavior.