Effects of Ideological and Political Education and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education on Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intention Among Chinese University Students

The integration of ideological and political education (IPE) with innovation and entrepreneurship education (IEE) is a distinctive feature of Chinese higher education, yet empirical evidence on their combined contribution to entrepreneurial development remains limited. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examined the relationships between IPE, IEE, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students from five universities in Northeast China. Structural equation modeling indicated that both IPE and IEE positively predicted entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention, and that entrepreneurial self-efficacy partially mediated the association between each educational approach and entrepreneurial intention. The two educational approaches were nearly uncorrelated and contributed largely independent shares of explained variance, and the integrated model accounted for substantial variance in both self-efficacy and intention. Robustness checks, including assessments of common method bias and endogeneity, supported the validity of these findings. The results provide empirical evidence that value-based educational experiences contribute to entrepreneurial psychological development alongside skill-based interventions, thereby extending social cognitive theory, and they suggest that the coordinated delivery of ideological-political and entrepreneurship education may cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets more effectively than either approach in isolation.