Social Network Support and Entrepreneurial Intention among University Students in China's Border Regions: A Parallel Resource-Cognition Mediation Model
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examines how social network support shapes entrepreneurial intention among university students in China's border regions. Drawing on social network theory, social capital theory, and social cognitive theory, it proposes a parallel mediation model in which social capital represents a resource-acquisition mechanism and entrepreneurial self-efficacy represents a cognition-building mechanism. Data were collected through a stratified questionnaire survey administered via the Wenjuanxing WeChat Mini Program between October and December 2025. After excluding low-quality responses, 9,546 valid cases were retained. Reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, common method bias, structural paths, bootstrap mediation, competing models, and measurement invariance were assessed using SPSS and AMOS. Structural equation modeling showed that social network support positively predicted social capital, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention. Both social capital and entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly mediated this relationship. Competing-model comparison indicated that the parallel mediation model had lower AIC and BIC values than direct-effect, single-mediator, and serial-mediation alternatives. The findings should be interpreted as evidence from a border-region higher education context rather than as evidence of ethnic-group heterogeneity.
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
1. กองบรรณาธิการสงวนสิทธิ์ในการพิจารณาและตัดสินการตีพิมพ์บทความในวารสาร
2. บทความทุกเรื่องจะได้รับการตรวจสอบทางวิชาการโดยผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิ แต่ข้อความและเนื้อหาในบทความที่ตีพิมพ์เป็นความรับผิดชอบของผู้เขียนแต่เพียงผู้เดียว มิใช่ความคิดเห็นและความรับผิดชอบของมหาวิทยาลัยศรีปทุม
3. การคัดลอกอ้างอิงต้องดำเนินการตามการปฏิบัติในหมู่นักวิชาการโดยทั่วไป และสอดคล้องกับกฎหมายที่เกี่ยวข้อง
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood Press.
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Harvard University Press.
Chao, C.-M., & Yu, T.-K. (2022). Undergraduate students' social entrepreneurial intention: The role of individual environmental responsibility and absorptive capacity. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 829319. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.829319
Chen, C. C., Greene, P. G., & Crick, A. (1998). Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers? Journal of Business Venturing, 13(4), 295-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(97)00029-3
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95-S120. https://doi.org/10.1086/228943
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380. https://doi.org/10.1086/225469
Hogberg, L., & Mitchell, C. (2023). Mixed embeddedness and entrepreneurship beyond new venture creation: Opportunity tensions in the case of reregulated public markets. International Small Business Journal, 41(2), 121-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426221083827
Huang, Y., & Zhang, J. (2020). Social media use and entrepreneurial intention: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 48(11), Article e9451. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.9451
Ivanova-Gongne, M., Lang, S., Brannback, M., & Carsrud, A. (2024). Sensemaking by minority entrepreneurs: Role identities and linguistic embeddedness. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 36(2), 239-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2021.1952499
Liao, Y.-K., Nguyen, V. H. A., & Caputo, A. (2022). Unveiling the role of entrepreneurial knowledge and cognition as antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: A meta-analytic study. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 18, 1623-1652. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-022-00803-8
Liñán, F., & Chen, Y.-W. (2009). Development and cross-cultural application of a specific instrument to measure entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(3), 593-617. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00318.x
Neneh, B. N. (2022). Entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention: The role of social support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Studies in Higher Education, 47(3), 587-603. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1770716
Nguyen, T. T., & Phan, H. T. T. (2024). Entrepreneurship environments and entrepreneurial intention: The role of self-efficacy and role model. International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 16. https://doi.org/10.1177/18479790241275925
Otache, I., Edopkolor, J. E., Sani, I. A., & Umar, K. (2024). Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions: Do entrepreneurial self-efficacy, alertness and opportunity recognition matter? The International Journal of Management Education, 22(1), Article 100917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2023.100917
Wang, X.-H., You, X., Wang, H.-P., Wang, B., Lai, W.-Y., & Su, N. (2023). The effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention: Mediation of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and moderating model of psychological capital. Sustainability, 15(3), Article 2562. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032562
Wardana, L. W., Narmaditya, B. S., Wibowo, A., Mahendra, A. M., Wibowo, N. A., Harwida, G., & Rohman, A. N. (2020). The impact of entrepreneurship education and students' entrepreneurial mindset: The mediating role of attitude and self-efficacy. Heliyon, 6(9), Article e04922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04922
Wigren-Kristoferson, C., Brundin, E., Hellerstedt, K., Stevenson, A., & Aggestam, M. (2022). Rethinking embeddedness: A review and research agenda. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 34(1-2), 32-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2021.2021298