Abstract:
Interdependent relationships among various psychological factors are
instrumental in shaping university students’ general behavior toward
entrepreneurship. Our study explored these relationships and their contingent and
moderating effects through various factors, such as need for achievement, selfcontrol, and relational support, and how they influence entrepreneurial behavior,
given the presence of variables like entrepreneurial intention, creativity,
entrepreneurial self-efficacy, educational support, and personal attitudes. Primary
data were collected through a questionnaire circulated among 300 respondents
from two top-tier universities in Pakistan, followed by tests of reliability and
validity both in SPSS and AMOS. The relationship testing was done through
structural equation modeling using AMOS interpreted in terms of Alpha (at three
significance levels) and Beta values for more regressed relationship testing. Results
showed: a) significant behavioral tendencies of university students towards
entrepreneurial behavior; b) the mediating effect of need for achievement was not
significant among entrepreneurial intention and behavior relationship (however,
this effect was significant when tested directly among these two variables); c) the
moderating effect of self-control on the underlining variables was significant as a
whole except for educational support; and d) relational support proved to moderate
the relationship between personal attitudes and entrepreneurial behavior.
