Interest in entrepreneurial role models predicts the entrepreneurial intentions of Chinese rural college students

Entrepreneurial role models play an important part in the emergence of entrepreneurial intentions. Informed by social learning theory, I investigated the relationship between one’s interest in entrepreneurial role models and one’s own entrepreneurial intentions, considering the potential mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and moderating role of proactive personality. Participants were 494 rural college students in China. The results showed that interest in distant entrepreneurial role models predicted entrepreneurial intentions, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediated the relationship between interest in distant entrepreneurial role models and entrepreneurial intentions. Interest in close entrepreneurial role models also predicted entrepreneurial intentions, but this relationship was not significantly mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Proactive personality moderated the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intentions, such that a more proactive personality was associated with a stronger positive relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. These results reveal possible approaches for encouraging the entrepreneurial intentions of rural college students.