Investigating the Relationship between Source of Control and Digital Entrepreneurship Intention with the Moderating Role of Entrepreneurship Education Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Digital entrepreneurship is an emerging approach of innovation, so it is necessary to conduct more studies on this issue. For this purpose, the current research was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between the source of control and the intention of digital entrepreneurship with the moderating role of entrepreneurship education based on the theory of planned behavior. The statistical population of the current study consisted of all students of management, information technology and computer fields of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, of which 380 people were selected by stratified random sampling. The data collection tool in this research was questionnaires  and the validity and reliability of these questionnaires were examined using confirmatory factor analysis. The data was analyzed using the partial least squares method and with the help of SmartPLS software. The findings of the research showed that the source of internal control has a positive and significant relationship with the attitudes and behavioral control of digital entrepreneurship but it does not have a significant relationship with relational mental norms. In addition, entrepreneurship education plays a positive moderating role in the relationships between source of control, planning and digital entrepreneurship intention. At the end of this research, it was suggested that the trainers should pay more attention to the attitude and perceived behaviors of the learners in entrepreneurship training and that these trainings should be related to the source of internal control and planning behaviors (attitude and perceived behaviors) of the learners.

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