


































Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

58 

 

Original Paper 

A Survey of Entrepreneurial Intentions among Chinese College 

Students 

Yin Zhang
1*

 & Yan Wang
2
 

1
 Institute of Higher Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China 

2
 School of Biological Science and medical engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China 

*
 Yin Zhang, Institute of Higher Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China 

 

Received: August 10, 2023     Accepted: August 29, 2023    Online Published: September 7, 2023 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v6n3p58                URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v6n3p58 

 

Abstract 

Entrepreneurial intention is a crucial factor that influences entrepreneurial behavior and can largely 

predict the likelihood of its occurrence. A survey of 321 Chinese college students revealed the 

following findings: 1) The overall level of entrepreneurial intention among Chinese college students is 

at an average level. 2) Entrepreneurship education plays a significant role in enhancing the 

entrepreneurial intention of Chinese college students. 3) Economic factors are the primary motivation 

for Chinese college students to engage in entrepreneurship. 4) The majority of Chinese college students 

prefer opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. 5) The selection of entrepreneurial fields by Chinese 

college students is mainly based on their interests and expertise. 

Keywords 

Entrepreneurial intention, China, College students, Survey 

 

1. Introduction 

Entrepreneurial intention is a crucial factor that influences entrepreneurial behavior and can largely 

predict the likelihood of its occurrence. Bird (1988) defined “entrepreneurial intention” as a 

psychological state in which entrepreneurs focus their attention, energy, and behavior on a specific goal. 

Ajzen (1991) argued that starting a company is considered a rational or predetermined behavior, and 

there is a close relationship between intention and actual behavior. Kruger (1993) stated that 

“entrepreneurial intention” refers specifically to the degree of commitment to starting a business, and 

he regards it as the most important indicator of an individual‟s future implementation of entrepreneurial 

behavior. Bagozzi and Kimmel (1995) posited that entrepreneurial intention is a prerequisite for 

implementing entrepreneurial behavior, an intermediate variable between individual and social factors 



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pointing to entrepreneurial behavior, and an individual‟s subjective attitude towards whether to take 

entrepreneurial action. Although attitudes, beliefs, personality, and demographic characteristics can 

explain entrepreneurial behavior to some extent, intention is the best predictor of planned behavior. 

Davidsson (1995) argued that entrepreneurial intention is the intention or plan to start a company, but 

in actual cases, sometimes it does not directly lead to the occurrence of entrepreneurial behavior. 

Therefore, entrepreneurial intention is a prediction of individual entrepreneurial activities, although not 

perfect, it affects the individual‟s actual entrepreneurial choices. Thompson (2009) defined an 

individual‟s entrepreneurial intention as the belief that an individual plans to start a new business and 

will consciously fulfill these plans at some point in the future.  

As one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, China places significant emphasis on 

fostering entrepreneurship among college students and extensively implements entrepreneurship 

education in universities. Given this context, what is the actual entrepreneurial intention of Chinese 

college students? To address this question, a survey was conducted by the research team to investigate 

the issue. 

 

2. Methods 

What are the methods for assessing the entrepreneurial intentions of college students? Katz and Gartner 

(1986) proposed that entrepreneurial intention can be measured from multiple dimensions, including 

entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and markets. In recent years, Chinese scholars have also studied the issue 

of entrepreneurial intention from different perspectives. For example, Yu (2023) analyzed the factors 

that affect university students‟ entrepreneurial intention from a social network perspective. Xu (2023) 

studied the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy between innovation and entrepreneurship 

education and entrepreneurial intention. Yang and You (2020) investigated the impact of 

entrepreneurial role models on college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions. 

This study employs a self-designed questionnaire to examine the entrepreneurial intentions of Chinese 

college students. The survey further breaks down entrepreneurial intentions into several dimensions, 

including the overall level of entrepreneurial intention among college students, factors that influence 

their entrepreneurial intention, their motivations for entrepreneurship, their intentions regarding the 

types of entrepreneurship, and their preferred fields for entrepreneurship. 

The overall level of entrepreneurial intention among college students is assessed using a 12-item Likert 

scale questionnaire. Each item is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents strong disagreement with 

the statement, 2 represents disagreement, 3 represents neutrality, 4 represents agreement, and 5 

represents strong agreement. The maximum possible score is 60 and the minimum is 12. Higher scores 

indicate stronger entrepreneurial intentions, while lower scores indicate weaker intentions. 

 

 



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Table 1. Likert Questionnaire 

12 Items about Entrepreneurial Intentions 

1. I am full of enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. 

2. Within 5 years of graduation, there is a high probability that I will start a business.  

3. For me, the appeal of being an entrepreneur is greater than being an employee.  

4. I have made detailed plans for starting a business.  

5. I actively learn about entrepreneurship knowledge.  

6. I actively prepare start-up funds for entrepreneurship.  

7. I have carefully considered the direction and products of entrepreneurship. 

8. I have seriously considered forming an entrepreneurial team.  

9. I actively seek suitable entrepreneurial opportunities. 

10. I actively choose courses on entrepreneurship education offered by the school. 

11. I actively participate in school activities related to entrepreneurship education. 

12. I actively participate in entrepreneurship training organized by the government. 

 

As for the factors affecting the entrepreneurial intention of college students, including entrepreneurial 

motivation, preferred types of entrepreneurship, and choice of entrepreneurial fields, the survey 

designed single-choice and multiple-choice questions respectively and analyzed them through methods 

such as statistical frequency. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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3. Sampling 

A total of 400 questionnaires were randomly distributed in this survey, and 350 were collected, with a 

total of 29 invalid questionnaires removed, resulting in a total of 321 valid questionnaires, with an 

actual effective recovery rate of 91.70%. 

 

Table 2. Sample Characteristics 

 

4. Results 

4.1 Overall Entrepreneurial Intentions of College Students 

The results of the analysis of the scores of college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions are as follows: 

the median score of college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions is 36.0, the mode is 36.0, with a 

maximum value of 60.0 and a minimum value of 12.0, a standard deviation of 9.187, and a mean of 

34.28. The scores of entrepreneurial intentions for 25% of college students are below 28 points, while 

those for 50% and 75% of college students are below 36 and 39 points, respectively. The majority of 

students‟ entrepreneurial intention scores are concentrated in the range of 28-39 points. 

Project Number of Samples Percentage（%） 

Gender   

Male 158 49.20% 

Female 163 50.80% 

Major   

Science 23 7.17% 

Engineering 154 47.98% 

Business 45 14.02% 

Art 35 10.90% 

Humanities and social sciences 59 18.38% 

Others 5 1.56% 



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Figure 1. Histogram of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Intention Score 

 

4.2 Factors Affecting College Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions 

In order of the effectiveness of their impact on college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions from high to 

low, the importance ranking of the four factors affecting college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions is 

as follows: entrepreneurship education, personal factors, social environment, and family atmosphere. 

 

Table 3. Influencing Factors of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Intention 

 

Personal 

Element 

Family 

Atmosphere 

Entrepreneurship 

Education 

Social 

Environment 

Total 

Percentage 20.20% 8.40% 57.70% 13.70% 100.00% 

 

4.3 Entrepreneurial Motivations 

This study used a multiple-choice question format to investigate the entrepreneurial motivations of 

college students. According to the data in Table 4, the top three entrepreneurial motivations are: to raise 

income (32.80%), to challenge oneself (28.40%), and to address personal employment (23.50%). 

 

 

 



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Table 4. Multiple Choice Frequency Analysis Table of College Students’ Entrepreneurial 

Motivation 

  

Respond   

N 
Percentage 

(%) 

Percentage of 

Cases (%) 

Main 

reasons for 

starting a 

business 
a
 

Raising income 234 32.8 72.9 

Addressing personal employment 168 23.5 52.3 

Meeting family expectations 27 3.8 8.4 

Getting policy subsidies 67 9.4 20.9 

Challenging oneself 203 28.4 63.2 

Others 15 2.1 4.7 

Amount to   714 100 222.4 

a. Two groups of tabulations when the value is 1. 

 

4.4 Intentions Regarding the Types of Entrepreneurship 

In terms of college students‟ understanding of entrepreneurship, ranked in order of frequency from high 

to low, they are: product researching and developing, starting a company, running a small business, 

engaging freelance, and others. 

 

Table 5. Intentions for Types of Entrepreneurship  

 

Frequency Percentage (%) 

Starting a company 86 27 

Product research and development 183 57 

Running a small business 24 24 

Engaging freelance 19 6 

Others 9 3 

Total 321 100 

 

 

 

 

 



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4.5 Intentions for Entrepreneurial Fields 

The survey found that 42.06% of college students chose to start a business in a field they were 

interested in, while 30.84% chose a field related to their major. The proportion of college students who 

chose to start a business in an industry with low start-up capital and relatively low risk was about 13%. 

 

Table 6. Intentions for Entrepreneurial Fields 

 Frequency Percentage (%) 

Professional related fields 99 30.84 

Hot economic field 35 10.9 

Areas of interest 135 42.06 

Low input and low risk field 42 13.08 

Be uncertain of 9 2.8 

Others 1 0.31 

Total 321 100 

 

5. Conclusions 

From the above survey data, it can be found that: The overall level of entrepreneurial intentions among 

Chinese college students is at an average level. In other words, Chinese college students are not fully 

prepared for entrepreneurship. This conclusion can be corroborated by another survey. A survey report 

released by 500 Global and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Center of Communication 

University of China (2021) pointed out that from the perspective of venture capital institutions, only 

2.12% of college students are “ready entrepreneurs”. 

Among various factors, entrepreneurship education has the greatest impact on college students‟ 

entrepreneurial intentions. This is consistent with the findings of another study conducted by The 

Kauffman Center of Entrepreneurial Leadership on entrepreneurial education programs. The study 

revealed that the proportion of business school graduates who had participated in entrepreneurial 

education programs and started their own businesses or participated in entrepreneurship was more than 

three times that of students who had not received entrepreneurial education training (Charney & 

Libecap, 2000). Personal factors come second. Contrary to many people‟s perceptions, social and 

family factors do not have such a significant impact on college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions. 

Therefore, strengthening entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities has a positive 

significance in enhancing college students‟ entrepreneurial intentions. 



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Economic factors are the main factors affecting college students‟ entrepreneurial motivations. The 

combined proportion of improving income (32.80%) and addressing personal employment (23.50%) is 

more than twice that of challenging oneself (28.40%). Obviously, in the context of a dismal global 

economic situation, motivations to improve income and solve personal employment may become more 

prominent. Even so, realizing self-worth through entrepreneurship is also one of the important pursuits 

of college students. 

Most college students prefer “opportunity-driven entrepreneurship”. Raynolds et al. divided 

entrepreneurship into “necessity-driven entrepreneurship” and “opportunity-driven entrepreneurship” 

(Raynolds, Camp, Bygrave, Autio & Hay, 2001). “Necessity-driven entrepreneurship” is 

entrepreneurship for survival, making entrepreneurship one of the ways for individuals to obtain 

survival, while “opportunity-driven entrepreneurship” is entrepreneurship activities that create or 

discover new market opportunities, making entrepreneurship one of the choices for individuals to seek 

greater development. According to this standard, “necessity-driven entrepreneurship” refers to 

entrepreneurship in the form of running a small business or opening an online store, while 

“opportunity-driven entrepreneurship” refers to entrepreneurship in the form of developing new 

products, developing new projects, or starting a company of a certain scale. In total, 84% of college 

students chose various forms of opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, including product research and 

development and starting a company. The number of necessity-driven entrepreneurs who choose to run 

a small business or become a freelancer is much smaller. 

In selecting fields for entrepreneurship, college students prioritize personal interests, followed by 

preferences for fields related to their academic major. Engaging in fields of interest can enhance 

creativity and motivation among college students, promoting greater investment and perseverance. 

Selecting fields related to their academic major can facilitate the identification of entrepreneurial 

opportunities and advantages within a familiar environment, thereby increasing the likelihood of 

successful and sustainable entrepreneurship. However, a critical consideration for college students is 

achieving a balance between personal interests and professional expertise. 

 

Fund Project 

This study was sponsored by “Jiangsu Provincial Education Science „13th Five-Year Plan‟ Higher 

Education Key Project Integrated Entrepreneurship Education Research in Colleges and Universities: 

Model Construction Based on „CSI‟” (B-a/2018/01/31). 

 

 

 

 

 



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