RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP CURRICULUM ON COLLEGE GRADUATES'ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCE IN CHINA

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RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP CURRICULUM ON COLLEGE GRADUATES'ENTREPRENEURIAL

COMPETENCE IN CHINA

JIANXIAN WANG

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Management)

International College,

National Institute of Development Administration

2022

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RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP CURRICULUM ON COLLEGE GRADUATES'ENTREPRENEURIAL

COMPETENCE IN CHINA JIANXIAN WANG International College,

Major Advisor (Associate Professor Aweewan Panyagometh, Ph.D.)

The Examining Committee Approved This Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Management).

Committee Chairperson (Associate Professor Jiafu Su, Ph.D.)

Committee (Assistant Professor Marisa Laokulrach, Ph.D.)

Committee (Professor Bailing Wang, Ph.D.)

Committee ( Zhuoran Zhang, Ph.D.)

Committee (Associate Professor Aweewan Panyagometh, Ph.D.)

Dean (Assistant Professor Sid Suntrayuth, Ph.D.)

_____/_____/_____

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ABST RACT

ABSTRACT

Title of Dissertation RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP OFENTREPRENEURSHIP CURRICULUM ONCOLLEGE

GRADUATES'ENTREPRENEURIALCOMPETENCE IN CHINA

Author Mrs. JIANXIAN WANG

Degree Doctor of Philosophy (Management)

Year 2022

Entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities started from the competition of business plans. Although it has been developed for more than 20 years, it is still dominated by the second class, and entrepreneurship education in the first class is seriously lacking. The main reason lies in the misunderstanding of entrepreneurship education in the field of higher education in China, which believes that entrepreneurship practical education can effectively improve the entrepreneurial competence of college students. Therefore, less attention is paid to entrepreneurship curriculum education. Based on Chinese local data and through detailed data analysis, this study focuses on the first classroom and takes the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums and entrepreneurial competence as the research focus.

This study constructs a research model based on human capital theory and learning theory and collects data by questionnaire survey. Structural equation model (SEM) with AMOS.23 and SPSS.26 was used to test the hypothetical model. This study collected data by surveying of senior students in typical experience universities.

The questionnaires were distributed to the respondents through online surveys. The sampling continued until the quota of approximately 800 samples was collected: 400 samples from universities with typical experience of innovation and entrepreneurship in China and 400 samples from university with non-typical experience of innovation and entrepreneurship in China.

The following results were demonstrated by the study:

1) The development of entrepreneurship curriculum in Chinese colleges and universities can be divided into three stages: entrepreneurship competition guidance

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iv

and training curriculums phase, entrepreneurship general curriculums and discipline curriculums phase, and creative integration phase of interdisciplinary curriculums .

2) In typical experience universities, entrepreneurship curriculums directly and significantly affect college students’ entrepreneurial competence. In non-typical experience universities, entrepreneurship curriculums can not significantly affect college students’ entrepreneurial competence.

3) In typical experience universities, entrepreneurship curriculums can directly and significantly affect entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial willingness and university students’ entrepreneurial competence. In non-typical experience universities, there is no direct relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums and entrepreneurial competence of college students.

4) In typical experience universities, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness have a complete mediating effect on the impact of entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence. In non-typical experience universities, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness have no mediating effect on the impact of entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence.

5) In both types of universities, the entrepreneurial environment support system has good moderation effect in the relationship of entrepreneurship curriculum on college students’ Entrepreneurial Competence.

Based on the research results mentioned above, suggestions can be described as follows: typical experience universities should strengthen the development and teaching of entrepreneurship skills curriculums and further improve the construction of entrepreneurship environment system. Non-typical experience universities should learn from the effective methods of typical experience universities in college students' innovation and entrepreneurship education, especially strengthen the development and teaching of entrepreneurial knowledge literacy curriculum and entrepreneurial development curriculum, and further improve the construction of entrepreneurship environment system.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When I write the acknowledgement, it means that the doctoral study process is to end. The past few years of doctoral study have been a long journey for me. What makes me feel a long time is that I can't remember how many nights I spent studying during my doctoral study. It's less all night, writing essays all night, and writing graduation theses all night. Sometimes I really feel that time passes too slowly.

I want to thank my doctoral supervisor, Aweewan Panyagometh. My doctoral supervisor 's academic level is very high. When I look at her thesis, I admire her in my heart about her careful argument and flowing style of writing. My doctoral supervisor always takes great pains to guide my thesis and my writing level has improved rapidly.

Thanks the doctoral supervisor's industrious cultivation.

I would also like to thank those leaders, teachers, colleagues, classmates and family members who helped me.

Thank you, Dr Zhongwu Li, Dr Marisa Laokulrach, for your wonderful teaching. Their profound professional accomplishment, open thinking ability and rigorous scholarship attitude will benefit me all my life! I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to their!

Thank you to all the leaders and colleagues of my work unit. During my doctoral study, their tolerance and generosity gave me a lot of encouragement.

Thanks to Wang Huilin and other senior brothers and sisters for their support and help.

Finally, I would like to extend my deep apologies and sincere thanks to my family!

Staring out of the window, the light green camphor tree sways gently in the spring wind, as if waving goodbye to me. I know that the new journey of life will begin again.

JIANXIAN WANG September 2022

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Schedule of Entrepreneurship Curriculums in the Nine Pilot Universities29

Table 2.2 Entrepreneurship Curriculum Design Table of Non-pilot Universities ... 31

Table 2.3 State Ministries and Commissions Issued Policies on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education for College Students ... 38

Table 2.4 A List of Policies Related to Entrepreneurship Curriculums in Universities ... 42

Table 2.5 List of Representative Achievements of Theoretical Research on Entrepreneurship Curriculums ... 53

Table 2.6 Theoretical Framework of the Curriculum Content of Innovative Entrepreneurship Education in Universities ... 65

Table 2.7 The Content of Innovative Entrepreneurship Education in Cognitive Level ... 66

Table 2.8 The Content of Innovative Entrepreneurship Education in the Affective Level ... 67

Table 2.9 Innovative Entrepreneurship Education Curriculum in the Psychomotor (Ability) Level ... 68

Table 2.10 A list of the Connotation of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy ... 73

Table 2.11 Measurement Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy ... 76

Table 2.12 The Concept of Entrepreneurial Willingness ... 81

Table 2.13 Entrepreneurial Willingness Dimension ... 82

Table 2.14 Summary of Research Hypothesis ... 96

Table 3.1 Number of Universities with Typical Experience in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China Over the Years ... 125

Table 3.2 The Questionnaires Distributed in Universities with Typical Experience in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Jiangsu Province... 128

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Table 3.3 The Questionnaires Distributed in Universities with Non-typical

Experience in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Jiangsu Province ... 129

Table 3.4 Scale of Entrepreneurship Curriculums in Universities ... 131

Table 3.5 Scale of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy ... 133

Table 3.6 Scale of Entrepreneurial Willingness ... 134

Table 3.7 Scale of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 134

Table 3.8 Scale of University Entrepreneurship Environment Support System ... 135

Table 3.9 Questionnaire Items and Sources ... 136

Table 3.10 T test of the Relationship Scale of Entrepreneurship Curriculum on College Graduates’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 140

Table 3.11 Statistical Results of Basic Information Characteristics of Pretest Study Samples (N = 202) ... 159

Table 3.12 Pretest Sample Item Descriptive Statistics (N = 202) ... 162

Table 3.13 Reliability Analysis of Variables ... 164

Table 3.14 KMO and Bartlett’s Test... 167

Table 3.15 Total Variance Explained ... 167

Table 3.16 Rotated Component Matrix ... 168

Table 4.1 Demographic Characteristics (Typical University) ... 174

Table 4.2 Demographic Characteristics (Non-typical University) ... 176

Table 4.3 Normal Distribution Test (Typical University) ... 178

Table 4.4 Normal Distribution Test (Non-typical University) ... 179

Table 4.5 Reliability Analysis of Variables (Typical University) ... 182

Table 4.6 Reliability Analysis of Variables (Non-typical University) ... 184

Table 4.7 KMO and Bartlett’s Test (Typical University) ... 186

Table 4.8 KMO and Bartlett’s Test (Non-typical University) ... 187

Table 4.9 Total Variance Explained (Typical University) ... 188

Table 4.10 Total Variance Explained (Non-typical University) ... 188

Table 4.11 Rotated Component Matrix (Typical University) ... 189

Table 4.12 Rotated Component Matrix (Non-typical University) ... 190

Table 4.13 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model Fit Indices (Typical University) . 195 Table 4.14 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model Fit Indices (Non-typical University) ... 196

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Table 4.15 Factor Analysis Results (Typical University) ... 197

Table 4.16 Factor Analysis Results (Non-typical University) ... 199

Table 4.17 Discriminative Validity (Typical University) ... 201

Table 4.18 Discriminative Validity (Non-typical University) ... 201

Table 4.19 SEM Goodness-of-Fit Statistics... 204

Table 4.20 SEM Path Analysis Data... 205

Table 4.21 Hypothetical Path Test Results Comparison of Two Types of Universities ... 213

Table 4.22 Mediating Effect Hypothesis Testing Results Between the Two Types of Universities ... 217

Table 4.23 Mediation Effect Hypothesis Testing Results Comparison between Two Types of Universities ... 223

Table 4.24 Moderating Effect Test Data of EE on the Relationship between EC and ES ... 227

Table 4.25 Hypothesis Testing Results Comparison of EE as a Moderating Variable between EC and ES ... 231

Table 4.26 Moderating Effect Test Data of EE on the Relationship between EC and EW ... 232

Table 4.27 Hypothesis Testing Results Comparison of EE as a Moderating Variable between EC and EW ... 235

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LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 2.1 The Connotation of Entrepreneurial Competence ... 88

Figure 2.2 Three-dimensional Iceberg Model of Entrepreneurial Competence ... 90

Figure 2.3 Theoretical Model ... 95

Figure 2.4 Theoretical Sources ... 96

Figure 2.5 Relationship between Curriculum and Competence ... 97

Figure 2.6 Relationship of Entrepreneurship Curriculum Directly Affecting University Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 102

Figure 2.7 Relationship between Curriculum, Self-Efficacy and Competence ... 103

Figure 2.8 The Impact of Entrepreneurship Curriculums on Entrepreneurial Self- efficacy ... 104

Figure 2.9 The Impact of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy on College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 106

Figure 2.10 Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy on the Influence Relationship of Entrepreneurship Curriculums on College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 107

Figure 2.11 The Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy ... 108

Figure 2.19 The Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy ... 110 Figure 2.20 The Relationship between Curriculum, Willingness and Competence . 111

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Figure 2.21 The Impact of College Entrepreneurship Curriculum on Entrepreneurial

Willingness ... 112

Figure 2.22 The Impact of Entrepreneurial Willingness on Entrepreneurial Competence of College Students ... 114

Figure 2.23 Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Willingness on the Influence Relationship of Entrepreneurship Curriculums on College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence ... 115

Figure 2.24 The Mediating Effect of Entrepreneurial Willingness ... 116

Figure 2.33 The Moderating Variable of Entrepreneurial Environment Support System ... 119

Figure 2.34 The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Environment Support System ... 121

Figure 2.35 The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Environment Support System ... 122

Figure 4.1 SEM Diagram (Typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship) ... 203

Figure 4.2 SEM Diagram (Non-typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship) ... 203

Figure 4.3 Moderating Effect of Typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 229

Figure 4.4 The Moderating Effect of Non-typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 230

Figure 4.5 The Moderating Effect of Typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 233

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Figure 4.6 The Moderating Effect of Non-typical Experience Universities in

Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 235 Figure 5.1 Analysis Chart of Entrepreneurship Curriculum Affect College Students’

Entrepreneurial Competence in Typical Experience Universities in

Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 249 Figure 5.2 Analysis Chart of Entrepreneurship Curriculum Affect College Students’

Entrepreneurial Competence in Non-typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 250 Figure 5.3 Analysis Chart of Entrepreneurship Curriculum Affect the Development

of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence in Typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 252 Figure 5.4 Analysis Chart of Entrepreneurship Curriculum Affect the Development

of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence in Non-typical

Experience Universities In Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 253 Figure 5.5 The Mediating Effect of The Variable “EE” and “EW” on the

Relationship between EC and CP in Typical Experience Universities in Innovation and Entrepreneurship ... 254 Figure 5.6 The Mediating Effect of the Variable “EE” and “EW” on the Relationship between EC and CP ... 256 Figure 5.7 The Moderating Effect of the Variable “EE” on the Relationship between

EC, EW and ES ... 258

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

Entrepreneurial activities play an important role in promoting national economic and social development. Entrepreneurial activities can drive social change and technological innovation, create wealth and job opportunities, and contribute to economic growth. New products and services created by start-ups can have a knock- on effect, stimulating relevant enterprises or sectors and supporting new enterprises and promoting economic development and employment, for example, policy support from government departments, capital investment, upstream and downstream enterprises of products and qualified labor force (S. Seth, 2021). David Birch published a research report titled “The Job Generation Process”, revealing the important role of entrepreneurial activities in economic development and employment promotion in The United States. In The United States, 99% of enterprises are small businesses, which create 90% of new jobs (Potter, 2008). In China, it should be noted that with the aging of China’s population and the gradual disappearance of surplus cheap rural labor force, China’s comparative advantage based on traditional demographic dividend, land and other cheap factors is gradually losing, and it is urgent to carry out the transformation of development mode. Faced with the new situation, Premier Keqiang L. called for mass entrepreneurship and innovation initiative in September 2014. A series of documents of the party’s and state’s are pointed out that this initiative is the important way to realize the economic growth mode transformation and to optimize and upgrade industrial structure, also is the important engine of economic development of our country the current steady growth, promoting the reform, restructuring, livelihood, and building new kinetic energy (E.-

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L. Du, 2019). Innovation and entrepreneurship will be a major measure for China’s economic and social development in the future.

Economic and social transformation and upgrading require more and more ability of entrepreneurs. The rapid development of information technology and economic globalization makes business competition more intense and has also spawned more emerging industries, which means more entrepreneurial opportunities that need technical support. At the same time, entrepreneurship based on knowledge innovation also requires more diversified knowledge background of entrepreneurs.

During the period of “fourth Industrial Revolution”, innovation-driven economic development model has been attached great importance by governments of various countries, such as “Industrial Internet in the United States”, “Industry 4.0 in Germany” and “Made in China 2025” and other innovative development strategies of various countries around the world, which have brought new opportunities to scientific and technological entrepreneurship. The new situation requires entrepreneurs not only to have a deep technical background, but also a keen ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunities. These scientific and technological achievements and the change of economic environment put forward higher requirements for entrepreneurs’ competence. There will be fewer and fewer opportunities to succeed in entrepreneurship based on factor input, and entrepreneurship based on innovation, knowledge and wisdom will become the mainstream. Now, Chinese economic development model is transforming from factor- driven to innovation-driven and technology-driven. As an activity rich in knowledge and high intellectual skills, the importance of knowledge and technology entrepreneurship has attracted more and more attention from the country and society.

College students are high-level talents with deep professional and technical knowledge and ability, and are the major groups technological entrepreneurship in the future. Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education for college students is a strategic measure to build an innovative country in China.

Entrepreneurship can be taught. The rich diversity of the definition of

“entrepreneurship” has led to a wide discussion on whether entrepreneurship can be taught in the academic world (Klein & Bruce, 2016). Scholars divide entrepreneurship education into three types: education about entrepreneurship, education for

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entrepreneurship and education through entrepreneurship. According to the different value orientation of entrepreneurship education, some aspects of entrepreneurship can be taught and some aspects of entrepreneurship cannot be taught (David Rae & Mary Carswell, 2001). For example, entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial traits can be taught (Kirby, 2004);(X. Yin, 2017), but entrepreneurial risk-taking and ingenuity are harder to teach (Y. Zhang & Zheng, 2006). Entrepreneurship education practice around the world has proved that entrepreneurship education brought huge role in promoting to the country’s economic and social development and employment.

Colleges and universities of developed countries have established a perfect curriculum system of innovation and entrepreneurship and have achieved excellent teaching effects on entrepreneurship. Since 1947, professor Myles Mace of Harvard Business School (HBS) opened the first entrepreneurship curriculum “New Venture Management” for MBA students, and entrepreneurship education has been developing in the world’s higher education system for more than 70 years (Katz, 2003).

Nowadays, more than 500 universities and colleges in the United States have established major, minor or certificate programs in entrepreneurship, which can offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctor’s degrees. More than 5,000 entrepreneurship curriculums have been opened. The complete curriculum system plays a positive role in improving the entrepreneurial competence of American college students. The entrepreneurial rate of American college students is as high as 21% -24%, and 77% of them come from non-business schools, and the entrepreneurial success rate reaches 20% (Daim, 2009).

The construction of curriculum system of innovation and entrepreneurship must be based on the accurate understanding of the outstanding practical characteristics of it, and must be the construction of a “practice-oriented” system. The practicalization of curriculum system of entrepreneurship education includes two aspects: “practicalization of curriculum content” and “practicalization of teaching methods”. The curriculumization of entrepreneurial practice system means that students can apply the entrepreneurial theoretical knowledge they have learned through entrepreneurial practice and accumulate relevant entrepreneurial experience in practice. The entrepreneurship practice system includes competitions, parks and activities. The theory of entrepreneurship curriculums set up in the “results display

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module”. Business practice curriculum set up in “entrepreneurial experience activities”, hacker space, and entrepreneurship competition activities. The colleges and universities have built a comprehensive three-dimensional theory and practice of entrepreneurship education system.

In China, according to the 2019 Employment Report on Chinese College Students, only 1.8% of college graduates in 2018 started their own businesses, and the success rate was even lower (Zhu, Ma, & Zhao, 2021). Entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities began with the first “Challenge Cup” university business plan competition held by Tsinghua University in 1998. Therefore, college student innovation and entrepreneurship competition has become the main education method in the initial stage of entrepreneurship education in China (Z. Wang, 2021). In 2006, the Chinese government put forward the strategy of independent innovation and building an innovative country. Since then, innovation and entrepreneurship have become the main theme of China’s economic and social development (Fang & Zhang, 2016). However, the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship education in developed countries has showed that it was impossible to improve the entrepreneurial competence of college students only by providing them with a basic curriculum of entrepreneurship. Based on the above understanding, typical experience universities in innovation and entrepreneurship have built a rich innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum system. On the contrary, due to the lack of professional entrepreneurship teachers and insufficient attention to the education of entrepreneurship curriculums, most universities with “non-typical experience entrepreneurship” in China have not realized the important role of entrepreneurship curriculums in the cultivation of college students’ entrepreneurial competence (Teng, 2021). Based on the investigation of senior students in Chinese universities, this paper reveals the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’

entrepreneurial competence through the investigation of entrepreneurship literacy of senior college students who have taken entrepreneurship curriculums. Government policy makers, administrators of universities, and teachers of entrepreneurship and college students are fully aware of the promotion effect of entrepreneurship curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial competence, rather than just emphasizing the cultivation of entrepreneurship competition and entrepreneurship

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practice on college students’ entrepreneurial competence. To China building of an innovation nation, the key measure is to improve the innovation quality of the people.

As the main force of the future development, college students should strengthen the overall improvement of the innovation quality and entrepreneurial ability, rather than simply requiring the establishment of enterprises.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities began with the first

“challenge cup” university business plan competition held by Tsinghua University in 1998. Therefore, business plan competition has become the main educational mode in the initial stage of entrepreneurship education in China. In 2012, the Ministry of Education issued the outline of “Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship for College Students”, requiring that the curriculum of “Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship for College Students” be offered to undergraduates across the country. This means starting to pay attention to and promote entrepreneurship education at the national level. However, due to the lack of professional entrepreneurship teachers and insufficient attention to entrepreneurship curriculum education and other factors, the number of entrepreneurship curriculums in various universities is insufficient, and they do not realize the important role of entrepreneurship curriculums in the cultivation of college students entrepreneurial competence.

Entrepreneurial competence focuses on the competencies that are more critical to entrepreneurial success. It can be fostered through entrepreneurship education (Dickson & Weaver, 2008; Etzkowitz, 2014; Jain, 2011; Nabi, Nabi, & Liñán, 2011).

Existing literature studies show that entrepreneurial education can promote the improvement of entrepreneurial competence (Detienne & Chandler, 2004; Lorz, Mueller, & Volery, 2013). Entrepreneurial learning has forcefully affected entrepreneurial competence (Hao, Ogilvie, & Yu, 2010; Hytti, Matlay, Stenholm, Heinonen, & Seikkula-Leino, 2010; Priyanto & Sandjojo, 2005). Entrepreneurship education includes a wide range of contents, including theory, practice and competition, among which entrepreneurship curriculums are only one component.

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Therefore, entrepreneurship curriculums have forcefully affected entrepreneurial competence, but the extent of the impact is rarely mentioned in current studies.

In general, entrepreneurship curriculums are very effective at encouraging first-time entrepreneurship. It not only activates students’ entrepreneurial tendencies and career aspirations (Jones et al., 2008), but also can effectively improve their entrepreneurial efficacy (H. Zhao, Seibert, & Hills, 2005), stimulate entrepreneurial behavior (Karlsson & Moberg, 2013). At present, Chinese academic circles have studied the relationship between entrepreneurship education and college students’

entrepreneurial self-efficacy with the path of practical education. However, the research on improving college students’ self-efficacy through curriculum path is few.

Through investigation and research in the west countries, it is found that entrepreneurship curriculums can effectively improve entrepreneurial attitude, enhance participants’ entrepreneurial tendency and perception of feasibility (Pihie &

Bagheri, 2010). In China, there is still few empirical study on the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums conducted with Chinese data and college students’

entrepreneurial willingness. Therefore, it is necessary to demonstrate the impact of entrepreneurship curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial willingness through Chinese local survey data.

Furthermore, it is well known that entrepreneurship education and learning are affected by external environment (Jozsi et al., 2000). Therefore, the influence relationship of entrepreneurship curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial competence is bound to be affected by many factors, such as external supporting environment, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, personal traits, etc. However, the existing few research results have taken these factors into comprehensive consideration in the training and development process of college students’ entrepreneurial competence.

Given the facts of above, this study seeks to address the following questions:

1) How have entrepreneurship curriculums developed in universities in China?

2) Does entrepreneurship curriculums developed have an impact on improving college students' entrepreneurial competence?

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3) How does the study of entrepreneurship curriculums affect the development of college students’ entrepreneurial competence in typical experience universities and non-typical experience universities?

4) Do entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness play a role in the mechanism of entrepreneurship curriculum affecting college students' entrepreneurial competence in typical experience universities and non- typical experience universities?

5) How to adjust the content of entrepreneurship curriculum to better cultivate the entrepreneurial competence of college students’ in China in typical experience universities and non-typical experience universities?

6) What supporting systems of entrepreneurial environment are needed to achieve this goal in typical experience universities and non-typical experience universities?

1.3 Research Gap

According to pedagogy learning theory, learning can be transformed into ability. This theory has been widely applied in the field of pedagogy. In the field of management, entrepreneurship is also recognized and recognized by the academic community, and curriculumization is the main way to transform entrepreneurial knowledge. At present, there are only a few studies in this area. McCuddy (2007) believes, in order to enhance their entrepreneurial competencies, the education of entrepreneurial competencies should be integrated in all parts of the university curriculum. Moreover, asentrepreneurial behavior adds value, both in small and large organizations, students would benefit from a new educational approach.According to the opinion of Olokundun et al. (2018) entrepreneurship curriculum can develop entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, and raise interest towards entrepreneurship (Olokundun et al., 2018). Mojab, Zaefarian, and Azizi (2011) suggested that the

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design of an entrepreneurship curriculum may stimulate the development of entrepreneurial knowledge and the practice of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, in 2016 EU developed entrepreneurship competence framework (EntreComp) includes 15 entrepreneurial competences, And industrial economical area competences hints engineering (IEE) can effectively improve 10 of entrepreneurship competences (Strauti, Dumitrache, & Taucean, 2018). In this paper, entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence are effectively combined, and the important role of entrepreneurship curriculums as an important part of entrepreneurship theory learning on the improvement of college students’

entrepreneurial competence is discussed. This effectively complements the content of entrepreneurial management theory.

1.3.1 Practice gap

1.3.1.1 Further Improve the Research on Entrepreneurial Competence

Although the research on college students’ entrepreneurial competence has made some achievements. However, it is undeniable that there are still many mysteries and it is still in the early stages of exploration (Mitchelmore & Rowley, 2010). It is well known that entrepreneurship education and learning are affected by the external environment (Jozsi et al., 2000). Therefore, the influence relationship of entrepreneurship curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial competence is bound to be affected by many factors, such as external supporting environment, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, personal traits, etc.

However, the existing research results have not taken these factors into comprehensive consideration in the cultivation and development process of college students’ entrepreneurial competence. This results in a great deviation between the theoretical research results and the practice of college students’ entrepreneurial competence training. In fact, there are different dimensions of college students’

entrepreneurial competence. It can be divided into entrepreneurial potential

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competency, entrepreneurial knowledge competency, and entrepreneurial skill competency (Mu, 2008). The teaching content of each type of competency cultivation is different, so it is necessary to further refine it based on the existing theoretical research and analyze the effects of different types of curriculums on the cultivation of different competencies.

1.3.1.2 There is Not Much Basic Research on Chinese Entrepreneurs’ Localized Entrepreneurial Competence

The concept of entrepreneurial competence was first put forward by foreign scholars, and then they carried out a series of effective theoretical interpretations and empirical research on the connotation, structure, influencing factors, and development methods of entrepreneurial competence. Comparatively speaking, the existing relevant researches of Chinese scholars mainly borrow the research results of foreign scholars and use Chinese data to carry out empirical studies on the influencing factors and performance effects of entrepreneurial competence.

However, there is no local basic research on the dimension division of entrepreneurial competence composition, the construction of measurement index system and the development of measurement scale according to the characteristics of the Chinese local situation. Therefore, if the cultivation relationship of college students’

entrepreneurial competence is studied based on the actual entrepreneurial education in Chinese colleges and universities, it is of great practical value to the construction of China’s innovation-oriented national strategy.

1.4 Research Objective

The objective of this study is to analyze the correlation between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence and its influencing factors by investigating the learning situation of entrepreneurship curriculums among junior and senior students in Chinese colleges and universities.

1) First, to understand the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence. In the research on the correlation between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’

entrepreneurial competence, the study can effectively prove that entrepreneurship on

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college students’ entrepreneurial competence to improve the important role, so as to deepen the higher school leadership and teachers understanding of entrepreneurship important role, to accelerate the development of entrepreneurship in colleges and universities, to optimize the existing entrepreneurship curriculum system, to increase the rate of Chinese college students entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success rate to provide strong support. This paper introduces two mediating variables. Through questionnaire survey and statistical analysis, this study demonstrated the mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and college students’ entrepreneurial willingness in the influence of entrepreneurship curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial competence.

2) Second, to understand the mediating effects of entrepreneurial self- efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness on entrepreneurship curriculum and entrepreneurial competency. The research has shown that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is not a personal trait or ability but can be improved through entrepreneurial education and practical training (T. Luo, 2017a). Higher self-efficacy can promote the individual’s learning ability and risk tolerance (Tsai, Chang, & Peng, 2016). C. Li and Zhang (2018) believe that the purpose of college entrepreneurship education is not to require college students to start their own businesses immediately, but to edify and enlighten them with innovative consciousness. Entrepreneurial education will promote the awakening of college students’ entrepreneurial awareness, which is to let students learn to think actively, improve their self-evaluation, and improve their sense of personal self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial willingness has a dominant effect on the attitude and behavior of individuals in entrepreneurial behavior. This makes college students have a stronger sense of independent learning. Entrepreneurs with strong entrepreneurial willingness will be more daring to try, willing to bear the risk of entrepreneurial failure. This study will improve entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness through entrepreneurship curriculums, and ultimately achieve the purpose of improving entrepreneurial competency.

3) Third, to understand the moderating effects of university environmental support system on the curriculum conversion into entrepreneurial self- efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness. Entrepreneurship education is influenced by the support system of entrepreneurship environment. The university entrepreneurship

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environment support system includes an internal support system and an external support system. The internal support system mainly includes organizational structure, teaching staff, practice platform, curriculum system, and so on. The external support system mainly includes policy support, participation organization, economic aid, and so on. In the research on the correlation between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence, this paper takes the entrepreneurial environment support system as the moderating variable of the research on the correlation between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’

entrepreneurial competence. Through investigation, this study summarizes the moderating effects of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness on the correlation between entrepreneurship curriculums and entrepreneurial competence of college students.

1.5 Research Significance

1.5.1 Academic Contribution

This study is a supplement and improvement of the research theory of entrepreneurial competence. The study aims to bridge college students’ learning- ability gap by measuring the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness and the moderating effect of college environmental support system.

In this paper, entrepreneurship curriculums are introduced into the research of college students’ entrepreneurial competence, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial willingness and entrepreneurial environment supporting system are taken as variables into this research system. This is expected to enrich the theories related to entrepreneurial competence and provide a new research perspective for the study of entrepreneurial competence. Based on the empirical study of the survey data in China, this study can provide Chinese material for the theory of global entrepreneurship management and improve the theoretical system of global entrepreneurship management.

The academic circle has demonstrated that entrepreneurial education can cultivate entrepreneurial competence. As an integral part of entrepreneurship

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education, the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculums and college students’ entrepreneurial competence has also been studied. However, the content of the study is not comprehensive enough, and the depth of the study can be further explored. At the same time, the influence and the mediating role of many factors in the cultivation and development of college students’ entrepreneurial competence have not been considered, which leads to a large deviation between the theoretical research results and the practice of college students’ entrepreneurial competence cultivation.

Besides, there are different dimensions of college students’ entrepreneurial competence, and the teaching content for the cultivation of each kind of competence is different. Existing studies are also not broken down. This study introduced entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness as mediating variables, environmental support systems as moderating variables, and college students’ traits as controlling variables. Based on the existing theoretical research, this paper further refined the different competency types, and empirically analyzed the training effects of different types of curriculums on different competencies, to promote the academic research on college students’ entrepreneurial competence to be more comprehensive and in-depth.

1.5.2 Practical Contribution

The results of this study will provide valuable information on how to improve the teachers and students’ understanding of the importance of entrepreneurship corriculums and change the entrepreneurial competence behavior of college students, which is significance to Chinese national entrepreneurial literacy promotion.

Entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities started from the competition of business plans. Although it has been developed for more than 20 years, it is still dominated by the second class, and entrepreneurship education in the first class is seriously lacking. The main reason lies in the misunderstanding of entrepreneurship education in the field of higher education in China, which believes that entrepreneurship practical education can effectively improve the entrepreneurial competence of college students. Therefore, less attention is paid to entrepreneurship curriculum education. Based on Chinese local data and through detailed data analysis, this study demonstrates that entrepreneurship curriculums is available for the

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cultivation of college students’ entrepreneurial competence. At the same time, this study is helpful to reverse the understanding of the importance of entrepreneurship curriculums and strengthen the construction of entrepreneurship curriculums.

At present, China is in a period of finishing the first goal in one hundred (the founding in one hundred, the national economy more development, the national various system to be more perfect), and opening the second goal in one hundred (to the century in one hundred, the founding of the basic modernization, build prosperous democratic civilized socialist countries). It is a critical period when the economic development paradigm changes from efficiency-driven to innovation-driven, which urgently needs a large number of high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

The innovation and entrepreneurship activities of Chinese college students have also been greatly improved, which can make a greater contribution to the construction of an innovative country. Therefore, this study can provide theoretical support for the improvement of college students’ entrepreneurial competence, promote the improvement of the success rate of college students’ entrepreneurship, and contribute to the construction of a national innovative economy.

Also, this study is conducive to promoting the prosperity and development of China’s private economy. For a long time, China’s private economy is not high in science and technology, and most of it is labor-intensive. This does not match the strategy of being an innovative nation. Undergraduate entrepreneurship is a kind of high-tech entrepreneurship, which is based on the transformation of innovative knowledge. Improving the entrepreneurship rate and success rate of college students is conducive to promoting the transformation and development of China’s private economy. This study provides a new training path for improving college students’

entrepreneurial competence. It can effectively improve the competence of college students, especially those with entrepreneurial willingness, and improve their entrepreneurial success rate.

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theory

2.1.1 Human Capital Theory

The human capital theory is an important theory of modern western economics. The human capital theory puts forward that population quality is more important than population quantity, human capital investment is more important than material capital investment, and education investment is the core of human capital investment. This theory has changed the economic theory pattern which takes the material capital investment as the leading and has opened up a new research field for economics (Huang, 2020). This section elaborates mainly from classical human capital thought, modern human capital theory, and so on.

Classical human capital thought

Although the concept of human capital was not clearly put forward in early western economic research, some classical economists’ works have contained the simple human capital thought.

1) William Patty’s thought on human capital

William Petty (1623-1687) was one of the earliest English classical political economists who discussed the thought of human capital. He emphasized the importance of labor in the creation of economic value and made a famous statement that “land is the mother of wealth, while labor is the father and dynamic element of wealth”, giving full affirmation to the creation of value by labor. At the same time, he also pointed out that although the economic value is embedded in the labor process of workers, there are some differences in the ability and quality of different workers, and the ability to work and create economic value reflected by them is also different (Qian

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Chen, 2019). In fact, it acknowledges that labor, namely human capital, plays an important role in the process of creating economic value (Qian Chen, 2019). He calculated that the value of money per person in Britain was about £80 and that the average monetary value of the adult population was twice that of the minor population. Based on this discovery, he compared and analyzed the value of weapons and equipment lost in the war and the value of population sacrificed, and proposed a new direction for the economic and social development of Britain. So far, William Petty’s understanding of labor value has realized the change from affirmation and recognition of labor economic value to estimation and measurement of population value, that is, human capital value.

2) Adam Smith’s thought on human capital

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a famous British classical economist and the founder of western economics. His book The Wealth of Nations was the first classic to systematically expound issues related to human capital. Adam Smith’s human capital thought mainly includes the following four aspects: firstly, the ability is a kind of self-induced resource, which can be acquired through acquired education or practice (A. Liu, 2017). Secondly, education is an investment activity with the ultimate goal of developing intelligence and ability. Individuals acquire talents through educational investment and earn higher returns in the future. Third, education has positive externalities, which can improve the level of economic development through the spillover effect. Fourth, cultural education has the property of quasi- public goods and should be provided and enforced by the state.

3) David Ricardo’s thoughts on human capital

David Ricardo (1772-1823) is the main successor and promoter of Adam Smith’s liberal economic theory. His book Political Economy and the Principles of Taxation, completed and published in 1817, focused on his economic thinking. David Ricardo’s thought of human capital is embedded in the discussion of creating national wealth. First of all, in terms of education investment, he believes that the educational investment made by all the residents of a country to acquire labor skills should be regarded as the capital form realized and carried by individuals.

Secondly, in terms of creating national wealth, Ricardo believed that using more income to maintain productive labor and improving the production efficiency of the

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same amount of labor were two important ways to increase national wealth. As Ricardo put it in his book, the increase in wealth “depends chiefly on the actual fertility of the soil, the accumulation of capital and population, and the technology, ingenuity, and tools employed in agriculture” (C. Tian, 2003). Third, there are relative differences in the types and levels of labor production skills in different countries, and the resulting relative cost differences. Therefore, in the process of trade between countries, they should export products with comparative advantages and import products with comparative disadvantages. Therefore, it is of great significance to emphasize the human capital status to improve the efficiency of social production and to establish and maintain the status and advantages of a country in international trade.

4) John Stuart Mill’s thought on human capital

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) cited in C. Tian (2003) was a famous British classical political economist. The book Principles of Political Economy (1848) focuses on Mill’s thoughts on wealth and its production and distribution, and his thoughts on human capital are revealed in the process of redefining wealth. Mill’s human capital thought mainly includes the following aspects: firstly, wealth is not just money and precious metals in the eyes of mercantilism, but “all useful or desirable goods with exchange value”, which also includes the skills of laborers. He argued that the workers “skill, energy, and fortitude” may be as much a national treasure as the instruments they use. This labor skill is a durable property, and although the skill itself cannot be transferred to the buyer in isolation, the use of the skill can be transferred to the buyer. Skills can’t be sold, they can be hired (A. Liu, 2017).

Secondly, education and training are the main means of production that generate human capital. Third, to encourage and promote the development of basic education, the state should provide more support from the aspects of education legislation and financial subsidies, such as the compulsory implementation of basic education through legislation and provision of school grants for children from poor families, but the specific establishment of basic education should be left to qualified and competent educators. At the same time, he argues that state spending on education will generate more revenue and wealth in the future and will be compatible with another public spending.

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5) Alfred Marshall’s thought on human capital

Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) cited in Marshall (2009) was a famous British economist. He was also the founder of contemporary economics and the founder of the modern microeconomic system. In his book Principles of Economics, completed and published in 1890, Marshall paid attention to the quality of the labor force when arguing the factors of the labor force that promoted economic growth.

First of all, Marshall emphasized the importance of education in improving the quality of workers. The process of laborers receiving an education is also the process of scientific knowledge transmission and development. Scientific knowledge is the wealth not only of a nation but of the world. Secondly, Marshall also emphasized the important role of general education and vocational education. In his opinion, the working ability can be divided into general ability and specialized ability. General education is used to develop the general ability of workers, while vocational education is used to cultivate specialized skills applicable to special industries.

Vocational education should take the development of ability as the goal like general education. Third, Marshall also attached importance to the influence of family environment on the cultivation of workers’ quality, which was reflected by parents’

cultivation of the general ability of their minor children, and by the family’s investment in their children’s education. Among them, the social class and status of the family play a particularly important role. “The advantage that upper-class people have over lower-class people is largely due to better access and career opportunities given to them by their parents”.

6) Karl Marx’s thought of human capital

Karl Marx (Carl Heinrich Marx, 1818-1883) cited in Cheng (2019), one of the founders of Marxism, was a famous German thinker, politician, philosopher, economist, revolutionary theorist, and sociologist. Although Marx did not clearly put forward the concept of human capital, nor did he carry out targeted and systematic research on the related issues of human capital, we can still grasp his human capital thought from the theory of surplus-value. Marx’s thought of human capital mainly includes the following four aspects: First, the concept and connotation of human capital. In essence, the “labor force” or “labor capacity” in Marx’s theory is the same as the “human capital”.

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Marx’s human capital thought also points out that human capital can be acquired through education, training, and learning through hard work, which has the characteristics of value-added (essential characteristics), heterogeneity, and specificity. Also, according to Marx’s discussion about simple labor and complex labor, human capital can be divided into two types: high-level human capital and low- level human capital. Secondly, on the investment and accumulation of human capital.

From the perspective of capital accumulation, human capital is a special form of

“general capital”, and its accumulation process has the feature of a “spiral” of continuous expansion. Specifically, the speed of human capital accumulation will accelerate with the increase of individual knowledge and skills. At the same time, human capital accumulation also has the characteristics of dynamic and timeliness.

From the perspective of Marx’s labor theory of value and the theory of relative overpopulation, he emphasized the importance of human capital investment not only because it is the starting point of human capital accumulation and can enhance the value of human capital, but also in adapting to the technological development and alleviating structural unemployment. From the perspective of Marx’s wage theory and surplus value theory, he believes that the value of labor force is “the value of maintaining the means of living needed by the owners of the labor force”, while the wage is the transformation form or price of the value of labor force. The value of labor determines the price base of labor, and the price fluctuates around the value under the influence of external supply and demand relations. In addition, Marx’s research on profit rate also reveals that the important factor affecting human capital investment is the expected rate of return on investment of human capital, that is, individuals will only invest in certain knowledge, skills, or experience when they believe that it will bring higher returns in the future, otherwise they will not invest in it. Thirdly, about human capital property rights. Marx believed that property rights to Labour were separable, saying: “The laborer must always allow the buyer to control his Labour only temporarily for a certain period... He does not relinquish his ownership of his Labour when he relinquishes it. At the same time, he noted that the separation of property rights would expose capitalists to moral hazard. To minimize this risk, capitalists need to combine positive incentives such as wages and compensation incentives with negative ones such as supervision and punishment.

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Besides, Marx also emphasized the importance of matching human capital and material capital in the process of value creation. “Labor productivity depends not only on the skill of the worker but also on the perfection of his tools”. Finally, the interrelationship between human capital and technological progress. Marx believed that the accumulation of human capital is an important basis for scientific and technological progress, and its accumulation degree affects the speed, depth, and breadth of scientific and technological progress. Scientific and technological progress will produce a substitution effect on human capital, and will also encourage individuals to strengthen human capital investment to prevent the depreciation of human capital value.

Modern human capital theory

1) Theodore William Schultz’s theory of human capital

Theodore William Schultz (1902-1998) cited in Deng and Long (2017) was a famous American economist and one of the representatives of the Chicago School of Economics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979 and is known as the “Father of Human Capital”. In 1960, Schultz gave an inaugural speech at the annual conference of American Economics entitled “Investing in Human Capital”. This speech elaborated the theory of human capital comprehensively and systematically, which marked the birth of a modern human capital theory. Schultz’s theory of human capital can be summarized. First, the basic forms of capital include material capital and human capital. Among them, human capital refers to the total of knowledge, skills, and physical strength acquired through various forms of human capital investment with laborers as the carrier. Second, the accumulation of human capital is the source of social and economic growth. To increase the proportion of mental activities, the country needs to invest in human capital. The optimal investment ratio is when the human capital and material capital investment rate of return is equal to the ratio. Third, Schultz believes that education is an important link in the production process, which has an economic function and social value.

Education enables individuals to acquire and enhance human capital, which in turn promotes economic growth by improving individuals’ ability to deal with the imbalance.

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2) Edward Fulton Dennison’s theory of human capital

Edwar Fulton Denison (1915-1992) cited in Liu (2021) was a famous American economist, human capital economic analysis expert, and a representative figure of human capital measurement in the West. Dennison’s theory of human capital was embodied in his 1962 book The Factors of Economic Growth in the United States and the Choices We Face. His main views are as follows: first, different from Schultz, who regarded education as an independent factor in the production process, Dennison believed that education was not an independent factor in production, but a component of human factors, and defined education investment as the number of years of formal education received by workers. Second, Dennison believes that the factors influencing economic growth in the United States can be divided into two categories. One is the input of production factors, including the quantity and quality of labor and the quantity of physical capital. The other is the input of unit of production factors, including the improvement of resource allocation, scale saving, knowledge progress, and production application. Using more sophisticated econometric estimates, the direct contribution of the number of years of formal education, or investment in human capital, the national economic growth of The United States between 1929 and 1957 was 23%. Third, Dennison believes that knowledge progress is also an important category of the concept of human capital. Fourth, Dennison, in his discussion of wage differentials among workers with different levels of education, points out that only three-fifths of education has an impact on human capital, and therefore should be used as a correction factor for calculating personal income.

3) Gary Becker’s Theory of Human Capital

Gary Becker (1930-2014) cited in Yan (2016) is a famous American economist, one of the representatives of the Chicago School, and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992. As one of the founders of modern human capital theory, Becker has long been committed to applying economic ideas and methods to the study of human behavior. This greatly expanded the research field of economics and laid the microeconomic foundation for the previous macroscopic theory of human capital. His representative work Human Capital reflects his theory of human capital.

First of all, Becker believes that the connotation of human capital includes not only knowledge, skills, time, and health, but also information and intelligence materials.