Cultivating Social Entrepreneurial Intentions in Higher Education Environments

Social entrepreneurial behavior creates social value by developing innovative and sustainable solutions to social issues. As college students have chosen to enter high education and have the ambition to make the world better, they should be encouraged to become social entrepreneurs. Previous studies have shown that higher education can have a profound influence on social entrepreneurial policies, opportunity identification abilities, innovation abilities, and value orientations, with these also being the main factors influencing social entrepreneurial intentions. However, little is known about the most successful configurations of these factors. This study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine the configuration effect of these factors, from which three main influencing paths for college student social entrepreneurial intentions were found. The results provide practical guidelines to stimulate social entrepreneurial intentions in higher education students.