How does entrepreneurial curiosity lead to Chinese undergraduates’ new venture idea: the mediation of promotion focus and the moderation of entrepreneurial education

How does entrepreneurial curiosity lead to Chinese undergraduates’ new venture idea: the mediation of promotion focus and the moderation of entrepreneurial education | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article How does entrepreneurial curiosity lead to Chinese undergraduates’ new venture idea: the mediation of promotion focus and the moderation of entrepreneurial education Caiyun Li, Rui Hu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4273177/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in BMC Psychology → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background New venture idea is an “imagined future venture”, it’s more valuable and practical than entrepreneurial opportunity which has been widely studied before for undergraduates’ entrepreneurship. Based on the regulatory focus theory, this study aims to explore how two different types of entrepreneurial curiosity (I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity) affect the undergraduates’ new venture idea through promotion focus, as well as the moderating effect of entrepreneurial education. Methods With a sample of 650 undergraduates in Chinese universities through questionnaire star platform, this study used a PLS-SEM to test hypotheses. Results The results indicated that promotion focus played a full mediating effect between D-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea, and a partial mediating effect between I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. In addition, entrepreneurial education moderated those mediating effects. Conclusions The results highlighted the importance of stimulating undergraduates’ entrepreneurial curiosity so as to form more new venture ideas. Also, it suggested that universities need to improve undergraduates’ promotion focus by optimizing the teaching strategies and contexts of entrepreneurial education, as well as create a good atmosphere of entrepreneurial support. I-type entrepreneurial curiosity D-type entrepreneurial curiosity New venture idea Entrepreneurial education Promotion focus Figures Figure 1 Introduction Undergraduates, as the driving force for mass entrepreneurship and innovation, are attached great importance by the Chinese government in their entrepreneurship. For all undergraduates, it is crucial to generate new venture ideas before starting their own business. Davidson (2015) argued that a new venture idea is an “imagined future venture”, which represents what an individual wants to create, rather than the gradually materializing entrepreneurship itself [ 1 ]. In other words, new venture ideas are cognitive, and individuals can envision a new venture idea whether to take action or not. Perhaps over time, the idea will be developed and refined into an opportunity to be utilized, or it may not. If an idea is not developed, it will never become a formal opportunity [ 2 ]. Due to the difficulty in verifying the commercial value of entrepreneurial opportunity during undergraduates’ brief academic period, it is more important and practical to focus on new venture idea. Up to date, how a new venture idea develops is still underexplored. Entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea As a key factor for successful entrepreneurship, curiosity is gradually being valued in entrepreneurship research [ 3 ]. Entrepreneurial curiosity is an independent type of curiosity that only points to the field of entrepreneurship [ 4 ], which can be understood as an internal desire for entrepreneurial information. Based on a cognitive perspective, entrepreneurial curiosity specifically refers to epistemic curiosity, which was defined as an emotional-motivational state of individuals [ 5 ]. According to classification of epistemic curiosity [ 6 ], entrepreneurial curiosity in this study is also divided into two types. I-type entrepreneurial curiosity refers to an individual’s thirst for entrepreneurial knowledge derived from interests that means “wanting to know”, which is often accompanied by a sense of pleasure after making new discoveries or acquiring new knowledge. D-type entrepreneurial curiosity originates from the pursuit of cognitive coherence in the brain. When perceived uncertainty and novelty disrupt the original cognitive coherence in the brain, individuals get an uncomfortable sense of deprivation, which is the “need to know”. Furthermore, it stimulates individuals’ D-type curiosity to explore in order to remove the sense of deprivation [ 7 ]. Von Stumm et al. (2011) also found that D-type curiosity is an important antecedent for the formation of negative emotions such as anger, worry, and anxiety before deprivation is eliminated [ 8 ]. The different feelings accompanied with two types can be explained by the optimal-level model and the driven theory of curiosity, respectively [ 9 ]. Optimal-level theorists assumed that curiosity induction is beneficial, involving feelings of interest rather than uncertainty [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], which pointed to I-type curiosity. As a positive emotion, it closely related to interest with the desire to investigate, learn, and participate in new experiences [ 14 ], which contributes to generate new ideas. Positive emotions have been discovered and confirmed to be beneficial for stimulating creativity, such as affecting the organization of cognitive materials, increasing the tendency to combine materials in new ways, and finding correlations between different stimuli [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions hypothesized that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Specifically, positive emotions can extend people’s thinking first, “opening up our hearts and minds, making us more receptive and creative”, which is the expansion function [ 18 ]. Moreover, positive emotions can also “construct the best future”, “positive emotions enable us to discover and construct new skills, relationships, knowledge, and production methods”, which is the construction function [ 18 ]. Gasper and Clore (2002) confirmed that compared to positive emotions that make people pay more attention to the forest, negative emotions make people “see the trees but not the forest” [ 19 ]. Curiosity and other positive emotions, such as interest and wonder, play an important role in the pursuit of scientific ideas [ 20 ]. Contrary to the optimal-level account, driven theorists equated curiosity with relatively unpleasant “uncertain experiences”, and reducing it is beneficial [ 21 , 22 ], which referred to D-type curiosity. Research has found that, when faced with uncertainty, individuals with curiosity often reveal a strong willingness to learn and actively engage in learning, which helps them get more heterogeneous information and knowledge [ 23 ]. They often invest a lot of time in activities they focused, collecting and processing information deeply, and are more likely to persist until they achieve their goals [ 24 ]. Curiosity also leads individuals to think about tasks from new perspectives, transforming threats brought by uncertainty into challenges, which is greatly beneficial for creative thinking [ 25 ], then the transition of thinking aroused by curiosity stimulates their creative ideas [ 26 ]. Moreover, by triggering information searching, curiosity helps individuals identify and define problems that need to be addressed, which are critical to form creative ideas [ 27 ]. Promotion focus as a mediator Another factor that affects new venture idea is promotion focus. The concept of promotion focus originates from the regulatory focus theory, which proposed that individuals gradually develop two distinct and relatively stable tendencies of self-regulation focus during their growth, including promotion focus and prevention focus [ 28 ]. Individuals with promotion focus are willing to innovate, enjoy taking risks, try and explore new things [ 29 ]. They tend to maintain aggressive motivation and pay more attention to positive results, and then adopt a relatively adventurous strategy [ 30 ]. Although the tendency of self-regulation focus is relatively stable, it may also be influenced by the current situation or task, thus show a temporary motivational inclination [ 31 ]. Compared to individuals with prevention focus, individuals with promotion focus are more likely to seek opportunities actively and extensively, then generate more hypotheses about potential opportunities [ 32 , 33 ]. They have strong achievement motivation which can promote the formation of alertness and then encourage them to seek new ideas constantly [ 34 ]. Promotion focus can also compensate for the low level of creative self-efficacy and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of entrepreneurs [ 35 ], activating positive emotional arousal and enhancing individual cognitive flexibility which are beneficial for the development of creativity [ 36 , 37 ]. Based on the regulatory focus theory, Brockner et al. (2004) explained the entrepreneurial process and found that strengthening the tendency to promotion focus can help generate potentially successful ideas [ 38 ]. Moreover, as a behavioral approach, promotion focus occurs after curiosity triggers behavioral tendency. Curiosity can determine attention allocation and task priority, thus forming an active learning and exploration mechanism [ 39 ], which helps individuals maintain positive exploratory behavior by enhancing attention [ 40 ]. As mentioned above, individuals with I-type curiosity or D-type curiosity are different in reactions to novelty, but both of which serve to promote exploration, which are consistent with the aggressive motivation of promotion focus. Individuals with I-type curiosity often show positive emotions during exploratory learning, such as joyful, and strengthen their intrinsic motivation [ 41 ]. Because positive emotions convey a comfortable psychological state, in which individuals are often more easily inspired and more willing to explore new things [ 42 ]. As one of the most representative positive emotions, interest stimulates individuals’ cognitive and behavioral tendency to explore, continuously acquiring knowledge and experience that are profit to achieve goals [ 43 ]. For D-type curiosity, it can be explained by the information-gap theory of curiosity, which suggests that curiosity comes into being when individuals realize that there is an information gap in their knowledge and understanding. Due to internal pressure, they will explore new information to fill it [ 44 ]. That’s to say, the sense of deprivation triggered by D-type curiosity motivates and guides individuals to search for information in order to reduce uncertainty and eliminate cognitive gaps [ 7 ]. Besides, individuals with promotion focus are more concerned about positive results, so is individuals with curiosity. Curiosity is a basic motivational tendency related to approaching, which is associated with judgment of positive outcome and thus promotes risk seeking [ 45 ]. In summary, I-type curiosity correlates with intrinsic motivation, while D-type curiosity correlates with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which stimulates individuals’ uncertainty avoidance, specific exploration, information search, and goal-oriented learning [ 46 ]. So individuals with I-type curiosity always adopt approaches to learning that are funny, carefree and optimistic, while individuals with D-type curiosity are greater thoughtful and more cautious in knowledge-search [ 47 ]. Entrepreneurial education as a moderator In addition, to support undergraduates’ entrepreneurial activities, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies to carry out entrepreneurial education in universities. It includes providing a series of entrepreneurial courses, activities, and support for undergraduates, as well as creating a good entrepreneurial atmosphere, which is to train undergraduates with certain entrepreneurial ability, such as observational ability, entrepreneurial awareness, entrepreneurial thinking, and entrepreneurial skills required for entrepreneurship [ 48 ]. Researchers have found that entrepreneurial education can effectively strengthen undergraduates’ understanding of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, thereby promoting the formation of new venture idea. The knowledge acquired through education is conducive to construct new connections and combinations that can be technically realized [ 49 ], which can be explained by “the essence of knowledge is coding”. It’s also helpful for individuals to understand data and forms that are novel, newly generated, and inconsistently patterned, guiding them to focus on the science, technology, and principle that contribute to produce creative ideas [ 50 ]. Canavati et al. (2021) divided human capital into knowledge acquired through education and knowledge acquired through experience, which showed that individuals with higher levels of each type of knowledge perform better at generating new venture ideas than those with lower levels, and when individuals have higher levels of both types of knowledge, they do even better [ 51 ]. As discussed above, individuals with promotion focus are more likely to generate new venture idea through positive search. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial education makes students are more willing to take a risk [ 52 ], and improves students’ entrepreneurial mind, such as innovation, motivation and risk-taking [ 53 ]. For undergraduates, the stronger the willingness to take risk, the higher the initiative in entrepreneurial information search. In addition, entrepreneurial education is closely related to individuals’ ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunity [ 54 ], high-level entrepreneurial education can elevate the ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunity, which contains information-search and risk-perception capabilities during the “window of opportunity” period [ 55 ]. In other words, the higher-level entrepreneurial education undergraduates gained, the greater entrepreneurial information-search capability they are. As such, with the special situation in China, this study will take entrepreneurial education as an important factor to explore the boundary conditions under which two types of entrepreneurial curiosity affects new venture idea. The present study This study aims to explore the impact mechanism of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on undergraduates’ new venture idea. From the above literature research, it can be seen that two types of entrepreneurial curiosity, promotion focus and new venture idea are highly correlated. Moreover, entrepreneurial education can further promote entrepreneurial exploration. Based on prior empirical findings, we created the theoretical model (showed in Fig. 1 ), and hypothesized as followings: H1 Each type of entrepreneurial curiosity would positively predict undergraduates’ new venture idea respectively. H2 Promotion focus plays a mediating role in the relationship between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. H3 Entrepreneurial education moderates the mediation effect of promotion focus on the relationship between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. Methods Sample This study used an online survey to collect data from undergraduates in China by cluster sampling method. In the questionnaire, the first question is “Do you agree to fill in”, and “disagree” is directly skipped to the end. A total of 760 questionnaires were returned through questionnaire star platform, and 650 valid questionnaires were finally retained, with an effective rate of 85.52%. Among them, 203 males and 447 females; 377 undergraduate students from Double First-Class Universities; The number of students majoring in natural sciences is 319, business is 109, and the other 222; There are 364 rural residents and 286 non rural residents. The structural characteristics of the sample described above are similar to the total, indicating that the sample has a certain degree of representativeness. Measurements All variables were measured by well-established scales that initially developed in English. We carried out a back-translation procedure to ensure that the meaning expressed in the Chinese version was consistent with the English version. New venture idea (NVI) . It was measured by Farmer et al.’s scale. Farmer et al. (2011) believed that opportunity discovery processes refer to the initial conception and further development of a venture idea [ 56 ], which is just the new venture idea according to Davisson’s definition [ 1 ]. In Canavati et al.’s meta-analysis [ 51 ], the discovery scale was identified to be the measurement scale of new venture idea. In this study, respondents were asked to check whether they have engaged in each of the particular behaviors in the past six months. Their responses were scored 0 (No) or 1 (Yes), and responses were summed to form the index. The measures are formative, such as “I have engaged in a deliberate, systematic search for an idea for a new business”. The scale has been tested in the United States, China mainland and Taiwan, which has shown good applicability. For evaluating its validity, we also used a global item with 5-point Likert scale (1 = never; 2 = less; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; and 5 = always) to reflect new venture idea. The item is “How often do you have new venture ideas during the past six months”. Entrepreneurial curiosity (EC) . This study adopted the epistemic curiosity scale developed by Litman and Spielberger (2003) [ 57 ]. The instrument has 10 items, five for the I-type entrepreneurial curiosity (ECI) and five for the D-type entrepreneurial curiosity (ECD). The rating scale for all items ranged from 1“strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”, and the higher the score, the stronger the entrepreneurial curiosity of undergraduates. The items reflect respondents’ psychological experience about entrepreneurship, such as, one I-type curiosity item is “Enjoy exploring new ideas” and one D-type curiosity item is “Interested in discovering how things work”. Promotion focus (PF) . We used the regulatory focus scale developed by Higgins et al. (2001) [ 58 ], in which there were 6 items for promotion focus on a Likert-type scale from 1 to 5 (1 = never; 2 = less; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; and 5 = always). Among them, three questions were reverse scoring. After reverse-coded these responses, the higher the score, the more promotion focus inclined of the individual. A sample item is “How often have you accomplished things that got you ‘psyched’ to work even harder”. Entrepreneurial education (EE) . It was measured by 6 questions adopted from Franke and Lüthje (2004) [ 59 ]. This scale aimed to evaluate entrepreneurial education and its support through perception of the entrepreneurial environment in universities, including the universities’ innovation atmosphere, entrepreneurial education courses, and entrepreneurial support. The rating scale for all items ranged from 1“strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”. The higher the score, the better the students’ evaluation of entrepreneurial education and its support, which means that students are more satisfied with entrepreneurial education in their universities. For instance, a sample item is “The courses foster the social and leadership skills needed by entrepreneurs”. Data analyses We adopted partial least square (PLS) SEM to test the measurement model and structural model with statistical package SmartPLS4. PLS-SEM was considered appropriate for our study for two reasons. First, PLS-SEM supports reflective and formative indicators, both of which were contained in the model of this study. Second, PLS-SEM is suitable for prediction and theoretical extension [ 60 ]. The proposed model was tested in two steps. The reliability and validity of the measurement model were initially tested by calculating the indicators recommended by Hair et al. (2018) [ 60 ]. Afterwards, the structural model was estimated using the bootstrapping method with 5000 resamples [ 61 ]. Results Common method bias We check whether common method bias exists in the dataset due to respondents’ self-report. The Harman’s single-factor test was performed. A total of 5 common factors with eigenvalue greater than 1 were generated. The first common factor explained a total variance of 35.30% (less than 40%), indicating that there is no serious problem of common method bias. Assessment of measurement model Since indicators used to assess new venture idea were formative, the analysis of the measurement model involved examining the convergent validity, indicator weights and loadings, and indicator multicollinearity [ 62 ]. A redundancy analysis was performed to establish the convergent validity. We built a new model in SmartPLS 4 which used the formative latent variable for new venture idea to predict the reflective latent variable for that operationalized through the global item. The path coefficient between two latent variables was 0.875, which exceeded the recommended value of 0.8 [ 63 ]. Table 1 shows size and significance of indicator weights and loadings by adopting the bootstrapping procedure. Regarding indicator weights, all weights were statistically significant except NVI_5, NVI_7, and NVI_9. We further checked the significance of these three indicator loadings. T-Values for these loadings are bigger than 1.96 [ 64 ]. Therefore, the results of indicator weights and loadings demonstrated indicator relevance. Moreover, the VIF values in Table 1 are all smaller than 3, which indicates multicollinearity was not a problem [ 65 ]. Table 1 Goodness of formative measurement model of new venture idea Indicators Outer weights T- Statistics weights Outer loadings T- Statistics loadings VIF NVI_1 0.344 6.162 0.737 19.668 1.423 NVI_2 0.414 6.898 0.798 23.900 1.587 NVI_3 0.202 3.292 0593 11.633 1.358 NVI_4 0.148 2.659 0.465 8.255 1.262 NVI_5 -0.014 0.274 0.387 6.845 1.299 NVI_6 0.221 4.474 0.351 6.379 1.031 NVI_7 0.052 0.855 0.413 6.731 1.235 NVI_8 0.252 4.767 0.497 9.229 1.207 NVI_9 0.023 0.344 0.389 5.819 1.241 Indicator loadings, internal consistency reliability, as well as the convergent and discriminant validity were employed to evaluate the reflective constructs through the PLS-SEM algorithm (Hair et al., 2019). As depicted in Table 2 , the values of outer loadings were all above 0.708 for I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, and entrepreneurial education, which met the criteria proposed by Hair and colleagues (2021) [ 58 ]. In terms of promotion focus, three of indicators loadings (PF_1, PF_4, PF_6) were below 0.708. However, their T-values showed statistical significance. Meanwhile, the loadings satisfied the requirement of being greater than 0.6 recommended by Chin (1998) [ 66 ]. The internal consistency reliability of the construct was measured by Cronbach alpha and composite reliability. Table 2 displays that the Cronbach’s α is 0.795 ~ 0.911 for I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, promotion focus, and entrepreneurial education, respectively. And their composite reliability is 0.817 ~ 0.924 correspondingly. Both reliabilities are all above the rule of thumb, 0.70 [ 62 ]. The convergent validity was analyzed by examining the average variance extracted (AVE). The AVE for each construct in Table 2 exceeds the threshold value of 0.50 [ 63 ]. Table 2 Reliability and convergent validity for reflective measurement models Constructs Indicators Outer loadings T- Statistics Cronbach Alpha (α) CR (ρ a ) AVE 1.I-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity ECI_1 0.804 43.373 0.911 0.924 0.743 ECI_2 0.916 102.423 ECI_3 0.929 129.007 ECI_4 0.919 116.916 ECI_5 0.724 29.255 2.D-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity ECD_1 0.745 33.755 0.897 0.906 0.711 ECD_2 0.822 50.153 ECD_3 0.895 93.324 ECD_4 0.901 94.894 ECD_5 0.844 63.020 1. Promotion Focus PF_1 0.612 17.619 0.795 0.817 0.501 PF_2 0.773 46.059 PF_3 0.736 33.727 PF_4 0.623 17.281 PF_5 0.763 38.324 PF_6 0.677 23.278 4.Entrepreneurial Education EE_1 0.791 42.573 0.909 0.910 0.687 EE_2 0.840 56.298 EE_3 0.844 57.974 EE_4 0.769 39.143 EE_5 0.856 64.686 EE_6 0.869 72.458 Note : CR and AVE are the abbreviations of composite reliability and average variance extracted, respectively Finally, we used Fornell-Larcker Criterion and Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio to analyze the discriminant validity. According to Fornell-Larcker Criterion, the square root of the AVE for each construct in Table 3 is greater than the correlation coefficient between the constructs. The results indicate good discriminant validity between each latent variable. Table 3 also shows that the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio is below 0.90 accepted as admissible [ 62 ]. Table 3 Discriminant validity for reflective measurement models Constructs 1 2 3 4 Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio 1 2 3 1.I-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity 0.862 2.D-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity 0.731*** 0.843 0.808 3.Promotion Focus 0.490*** 0.508*** 0.708 0.576 0.600 4.Entrepreneurial Education 0.536*** 0.560*** 0.521*** 0.829 0.591 0.620 0.612 Note : The diagonal values in bold are square roots of AVE. *** p < 0.001 Structural model test Using SmartPLS 4 to establish a structural equation model, the significance test included a p-value at the 0.05 level and a 95% Bootstrap confidence interval based on bias correction, with 5000 self-sampling attempts. The model fitting indicators provided in Table 4 show that the R 2 of endogenous variables is greater than 0.3; Blindfolding-based Q 2 is larger than 0; The VIFs of both independent and intermediate variables are less than 3; SRMR = 0.058 ( 0.8), indicating that the data fits the model well. Therefore, hypothesis testing can be performed on structural equation model. Table 4 Structural model results Constructs R 2 Adj. R 2 Q 2 VIF SRMR NFI I-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity - - - {2.154,2.335} - - D-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity - - - {2.154,2.422} - - Promotion Focus 0.320 0.318 0.248 1.634 - - Entrepreneurial Education - - - 1.716 - - New Venture Idea 0.433 0.428 0.219 - 0.058 0.852 Entrepreneurial Education * Promotion Focus - - - 1.007 - - Hypotheses test First, the direct effects between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea were examined. As shown in Table 5 , except for ECD → NVI (β = 0.036, P = 0.454), the coefficients of all other direct paths are significant. Among them, I-type entrepreneurial curiosity has the strongest direct effect on new venture idea (β = 0.249, P < 0.001). Compared with I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity yields more direct effect on promotion focus (β = 0.327,P<0.001). Second, the mediating effects of promotion focus were examined. As shown in Table 5 , I-type entrepreneurial curiosity can directly affect new venture idea, and can also indirectly affect it through promotion focus. Therefore, promotion focus plays a partial mediating effect in the relationship between I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. But D-type entrepreneurial curiosity can only positively affect new venture idea through promotion focus, which suggests that promotion focus plays a fully mediating effect in the relationship between D-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. Table 5 Hypotheses testing (direct and indirect effects) Structural path Path coefficient/ Indirect effects M SD 95% CI T -Statistics P values LLCI ULCI ECI → NVI 0.249 0.251 0.043 0.165 0.337 5.740 *** ECD → NVI 0.036 0.036 0.048 -0.061 0.126 0.749 0.454 PF → NVI 0.148 0.149 0.037 0.074 0.219 3.986 *** ECI → PF 0.280 0.281 0.050 0.180 0.377 5.638 *** ECD → PF 0.327 0.328 0.051 0.226 0.424 6.374 *** ECI → PF → NVI 0.041 0.042 0.013 0.020 0.071 3.197 0.001 ECD → PF → NVI 0.048 0.049 0.015 0.023 0.080 3.280 0.001 EE → NVI 0.307 0.311 0.040 0.221 0.380 7.611 *** EE *PF → NVI 0.163 0.167 0.021 0.118 0.201 7.652 *** Note : *** p < 0.001 Finally, the moderating effects of entrepreneurial education were examined. This study carried out a permutation multigroup analysis (MGA). Two groups were first generated according to the median of entrepreneurial education. 355 samples being above and equal to the median were categorized into high-level entrepreneurial education group. The remaining 295 samples were defined as low-level entrepreneurial education group. Prior to conducting the MGA, measurement invariance needs to be ensured. Table 6 presents the results of measurement invariance test using MICOM procedure, which showed that both configural and compositional invariance are achieved, but the equal means and variances between two groups are not established. So partial measurement invariance is confirmed. Table 6 Results of invariance measurement testing using MICOM procedure Constructs ECI ECD PF NVI Configurational Invariance (Step1) Yes Yes Yes Yes Compositional Invariance (Step2) Original correlation 0.999 1.000 0.994 0.945 5% 0.999 0.999 0.986 0.872 Permutation p-value 0.105 0.936 0.447 0.591 Equal Mean (Step 3a) Original difference 0.107 0.148 0.152 0.160 95% CI [-0.150,0.150] [-0.145,0.152] [-0.141,0.147] [-0.153,0.167] Permutation p-value 0.181 0.068 0.037 0.078 Equal Variance (Step 3b) Original difference 0.223 0.162 -0.020 0.238 95% CI [-0.216,0.219] [-0.222,0.229] [-0.260,0.250] [-0.222,0.222] Permutation p-value 0.044 0.144 0.890 0.013 Note : CI is the abbreviation of confidence interval. Results of permutation multi-group analysis shown in Table 7 shows that there is significant difference for the path coefficient from promotion focus to new venture idea between high-level entrepreneurial education group (β = 0.271) and low-level entrepreneurial education group (β = 0.054). Additionally, the indirect effect from entrepreneurial curiosity (I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity) to new venture idea through promotion focus also differs significantly across two conditions of entrepreneurial education. Specially, the indirect effect of ECI→PF→NVI is 0.073 in high-level entrepreneurial education group whereas it is 0.010 in low-level entrepreneurial education group. The indirect effect of ECD→PF→NVI is 0.072 in high-level entrepreneurial education group whereas it is 0.015 in low-level entrepreneurial education group. We also reran a bootstrap multi-group analysis. The results unreported here for space limits were statistically similar. Consequently, the moderating effects of entrepreneurial education were confirmed. Table 7 Results of permutation multi-group analysis for entrepreneurial education Structural path Path coefficient/ Indirect effects Difference 95% CI Permutation p-value High-level EE(n = 355) Low-level EE(n = 295) LLCI ULCI ECI → NVI 0.291 0.243 0.047 -0.180 0.174 0.624 ECD → NVI 0.152 0.032 0.120 -0.218 0.192 0.228 ECI → PF 0.268 0.193 0.074 -0.171 0.203 0.456 ECD → PF 0.265 0.283 -0.017 -0.220 0.186 0.866 PF → NVI 0.271 0.054 0.217 -0.159 0.153 *** ECI → PF → NVI 0.073 0.010 0.063 -0.052 0.052 *** ECD → PF → NVI 0.072 0.015 0.058 -0.061 0.055 0.045 Note : *** p < 0.001 Discussion This study innovatively took new venture idea as the outcome variable and categorized entrepreneurial curiosity into I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, exploring the impact mechanisms of these two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates. Here, we first discuss the major findings of this study, including (a) the direct effects of the two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, (b) the mediating role of promotion focus between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea, and (c) the moderating role of entrepreneurial education in the above impact mechanisms. Secondly, based on the above findings, this study puts forward relevant suggestions for universities to promote the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates. Lastly, limitations and future directions are offered. Theoretical implications Firstly, this study explored the direct effects of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, which has not been well studied previously. The results indicated that I-type entrepreneurial curiosity has a positive predictive effect on undergraduates’ new venture idea, while D-type entrepreneurial curiosity has not, which partially support our hypothesis. These conclusions seem inconsistent with earlier findings. Previous research has confirmed the positive effects of undergraduates’ curiosity on creativity [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ], which viewed curiosity as a whole. Other studies broadly understood curiosity as a psychological state closely related to interest [ 10 , 14 ], which is just only the I-type curiosity. The impact of I-type curiosity on new venture idea can be explained by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which also provides a certain theoretical basis for the conclusion that D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, accompanied by a negative feeling, cannot directly affect new venture idea. Moreover, for individuals with D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, the main purpose of their exploration is to eliminate cognitive dissonance. When the information gap is filled, D-type curiosity will no longer exist, which means that D-type curiosity cannot further produce its effect. D-type curiosity was unrelated to both creative problem solving and creative performance [ 71 ]. But In the subsequent exploration process, the energy invested, information obtained, and knowledge accumulated by individuals contribute to the formation of creative ideas [ 23 , 24 , 27 ]. In a nutshell, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity can stimulate exploration, and positive exploration rather than D-type entrepreneurial curiosity is the real factor affecting new venture idea among undergraduates. Secondly, based on the regulatory focus theory, the mediating role of promotion focus between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea is explored. It is worth noting that, there are differences in mechanisms on promotion focus for two types of entrepreneurial curiosity, which can be explained by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and the information-gap theory of curiosity, respectively. The joyful emotions associated with I-type curiosity can strengthen an individual’s intrinsic motivation [ 41 ], demonstrating a higher willingness to explore new things [ 42 ].The tendency to promotion focus triggered by D-type curiosity originating from the information gap will inevitably explore to fill the information gap [ 44 , 7 ]. I-type entrepreneurial curiosity spontaneously triggers entrepreneurship-search, while D-type entrepreneurial curiosity even with a trace of helplessness, which can be seen as an individual’s passive behavior that is unavoidable under uncertainty. Finally, entrepreneurial education, unlike being used as an antecedent variable for entrepreneurial activities in previous studies, the moderating role is explored in this study. Results show that entrepreneurial education can further enhance the goal-oriented behavior of undergraduates, making their entrepreneurial exploration more active. Besides, the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills acquired in entrepreneurial courses can further help individuals understand innovation, then focus on innovation, and even achieve innovation [ 50 ]. Moreover, the results also reflected the positive role of practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, which are consistent with the reform direction of entrepreneurial education in China. In recent years, Chinese universities adopted teaching methods that were different from traditional theoretically-oriented courses, and developed more and more practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, such as entrepreneurial project practice, entrepreneurial simulation training, entrepreneurial field visits, entrepreneurial training lectures and seminars, and so on. Piperopoulos and Dimov (2015) argued that, practically-oriented courses provide the “can” of entrepreneurial actions and thus convey a sense of the possibilities that emanate from a given set of entrepreneurial inputs [ 72 ]. Students coming out of such a setting are likely to see their own entrepreneurial behavior as a starting point, to be developed further. Practical implications Universities could strive to stimulate the entrepreneurial interest of undergraduates and cultivate their I-type entrepreneurial curiosity. As the results showed, I-type entrepreneurial curiosity can not only directly promote the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates, but also indirectly influence it by promotion focus. Therefore, according to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions [ 18 ], universities can start by stimulating undergraduates’ interest in entrepreneurship and increase their positive emotional experiences in entrepreneurial education, which trigger a tendency to promotion focus or directly increase the formation of new venture idea. For example, universities can provide entrepreneurship courses with interest, diversity, and exploration for undergraduates through multiplex teaching methods. When students are attracted to the course and develop an interest in entrepreneurship, this positive emotion can continue into further entrepreneurship-search, thus promoting the formation of new venture idea. Besides, entrepreneurial practice is also an important means that leads students to the tendency to promotion focus [ 72 ]. Hence, universities should encourage undergraduates to actively participate in various entrepreneurial practices, such as entrepreneurial competitions, entrepreneurial lectures, practical internships, entrepreneurial training, etc., through which they can experience the joy of entrepreneurship-search. Heuristic teaching should be used to guide undergraduates to develop D-type entrepreneurial curiosity in universities. As mentioned, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity cannot directly affect new venture idea, but can positively affect it by promotion focus. Therefore, it is necessary to play the role of D-type entrepreneurial curiosity in stimulating undergraduates’ tendency to promotion focus. Teachers can adopt situational teaching method, in the form of team learning, guiding students to identify problems while also finding their own information gaps. Moreover, team learning can also enable students to discover their own gaps with others through team interaction and sharing, thereby producing D-type curiosity based on information gaps. Although D-type curiosity is accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and tension, which seem to be terrible for individuals. Indeed, compared to I-type curiosity, its reactions reflect a more powerful motive for learning [ 44 ]. Therefore, it’s really important to utilize the strong learning motivation triggered by D-type curiosity, which encourage undergraduates to explore continuously. Limitations and future directions The present study has several limitations that could indicate avenues for future research. Firstly, our study employed a cross-sectional survey design, which is limited in establishing the order of effects among focal variables. Future research can use a longitudinal or experimental design to increase the validity of the model presented here. Secondly, promotion focus was the only factor as a mediator between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea in current research. In the future, we need to explore the role of prevention focus, another regulation focus, in entrepreneurial activities. Especially when they are taken as personal trait rather than situational motivation, what changes will happen to their mechanism? It can also serve as a direction for further research. Thirdly, the questionnaire was self-reported, which may incur common method variance even though we tried to control it. Qualitative analysis or in-depth interviews could be utilized by future scholars to ensure the accuracy of the causal pathways of variables. We can stimulate students’ entrepreneurial curiosity through task scenarios, then conduct curiosity type tests and focus tendency surveys, and further evaluate student’ new venture idea quantity and quality through task solving. Furthermore, it is possible to divide the students into an experimental group and a control group based on whether they have received entrepreneurial education, to determine the differences in entrepreneurial curiosity, as well as in the impact mechanism of new venture idea between the two groups. Conclusion This study discussed the direct effects of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, and proved the mediating effect of promotion focus between them. Moreover, this study innovatively used entrepreneurial education as a moderator, and verified its moderating effect in above-mentioned relationships. In general, compared to traditional research that focused on undergraduates’ entrepreneurial opportunity, this study chose new venture idea for research, which is more in line with the policy objectives of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China. The conclusions drawn from the study not only refine the research on entrepreneurial curiosity but also enrich the study of the mechanism of new venture idea, providing insights for future reforms in entrepreneurial education. In the future, universities should pay more attention to practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, especially innovation in entrepreneurial teaching methods. Starting from stimulating undergraduates’ entrepreneurial curiosity, this can promote continuous entrepreneurial exploration among undergraduates, thereby leading to the formation of new venture idea. Declarations Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to all the respondents for taking part in the study. Authors’ contributions C.L. conducted theoretical framework design, data collection, and paper writing. R.H. provided guidance on the theoretical framework and suggested revisions to the manuscript. Funding The authors received no specific funding for this work. Availability of data and materials The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Ethics approval and consent to participate All procedures in this study were approved by the authors’ institutional research ethics committee (School of Public Administration, Huazhong Agricultural University). Informed consent was also obtained in the study. We confirm that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. References Davidsson P. 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For all undergraduates, it is crucial to generate new venture ideas before starting their own business. Davidson (2015) argued that a new venture idea is an \u0026ldquo;imagined future venture\u0026rdquo;, which represents what an individual wants to create, rather than the gradually materializing entrepreneurship itself [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e]. In other words, new venture ideas are cognitive, and individuals can envision a new venture idea whether to take action or not. Perhaps over time, the idea will be developed and refined into an opportunity to be utilized, or it may not. If an idea is not developed, it will never become a formal opportunity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e]. Due to the difficulty in verifying the commercial value of entrepreneurial opportunity during undergraduates\u0026rsquo; brief academic period, it is more important and practical to focus on new venture idea. Up to date, how a new venture idea develops is still underexplored.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec2\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEntrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a key factor for successful entrepreneurship, curiosity is gradually being valued in entrepreneurship research [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]. Entrepreneurial curiosity is an independent type of curiosity that only points to the field of entrepreneurship [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e], which can be understood as an internal desire for entrepreneurial information. Based on a cognitive perspective, entrepreneurial curiosity specifically refers to epistemic curiosity, which was defined as an emotional-motivational state of individuals [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]. According to classification of epistemic curiosity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e], entrepreneurial curiosity in this study is also divided into two types. I-type entrepreneurial curiosity refers to an individual\u0026rsquo;s thirst for entrepreneurial knowledge derived from interests that means \u0026ldquo;wanting to know\u0026rdquo;, which is often accompanied by a sense of pleasure after making new discoveries or acquiring new knowledge. D-type entrepreneurial curiosity originates from the pursuit of cognitive coherence in the brain. When perceived uncertainty and novelty disrupt the original cognitive coherence in the brain, individuals get an uncomfortable sense of deprivation, which is the \u0026ldquo;need to know\u0026rdquo;. Furthermore, it stimulates individuals\u0026rsquo; D-type curiosity to explore in order to remove the sense of deprivation [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]. Von Stumm et al. (2011) also found that D-type curiosity is an important antecedent for the formation of negative emotions such as anger, worry, and anxiety before deprivation is eliminated [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e]. The different feelings accompanied with two types can be explained by the optimal-level model and the driven theory of curiosity, respectively [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOptimal-level theorists assumed that curiosity induction is beneficial, involving feelings of interest rather than uncertainty [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e], which pointed to I-type curiosity. As a positive emotion, it closely related to interest with the desire to investigate, learn, and participate in new experiences [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e], which contributes to generate new ideas. Positive emotions have been discovered and confirmed to be beneficial for stimulating creativity, such as affecting the organization of cognitive materials, increasing the tendency to combine materials in new ways, and finding correlations between different stimuli [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e]. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions hypothesized that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Specifically, positive emotions can extend people\u0026rsquo;s thinking first, \u0026ldquo;opening up our hearts and minds, making us more receptive and creative\u0026rdquo;, which is the expansion function [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]. Moreover, positive emotions can also \u0026ldquo;construct the best future\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;positive emotions enable us to discover and construct new skills, relationships, knowledge, and production methods\u0026rdquo;, which is the construction function [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]. Gasper and Clore (2002) confirmed that compared to positive emotions that make people pay more attention to the forest, negative emotions make people \u0026ldquo;see the trees but not the forest\u0026rdquo; [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e]. Curiosity and other positive emotions, such as interest and wonder, play an important role in the pursuit of scientific ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eContrary to the optimal-level account, driven theorists equated curiosity with relatively unpleasant \u0026ldquo;uncertain experiences\u0026rdquo;, and reducing it is beneficial [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e], which referred to D-type curiosity. Research has found that, when faced with uncertainty, individuals with curiosity often reveal a strong willingness to learn and actively engage in learning, which helps them get more heterogeneous information and knowledge [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]. They often invest a lot of time in activities they focused, collecting and processing information deeply, and are more likely to persist until they achieve their goals [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e]. Curiosity also leads individuals to think about tasks from new perspectives, transforming threats brought by uncertainty into challenges, which is greatly beneficial for creative thinking [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e], then the transition of thinking aroused by curiosity stimulates their creative ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]. Moreover, by triggering information searching, curiosity helps individuals identify and define problems that need to be addressed, which are critical to form creative ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003ePromotion focus as a mediator\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnother factor that affects new venture idea is promotion focus. The concept of promotion focus originates from the regulatory focus theory, which proposed that individuals gradually develop two distinct and relatively stable tendencies of self-regulation focus during their growth, including promotion focus and prevention focus [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e]. Individuals with promotion focus are willing to innovate, enjoy taking risks, try and explore new things [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e]. They tend to maintain aggressive motivation and pay more attention to positive results, and then adopt a relatively adventurous strategy [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e]. Although the tendency of self-regulation focus is relatively stable, it may also be influenced by the current situation or task, thus show a temporary motivational inclination [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCompared to individuals with prevention focus, individuals with promotion focus are more likely to seek opportunities actively and extensively, then generate more hypotheses about potential opportunities [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e]. They have strong achievement motivation which can promote the formation of alertness and then encourage them to seek new ideas constantly [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]. Promotion focus can also compensate for the low level of creative self-efficacy and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of entrepreneurs [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e], activating positive emotional arousal and enhancing individual cognitive flexibility which are beneficial for the development of creativity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e]. Based on the regulatory focus theory, Brockner et al. (2004) explained the entrepreneurial process and found that strengthening the tendency to promotion focus can help generate potentially successful ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e38\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMoreover, as a behavioral approach, promotion focus occurs after curiosity triggers behavioral tendency. Curiosity can determine attention allocation and task priority, thus forming an active learning and exploration mechanism [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e], which helps individuals maintain positive exploratory behavior by enhancing attention [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e40\u003c/span\u003e]. As mentioned above, individuals with I-type curiosity or D-type curiosity are different in reactions to novelty, but both of which serve to promote exploration, which are consistent with the aggressive motivation of promotion focus. Individuals with I-type curiosity often show positive emotions during exploratory learning, such as joyful, and strengthen their intrinsic motivation [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e]. Because positive emotions convey a comfortable psychological state, in which individuals are often more easily inspired and more willing to explore new things [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e42\u003c/span\u003e]. As one of the most representative positive emotions, interest stimulates individuals\u0026rsquo; cognitive and behavioral tendency to explore, continuously acquiring knowledge and experience that are profit to achieve goals [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e43\u003c/span\u003e]. For D-type curiosity, it can be explained by the information-gap theory of curiosity, which suggests that curiosity comes into being when individuals realize that there is an information gap in their knowledge and understanding. Due to internal pressure, they will explore new information to fill it [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e]. That\u0026rsquo;s to say, the sense of deprivation triggered by D-type curiosity motivates and guides individuals to search for information in order to reduce uncertainty and eliminate cognitive gaps [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]. Besides, individuals with promotion focus are more concerned about positive results, so is individuals with curiosity. Curiosity is a basic motivational tendency related to approaching, which is associated with judgment of positive outcome and thus promotes risk seeking [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e45\u003c/span\u003e]. In summary, I-type curiosity correlates with intrinsic motivation, while D-type curiosity correlates with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which stimulates individuals\u0026rsquo; uncertainty avoidance, specific exploration, information search, and goal-oriented learning [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e]. So individuals with I-type curiosity always adopt approaches to learning that are funny, carefree and optimistic, while individuals with D-type curiosity are greater thoughtful and more cautious in knowledge-search [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e47\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEntrepreneurial education as a moderator\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition, to support undergraduates\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial activities, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies to carry out entrepreneurial education in universities. It includes providing a series of entrepreneurial courses, activities, and support for undergraduates, as well as creating a good entrepreneurial atmosphere, which is to train undergraduates with certain entrepreneurial ability, such as observational ability, entrepreneurial awareness, entrepreneurial thinking, and entrepreneurial skills required for entrepreneurship [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e48\u003c/span\u003e]. Researchers have found that entrepreneurial education can effectively strengthen undergraduates\u0026rsquo; understanding of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, thereby promoting the formation of new venture idea. The knowledge acquired through education is conducive to construct new connections and combinations that can be technically realized [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e49\u003c/span\u003e], which can be explained by \u0026ldquo;the essence of knowledge is coding\u0026rdquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s also helpful for individuals to understand data and forms that are novel, newly generated, and inconsistently patterned, guiding them to focus on the science, technology, and principle that contribute to produce creative ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e50\u003c/span\u003e]. Canavati et al. (2021) divided human capital into knowledge acquired through education and knowledge acquired through experience, which showed that individuals with higher levels of each type of knowledge perform better at generating new venture ideas than those with lower levels, and when individuals have higher levels of both types of knowledge, they do even better [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e51\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs discussed above, individuals with promotion focus are more likely to generate new venture idea through positive search. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial education makes students are more willing to take a risk [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR52\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e52\u003c/span\u003e], and improves students\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial mind, such as innovation, motivation and risk-taking [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e]. For undergraduates, the stronger the willingness to take risk, the higher the initiative in entrepreneurial information search. In addition, entrepreneurial education is closely related to individuals\u0026rsquo; ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e54\u003c/span\u003e], high-level entrepreneurial education can elevate the ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunity, which contains information-search and risk-perception capabilities during the \u0026ldquo;window of opportunity\u0026rdquo; period [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e]. In other words, the higher-level entrepreneurial education undergraduates gained, the greater entrepreneurial information-search capability they are. As such, with the special situation in China, this study will take entrepreneurial education as an important factor to explore the boundary conditions under which two types of entrepreneurial curiosity affects new venture idea.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eThe present study\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study aims to explore the impact mechanism of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on undergraduates\u0026rsquo; new venture idea. From the above literature research, it can be seen that two types of entrepreneurial curiosity, promotion focus and new venture idea are highly correlated. Moreover, entrepreneurial education can further promote entrepreneurial exploration. Based on prior empirical findings, we created the theoretical model (showed in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e), and hypothesized as followings:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eH1\u003c/b\u003e Each type of entrepreneurial curiosity would positively predict undergraduates\u0026rsquo; new venture idea respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eH2\u003c/b\u003e Promotion focus plays a mediating role in the relationship between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eH3\u003c/b\u003e Entrepreneurial education moderates the mediation effect of promotion focus on the relationship between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eSample\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study used an online survey to collect data from undergraduates in China by cluster sampling method. In the questionnaire, the first question is \u0026ldquo;Do you agree to fill in\u0026rdquo;, and \u0026ldquo;disagree\u0026rdquo; is directly skipped to the end. A total of 760 questionnaires were returned through questionnaire star platform, and 650 valid questionnaires were finally retained, with an effective rate of 85.52%. Among them, 203 males and 447 females; 377 undergraduate students from Double First-Class Universities; The number of students majoring in natural sciences is 319, business is 109, and the other 222; There are 364 rural residents and 286 non rural residents. The structural characteristics of the sample described above are similar to the total, indicating that the sample has a certain degree of representativeness.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eMeasurements\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAll variables were measured by well-established scales that initially developed in English. We carried out a back-translation procedure to ensure that the meaning expressed in the Chinese version was consistent with the English version.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eNew venture idea (NVI)\u003c/b\u003e. It was measured by Farmer et al.\u0026rsquo;s scale. Farmer et al. (2011) believed that opportunity discovery processes refer to the initial conception and further development of a venture idea [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e56\u003c/span\u003e], which is just the new venture idea according to Davisson\u0026rsquo;s definition [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e]. In Canavati et al.\u0026rsquo;s meta-analysis [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e51\u003c/span\u003e], the discovery scale was identified to be the measurement scale of new venture idea. In this study, respondents were asked to check whether they have engaged in each of the particular behaviors in the past six months. Their responses were scored 0 (No) or 1 (Yes), and responses were summed to form the index. The measures are formative, such as \u0026ldquo;I have engaged in a deliberate, systematic search for an idea for a new business\u0026rdquo;. The scale has been tested in the United States, China mainland and Taiwan, which has shown good applicability. For evaluating its validity, we also used a global item with 5-point Likert scale (1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;never; 2\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;less; 3\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;sometimes; 4\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;often; and 5\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;always) to reflect new venture idea. The item is \u0026ldquo;How often do you have new venture ideas during the past six months\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eEntrepreneurial curiosity (EC)\u003c/b\u003e. This study adopted the epistemic curiosity scale developed by Litman and Spielberger (2003) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e57\u003c/span\u003e]. The instrument has 10 items, five for the I-type entrepreneurial curiosity (ECI) and five for the D-type entrepreneurial curiosity (ECD). The rating scale for all items ranged from 1\u0026ldquo;strongly disagree\u0026rdquo; to 5 \u0026ldquo;strongly agree\u0026rdquo;, and the higher the score, the stronger the entrepreneurial curiosity of undergraduates. The items reflect respondents\u0026rsquo; psychological experience about entrepreneurship, such as, one I-type curiosity item is \u0026ldquo;Enjoy exploring new ideas\u0026rdquo; and one D-type curiosity item is \u0026ldquo;Interested in discovering how things work\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003ePromotion focus (PF)\u003c/b\u003e. We used the regulatory focus scale developed by Higgins et al. (2001) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e58\u003c/span\u003e], in which there were 6 items for promotion focus on a Likert-type scale from 1 to 5 (1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;never; 2\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;less; 3\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;sometimes; 4\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;often; and 5\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;always). Among them, three questions were reverse scoring. After reverse-coded these responses, the higher the score, the more promotion focus inclined of the individual. A sample item is \u0026ldquo;How often have you accomplished things that got you \u0026lsquo;psyched\u0026rsquo; to work even harder\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eEntrepreneurial education (EE)\u003c/b\u003e. It was measured by 6 questions adopted from Franke and L\u0026uuml;thje (2004) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR59\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e59\u003c/span\u003e]. This scale aimed to evaluate entrepreneurial education and its support through perception of the entrepreneurial environment in universities, including the universities\u0026rsquo; innovation atmosphere, entrepreneurial education courses, and entrepreneurial support. The rating scale for all items ranged from 1\u0026ldquo;strongly disagree\u0026rdquo; to 5 \u0026ldquo;strongly agree\u0026rdquo;. The higher the score, the better the students\u0026rsquo; evaluation of entrepreneurial education and its support, which means that students are more satisfied with entrepreneurial education in their universities. For instance, a sample item is \u0026ldquo;The courses foster the social and leadership skills needed by entrepreneurs\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eData analyses\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe adopted partial least square (PLS) SEM to test the measurement model and structural model with statistical package SmartPLS4. PLS-SEM was considered appropriate for our study for two reasons. First, PLS-SEM supports reflective and formative indicators, both of which were contained in the model of this study. Second, PLS-SEM is suitable for prediction and theoretical extension [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e60\u003c/span\u003e]. The proposed model was tested in two steps. The reliability and validity of the measurement model were initially tested by calculating the indicators recommended by Hair et al. (2018) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e60\u003c/span\u003e]. Afterwards, the structural model was estimated using the bootstrapping method with 5000 resamples [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e61\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCommon method bias\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe check whether common method bias exists in the dataset due to respondents\u0026rsquo; self-report. The Harman\u0026rsquo;s single-factor test was performed. A total of 5 common factors with eigenvalue greater than 1 were generated. The first common factor explained a total variance of 35.30% (less than 40%), indicating that there is no serious problem of common method bias.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eAssessment of measurement model\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSince indicators used to assess new venture idea were formative, the analysis of the measurement model involved examining the convergent validity, indicator weights and loadings, and indicator multicollinearity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e62\u003c/span\u003e]. A redundancy analysis was performed to establish the convergent validity. We built a new model in SmartPLS 4 which used the formative latent variable for new venture idea to predict the reflective latent variable for that operationalized through the global item. The path coefficient between two latent variables was 0.875, which exceeded the recommended value of 0.8 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e63\u003c/span\u003e]. Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e shows size and significance of indicator weights and loadings by adopting the bootstrapping procedure. Regarding indicator weights, all weights were statistically significant except NVI_5, NVI_7, and NVI_9. We further checked the significance of these three indicator loadings. T-Values for these loadings are bigger than 1.96 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e64\u003c/span\u003e]. Therefore, the results of indicator weights and loadings demonstrated indicator relevance. Moreover, the VIF values in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e are all smaller than 3, which indicates multicollinearity was not a problem [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR65\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e65\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGoodness of formative measurement model of new venture idea\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndicators\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOuter weights\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT-\u003c/em\u003eStatistics\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003eweights\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOuter loadings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT-\u003c/em\u003eStatistics\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003eloadings\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVIF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.344\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.162\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.737\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.668\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.423\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.414\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.898\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.798\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.900\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.587\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.202\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.292\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0593\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.633\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.358\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.148\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.659\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.465\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.255\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.262\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.014\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.274\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.387\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.845\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.299\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.221\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.474\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.351\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.379\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.031\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.052\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.855\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.413\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.731\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.235\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.252\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.767\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.497\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.229\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.207\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI_9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.023\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.344\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.389\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.819\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.241\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndicator loadings, internal consistency reliability, as well as the convergent and discriminant validity were employed to evaluate the reflective constructs through the PLS-SEM algorithm (Hair et al., 2019). As depicted in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e, the values of outer loadings were all above 0.708 for I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, and entrepreneurial education, which met the criteria proposed by Hair and colleagues (2021) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e58\u003c/span\u003e]. In terms of promotion focus, three of indicators loadings (PF_1, PF_4, PF_6) were below 0.708. However, their T-values showed statistical significance. Meanwhile, the loadings satisfied the requirement of being greater than 0.6 recommended by Chin (1998) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e66\u003c/span\u003e]. The internal consistency reliability of the construct was measured by Cronbach alpha and composite reliability. Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e displays that the Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s α is 0.795\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;0.911 for I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, promotion focus, and entrepreneurial education, respectively. And their composite reliability is 0.817\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;0.924 correspondingly. Both reliabilities are all above the rule of thumb, 0.70 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e62\u003c/span\u003e]. The convergent validity was analyzed by examining the average variance extracted (AVE). The AVE for each construct in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e exceeds the threshold value of 0.50 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e63\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eReliability and convergent validity for reflective measurement models\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndicators\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOuter loadings\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT-\u003c/em\u003eStatistics\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCronbach Alpha (α)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCR (ρ\u003csub\u003ea\u003c/sub\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAVE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.I-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI_1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.804\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43.373\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.911\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.924\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.743\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI_2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.916\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e102.423\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI_3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.929\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e129.007\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI_4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.919\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e116.916\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI_5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.724\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.255\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.D-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD_1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.745\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.755\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.897\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.906\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"4\" rowspan=\"5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.711\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD_2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.822\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50.153\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD_3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.895\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e93.324\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD_4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.901\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e94.894\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD_5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.844\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e63.020\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1. Promotion Focus\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.612\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.619\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.795\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.817\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.501\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.773\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46.059\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.736\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.727\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.623\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.281\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.763\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.324\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF_6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.677\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.278\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.Entrepreneurial Education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e42.573\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.909\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.910\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"5\" rowspan=\"6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.687\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.840\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e56.298\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.844\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e57.974\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.769\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e39.143\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.856\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e64.686\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE_6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.869\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e72.458\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: CR and AVE are the abbreviations of composite reliability and average variance extracted, respectively\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, we used Fornell-Larcker Criterion and Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio to analyze the discriminant validity. According to Fornell-Larcker Criterion, the square root of the AVE for each construct in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e is greater than the correlation coefficient between the constructs. The results indicate good discriminant validity between each latent variable. Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e also shows that the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio is below 0.90 accepted as admissible [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e62\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscriminant validity for reflective measurement models\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHeterotrait-Monotrait Ratio\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.I-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.862\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.D-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.731***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.843\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.808\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.Promotion Focus\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.490***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.508***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.708\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.576\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.600\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.Entrepreneurial Education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.536***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.560***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.521***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e0.829\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.591\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.620\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.612\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: The diagonal values in bold are square roots of AVE. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eStructural model test\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eUsing SmartPLS 4 to establish a structural equation model, the significance test included a p-value at the 0.05 level and a 95% Bootstrap confidence interval based on bias correction, with 5000 self-sampling attempts. The model fitting indicators provided in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e show that the R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e of endogenous variables is greater than 0.3; Blindfolding-based Q\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e is larger than 0; The VIFs of both independent and intermediate variables are less than 3; SRMR\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.058 (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.08); NFI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.852 (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.8), indicating that the data fits the model well. Therefore, hypothesis testing can be performed on structural equation model.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStructural model results\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdj. R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQ\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVIF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSRMR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNFI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eI-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e{2.154,2.335}\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD-type Entrepreneurial Curiosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e{2.154,2.422}\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePromotion Focus\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.320\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.318\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.248\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.634\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEntrepreneurial Education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.716\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNew Venture Idea\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.433\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.428\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.219\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.058\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.852\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEntrepreneurial Education * Promotion Focus\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.007\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eHypotheses test\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirst, the direct effects between two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea were examined. As shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e, except for ECD \u0026rarr; NVI (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.036, P\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.454), the coefficients of all other direct paths are significant. Among them, I-type entrepreneurial curiosity has the strongest direct effect on new venture idea (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.249, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Compared with I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity yields more direct effect on promotion focus (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.327,P\u0026lt;0.001).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSecond, the mediating effects of promotion focus were examined. As shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e, I-type entrepreneurial curiosity can directly affect new venture idea, and can also indirectly affect it through promotion focus. Therefore, promotion focus plays a partial mediating effect in the relationship between I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. But D-type entrepreneurial curiosity can only positively affect new venture idea through promotion focus, which suggests that promotion focus plays a fully mediating effect in the relationship between D-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHypotheses testing (direct and indirect effects)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStructural path\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePath coefficient/\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndirect effects\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e95% CI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e-Statistics\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eP values\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLLCI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eULCI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.249\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.251\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.043\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.165\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.337\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.740\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.036\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.036\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.048\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.061\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.126\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.749\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.454\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.148\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.149\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.037\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.074\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.219\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.986\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; PF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.280\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.281\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.050\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.180\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.377\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.638\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; PF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.327\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.328\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.051\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.226\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.424\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.374\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; PF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.041\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.042\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.013\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.020\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.071\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.197\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; PF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.048\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.049\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.023\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.080\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.280\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.307\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.311\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.040\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.221\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.380\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.611\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEE *PF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.163\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.167\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.021\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.118\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.201\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.652\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, the moderating effects of entrepreneurial education were examined. This study carried out a permutation multigroup analysis (MGA). Two groups were first generated according to the median of entrepreneurial education. 355 samples being above and equal to the median were categorized into high-level entrepreneurial education group. The remaining 295 samples were defined as low-level entrepreneurial education group. Prior to conducting the MGA, measurement invariance needs to be ensured. Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e presents the results of measurement invariance test using MICOM procedure, which showed that both configural and compositional invariance are achieved, but the equal means and variances between two groups are not established. So partial measurement invariance is confirmed.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults of invariance measurement testing using MICOM procedure\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConfigurational Invariance\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Step1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"2\" rowspan=\"3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCompositional Invariance\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Step2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOriginal correlation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.999\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.994\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.945\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.999\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.999\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.986\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.872\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePermutation p-value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.105\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.936\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.447\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.591\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"2\" rowspan=\"3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEqual Mean\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Step 3a)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOriginal difference\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.107\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.148\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.152\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.160\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e95% CI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.150,0.150]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.145,0.152]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.141,0.147]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.153,0.167]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePermutation p-value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.181\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.068\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.037\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.078\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"2\" rowspan=\"3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEqual Variance\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Step 3b)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eOriginal difference\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.223\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.162\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.020\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.238\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e95% CI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.216,0.219]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.222,0.229]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.260,0.250]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e[-0.222,0.222]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePermutation p-value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.044\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.144\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.890\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.013\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"6\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: CI is the abbreviation of confidence interval.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults of permutation multi-group analysis shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e shows that there is significant difference for the path coefficient from promotion focus to new venture idea between high-level entrepreneurial education group (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.271) and low-level entrepreneurial education group (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.054). Additionally, the indirect effect from entrepreneurial curiosity (I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity) to new venture idea through promotion focus also differs significantly across two conditions of entrepreneurial education. Specially, the indirect effect of ECI\u0026rarr;PF\u0026rarr;NVI is 0.073 in high-level entrepreneurial education group whereas it is 0.010 in low-level entrepreneurial education group. The indirect effect of ECD\u0026rarr;PF\u0026rarr;NVI is 0.072 in high-level entrepreneurial education group whereas it is 0.015 in low-level entrepreneurial education group. We also reran a bootstrap multi-group analysis. The results unreported here for space limits were statistically similar. Consequently, the moderating effects of entrepreneurial education were confirmed.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab7\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 7\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults of permutation multi-group analysis for entrepreneurial education\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStructural path\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePath coefficient/ Indirect effects\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDifference\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e95% CI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePermutation p-value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHigh-level EE(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;355)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLow-level EE(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;295)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLLCI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eULCI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.291\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.243\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.047\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.180\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.174\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.624\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.152\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.032\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.120\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.218\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.192\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.228\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; PF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.268\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.193\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.074\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.171\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.203\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.456\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; PF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.265\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.283\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.017\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.220\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.186\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.866\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.271\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.054\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.217\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.159\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.153\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECI \u0026rarr; PF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.073\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.063\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.052\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.052\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eECD \u0026rarr; PF \u0026rarr; NVI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.072\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.058\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.061\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.055\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.045\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study innovatively took new venture idea as the outcome variable and categorized entrepreneurial curiosity into I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, exploring the impact mechanisms of these two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates. Here, we first discuss the major findings of this study, including (a) the direct effects of the two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, (b) the mediating role of promotion focus between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea, and (c) the moderating role of entrepreneurial education in the above impact mechanisms. Secondly, based on the above findings, this study puts forward relevant suggestions for universities to promote the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates. Lastly, limitations and future directions are offered.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eTheoretical implications\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirstly, this study explored the direct effects of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, which has not been well studied previously. The results indicated that I-type entrepreneurial curiosity has a positive predictive effect on undergraduates\u0026rsquo; new venture idea, while D-type entrepreneurial curiosity has not, which partially support our hypothesis. These conclusions seem inconsistent with earlier findings. Previous research has confirmed the positive effects of undergraduates\u0026rsquo; curiosity on creativity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR67\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e67\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e68\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR69\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e69\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e70\u003c/span\u003e], which viewed curiosity as a whole. Other studies broadly understood curiosity as a psychological state closely related to interest [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e], which is just only the I-type curiosity. The impact of I-type curiosity on new venture idea can be explained by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which also provides a certain theoretical basis for the conclusion that D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, accompanied by a negative feeling, cannot directly affect new venture idea. Moreover, for individuals with D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, the main purpose of their exploration is to eliminate cognitive dissonance. When the information gap is filled, D-type curiosity will no longer exist, which means that D-type curiosity cannot further produce its effect. D-type curiosity was unrelated to both creative problem solving and creative performance [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR71\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e71\u003c/span\u003e]. But In the subsequent exploration process, the energy invested, information obtained, and knowledge accumulated by individuals contribute to the formation of creative ideas [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e]. In a nutshell, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity can stimulate exploration, and positive exploration rather than D-type entrepreneurial curiosity is the real factor affecting new venture idea among undergraduates.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSecondly, based on the regulatory focus theory, the mediating role of promotion focus between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea is explored. It is worth noting that, there are differences in mechanisms on promotion focus for two types of entrepreneurial curiosity, which can be explained by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and the information-gap theory of curiosity, respectively. The joyful emotions associated with I-type curiosity can strengthen an individual\u0026rsquo;s intrinsic motivation [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e41\u003c/span\u003e], demonstrating a higher willingness to explore new things [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e42\u003c/span\u003e].The tendency to promotion focus triggered by D-type curiosity originating from the information gap will inevitably explore to fill the information gap [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]. I-type entrepreneurial curiosity spontaneously triggers entrepreneurship-search, while D-type entrepreneurial curiosity even with a trace of helplessness, which can be seen as an individual\u0026rsquo;s passive behavior that is unavoidable under uncertainty.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, entrepreneurial education, unlike being used as an antecedent variable for entrepreneurial activities in previous studies, the moderating role is explored in this study. Results show that entrepreneurial education can further enhance the goal-oriented behavior of undergraduates, making their entrepreneurial exploration more active. Besides, the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills acquired in entrepreneurial courses can further help individuals understand innovation, then focus on innovation, and even achieve innovation [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e50\u003c/span\u003e]. Moreover, the results also reflected the positive role of practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, which are consistent with the reform direction of entrepreneurial education in China. In recent years, Chinese universities adopted teaching methods that were different from traditional theoretically-oriented courses, and developed more and more practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, such as entrepreneurial project practice, entrepreneurial simulation training, entrepreneurial field visits, entrepreneurial training lectures and seminars, and so on. Piperopoulos and Dimov (2015) argued that, practically-oriented courses provide the \u0026ldquo;can\u0026rdquo; of entrepreneurial actions and thus convey a sense of the possibilities that emanate from a given set of entrepreneurial inputs [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e72\u003c/span\u003e]. Students coming out of such a setting are likely to see their own entrepreneurial behavior as a starting point, to be developed further.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003ePractical implications\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eUniversities could strive to stimulate the entrepreneurial interest of undergraduates and cultivate their I-type entrepreneurial curiosity. As the results showed, I-type entrepreneurial curiosity can not only directly promote the formation of new venture idea among undergraduates, but also indirectly influence it by promotion focus. Therefore, according to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e], universities can start by stimulating undergraduates\u0026rsquo; interest in entrepreneurship and increase their positive emotional experiences in entrepreneurial education, which trigger a tendency to promotion focus or directly increase the formation of new venture idea. For example, universities can provide entrepreneurship courses with interest, diversity, and exploration for undergraduates through multiplex teaching methods. When students are attracted to the course and develop an interest in entrepreneurship, this positive emotion can continue into further entrepreneurship-search, thus promoting the formation of new venture idea. Besides, entrepreneurial practice is also an important means that leads students to the tendency to promotion focus [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e72\u003c/span\u003e]. Hence, universities should encourage undergraduates to actively participate in various entrepreneurial practices, such as entrepreneurial competitions, entrepreneurial lectures, practical internships, entrepreneurial training, etc., through which they can experience the joy of entrepreneurship-search.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHeuristic teaching should be used to guide undergraduates to develop D-type entrepreneurial curiosity in universities. As mentioned, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity cannot directly affect new venture idea, but can positively affect it by promotion focus. Therefore, it is necessary to play the role of D-type entrepreneurial curiosity in stimulating undergraduates\u0026rsquo; tendency to promotion focus. Teachers can adopt situational teaching method, in the form of team learning, guiding students to identify problems while also finding their own information gaps. Moreover, team learning can also enable students to discover their own gaps with others through team interaction and sharing, thereby producing D-type curiosity based on information gaps. Although D-type curiosity is accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and tension, which seem to be terrible for individuals. Indeed, compared to I-type curiosity, its reactions reflect a more powerful motive for learning [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e]. Therefore, it\u0026rsquo;s really important to utilize the strong learning motivation triggered by D-type curiosity, which encourage undergraduates to explore continuously.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eLimitations and future directions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe present study has several limitations that could indicate avenues for future research. Firstly, our study employed a cross-sectional survey design, which is limited in establishing the order of effects among focal variables. Future research can use a longitudinal or experimental design to increase the validity of the model presented here. Secondly, promotion focus was the only factor as a mediator between entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea in current research. In the future, we need to explore the role of prevention focus, another regulation focus, in entrepreneurial activities. Especially when they are taken as personal trait rather than situational motivation, what changes will happen to their mechanism? It can also serve as a direction for further research. Thirdly, the questionnaire was self-reported, which may incur common method variance even though we tried to control it. Qualitative analysis or in-depth interviews could be utilized by future scholars to ensure the accuracy of the causal pathways of variables. We can stimulate students\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial curiosity through task scenarios, then conduct curiosity type tests and focus tendency surveys, and further evaluate student\u0026rsquo; new venture idea quantity and quality through task solving. Furthermore, it is possible to divide the students into an experimental group and a control group based on whether they have received entrepreneurial education, to determine the differences in entrepreneurial curiosity, as well as in the impact mechanism of new venture idea between the two groups.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study discussed the direct effects of two types of entrepreneurial curiosity on new venture idea, and proved the mediating effect of promotion focus between them. Moreover, this study innovatively used entrepreneurial education as a moderator, and verified its moderating effect in above-mentioned relationships. In general, compared to traditional research that focused on undergraduates\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial opportunity, this study chose new venture idea for research, which is more in line with the policy objectives of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China. The conclusions drawn from the study not only refine the research on entrepreneurial curiosity but also enrich the study of the mechanism of new venture idea, providing insights for future reforms in entrepreneurial education. In the future, universities should pay more attention to practically-oriented entrepreneurial courses, especially innovation in entrepreneurial teaching methods. Starting from stimulating undergraduates\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial curiosity, this can promote continuous entrepreneurial exploration among undergraduates, thereby leading to the formation of new venture idea.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors are thankful to all the respondents for taking part in the study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors\u0026rsquo; contributions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eC.L. conducted theoretical framework design, data collection, and paper writing. R.H. provided guidance on the theoretical framework and suggested revisions to the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors received no specific funding for this work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data and materials\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll procedures in this study were approved by the authors\u0026rsquo; institutional research ethics committee (School of Public Administration, Huazhong Agricultural University). Informed consent was also obtained in the study. We confirm that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDavidsson P. Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship nexus: A re-conceptualization. Journal of business venturing. 2015; 30(5): 674-695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2015.01.002.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMcMullen J S, Shepherd D A. Entrepreneurial action and the role of uncertainty in the theory of the entrepreneur. Academy of Management Review. 2006; 31(1): 132\u0026ndash;152. https://doi.org/10.2307/20159189.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRaine A L, Pandya M. 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Creative self-efficacy: The influence of affective states and social persuasion as antecedents and imagination and divergent thinking as consequences. Creativity Research Journal. 2017; 29(3): 304\u0026ndash;312. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1360067\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSchutte N S, Malouff J M. A meta‐analysis of the relationship between curiosity and creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior. 2019; 54(2): 940\u0026ndash;947. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.421\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHunter J A, Abraham E H, Hunter A G, et al. Personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 2016; 22: 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2016.08.002\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHardy III J H, Ness A M, Mecca J. Outside the box: Epistemic curiosity as a predictor of creative problem solving and creative performance. Personality and Individual Differences. 2017; 104: 230-237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.004\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePiperopoulos P, Dimov D.. Burst bubbles or build steam? Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self‐efficacy, and entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Small Business Management. 2015; 53(4): 970\u0026ndash;985. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12116\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"I-type entrepreneurial curiosity, D-type entrepreneurial curiosity, New venture idea, Entrepreneurial education, Promotion focus","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4273177/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4273177/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eNew venture idea is an \u0026ldquo;imagined future venture\u0026rdquo;, it\u0026rsquo;s more valuable and practical than entrepreneurial opportunity which has been widely studied before for undergraduates\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurship. Based on the regulatory focus theory, this study aims to explore how two different types of entrepreneurial curiosity (I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and D-type entrepreneurial curiosity) affect the undergraduates\u0026rsquo; new venture idea through promotion focus, as well as the moderating effect of entrepreneurial education.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith a sample of 650 undergraduates in Chinese universities through questionnaire star platform, this study used a PLS-SEM to test hypotheses.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results indicated that promotion focus played a full mediating effect between D-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea, and a partial mediating effect between I-type entrepreneurial curiosity and new venture idea. In addition, entrepreneurial education moderated those mediating effects.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results highlighted the importance of stimulating undergraduates\u0026rsquo; entrepreneurial curiosity so as to form more new venture ideas. Also, it suggested that universities need to improve undergraduates\u0026rsquo; promotion focus by optimizing the teaching strategies and contexts of entrepreneurial education, as well as create a good atmosphere of entrepreneurial support.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"How does entrepreneurial curiosity lead to Chinese undergraduates’ new venture idea: the mediation of promotion focus and the moderation of entrepreneurial education","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-04-23 19:08:56","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4273177/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-10-25T09:30:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-09-19T08:00:15+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"285057837128700431939089996621286301313","date":"2024-09-09T10:22:18+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-07-29T10:21:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"202921541146360684646646011421971720467","date":"2024-07-10T07:59:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-05-22T03:57:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2024-04-19T07:19:26+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-04-18T08:10:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-04-18T08:10:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Psychology","date":"2024-04-16T04:41:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5eff2570-90f0-4a2b-9ce0-a4f70b7cfa90","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 23rd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-04-28T15:59:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4273177","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02786-x","journal":{"identity":"bmc-psychology","isVorOnly":false,"title":"BMC Psychology"},"publishedOn":"2025-04-26 15:56:56","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 26th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-04-23 19:08:56","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40359-025-02786-x","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02786-x","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4273177","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4273177","identity":"rs-4273177","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}