Academic Achievement as a Predictor of Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Sequential Mediation Approach

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of several psychological and educational factors on the behavior of entrepreneurs and job seeking and employability of the graduate students especially in regard to being job ready as well as the career opportunities. Based on a convenience sampling of 400 graduate students, the research establishes student grade as the independent variable with self-efficacy, attitude toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention taking the role of mediators. The dependent variable is entrepreneurial behavior, which is used as a proxy of improved outcomes of employability. The study examines the role of entrepreneurial education, which is signified by the academic performance (grade), into providing students with essential learning attributes like problem solving, innovation and adaptability. This ability is also determined by self-efficacy and entrepreneurial attitudes, and this has a bearing in entrepreneurial intentions and behavior. The paper also shows how family support contributes to the development of confidence and resilience, and how social connections can be used to widen the opportunities and professional networks of the person. One of the most essential elements of the study is exactly the entrepreneurial approach that will be staged as the moderator that will boost the correlation between the educational accomplishment and the psychological mediators and employability. This attitude-identified as being proactive, risk-taking, and opportunity-seeking intends to increase direct and even indirect impact, empowering the overall process of academic performance to career preparation. The results will be likely to favor a broader model wherein all the direct as well as indirect hypotheses are confirmed and helpful ideas can be extracted about the way that entrepreneurial competencies and contextual support assist in creating better career performances. The study emphasizes the importance of the entrepreneurial behavior not only as a by-product of education and psychosocial processes but as the way to overcome the disparity between the education and the labor market that is positively changing.