The mediating role of entrepreneurial attitude in the relationship between entrepreneurial education, knowledge ,self efficacy towards entrepreneurial intention in Guizhow, China

Despite increasing policy emphasis on entrepreneurship in China, empirical evidence on entrepreneurial intention among Higher Vocational Education (HVE) students remains limited, particularly in less-developed provinces such as Guizhou. Existing entrepreneurial intention models predominantly focus on university students and inadequately explain vocational students’ entrepreneurial motivation, especially the psychological mechanisms linking entrepreneurial education to intention. This study addresses this gap by examining the role of Entrepreneurial Attitude as a mediating mechanism within the vocational education context. The study aims to investigate the relationships between Entrepreneurial Education, Entrepreneurial Knowledge, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Entrepreneurial Attitude, and Entrepreneurial Intention among HVE students in Guizhou, China, and to test the mediating effect of Entrepreneurial Attitude on these relationships. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed in this study. Data were collected from 385 Higher Vocational Education (HVE) students in Guizhou, China, using structured questionnaires designed to measure the key entrepreneurial constructs. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess both the measurement model and the structural relationships among the study variables. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial knowledge, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have significant positive effects on entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, an entrepreneurial attitude demonstrates a significant direct effect on entrepreneurial intention and functions as a partial mediator, strengthening the relationships between educational and cognitive factors and entrepreneurial intention. The study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior by incorporating educational and cognitive antecedents within a vocational education framework. Practically, it underscores the importance of experiential entrepreneurship education and attitudinal development in fostering entrepreneurial intention among vocational students in emerging regional contexts