Profile and characteristics of females.

Female entrepreneurs have irreplaceable status and essential significance in entrepreneurship research. Improving females’ entrepreneurial intentions is an important topic in this area. Accordingly, this study, based on the theory of planned behavior, investigates the factors that affect female students’ entrepreneurial intention at China’s vocational colleges and whether household income moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial education, attitude, competence, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. 2149 females from vocational colleges in Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province, and Jiangxi Province were randomly chosen to participate in the study. They had taken part in entrepreneurial courses throughout 2021–2022. In addition, data were analyzed by structural equation modeling partial least squares. The results demonstrate that entrepreneurial education did not directly affect female students’ intentions. Entrepreneurial competence, self-efficacy, and attitude positively affect entrepreneurial intention. It is further concluded that household income significantly moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial education, attitude, competence, and intention. However, there is no significant difference in the relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention between high and low-household-income students. While females continue to confront sexism in the workplace, it is crucial that we conduct empirical research into the factors influencing female entrepreneurial intention to boost economic growth and gender parity. This research helps bridge a gap in the prior literature and adds substantial value to encouraging female entrepreneurs.

女性创业者在创业研究领域拥有不可替代的地位与核心价值，提升女性创业意向亦是该领域的重要研究议题。据此，本研究基于计划行为理论（Theory of Planned Behavior），针对中国高职院校女性学生的创业意向影响因素展开探究，并检验家庭收入是否在创业教育、创业态度、创业能力、自我效能感（self-efficacy）与创业意向的关系中发挥调节作用。本研究随机选取广东省、浙江省与江西省的高职院校共2149名女性学生作为研究对象，这些学生均在2021至2022学年修读过创业类课程。此外，本研究采用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling）对调研数据进行分析。研究结果显示，创业教育并未对女性学生的创业意向产生直接影响；创业能力、自我效能感与创业态度则对创业意向存在显著正向影响。进一步分析表明，家庭收入可显著调节创业教育、创业态度、创业能力与创业意向之间的关系，但在家庭收入高低不同的学生群体中，自我效能感与创业意向之间的关系并未呈现显著差异。尽管女性在职场中仍面临性别歧视，开展女性创业意向影响因素的实证研究对于推动经济增长与实现性别平等具有关键意义。本研究填补了现有相关文献的研究空白，可为鼓励女性创业提供重要的学术价值与实践参考。