PhD Thesis: Exploring the Impact of Parents on the Entrepreneurial Fear of Failure Among College Students in China

Description

Entrepreneurial fear of failure (EFoF) is a stable tendency to avoid failure, and a psychological response arising from the failure-relevant cues within the environment. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of parents on college students' entrepreneurship and their EFoF in the Chinese context. To address this issue, the research followed the exploratory sequential paradigm and adopted a mixed research method, resulting in three distinct research papers.
As the starting point of exploration, a scoping review is critical as it can facilitate specifying the research orientation and foci. The first paper followed the PRISMA-ScR protocol to conduct a scoping review of EFoF among college students. By analysing 35 studies between 2010 and 2023, this review systematically synthesised insights on: 1) the various factors influencing EFoF among college students, 2) the impact of EFoF on college students, and 3) the gaps in extant studies. The scoping review revealed a significant research gap concerning the influence of parents on college students' EFoF, particularly within the unique sociocultural context of China. This research conducted a comprehensive mapping and synthesis of the literature on college students' EFoF, offering insights into the current state of knowledge and providing recommendations of future research directions. Entrepreneurship education can be informed by transferring attention from training in knowledge and skills to the well-being and mental health of college student entrepreneurs. There are likely benefits in enhancing students’ ability to manage stress, and encouraging a healthy work-life balance.
The second paper adopted grounded theory to explore the parental impact on college student entrepreneurship in China. The scoping review found that current studies predominantly examine the alleviating effect of parental support on college students' EFoF from a Western perspective. However, Chinese parents are influenced by unique sociocultural factors, and they often hesitate or disapprove of college student entrepreneurship, which can exert different impacts on their EFoF. Current literature lacks an in-depth exploration of parental impacts on college students' entrepreneurship and represents a gap in EFoF research. The second study conducted in-depth interviews among 22 college students. Four themes emerged to illustrate the parental impact on college student entrepreneurship. It found that parents' disapproval and various intervention measures can deepen college students' understanding of entrepreneurial risks and failures, thereby significantly increasing their EFoF. The study offers suggestions and implications for entrepreneurial educators, parents, and college student entrepreneurs for future research.
The third paper examined the influence of parental psychological control on Chinese college students by building on the findings of the qualitative studies. Previous studies highlighted that excessive intervention and protectiveness from parents could lead to parental psychological control and influence on college students' EFoF. This study introduced a theoretical model to investigate the impact of parental psychological control on EFoF, and examined how obsessive and harmonious passions in college students moderate this relationship. The study applied hierarchical regression on a sample of 1,957 Chinese college students with entrepreneurial intentions. Findings demonstrate that parental psychological control significantly affects Chinese college students' EFoF. In addition, entrepreneurial obsessive passion weakens this influence, but harmonious passion plays the opposite moderating role. Based on the findings of studies 1 and 2, this study proposed and validated the psychological model outlining the experience of college student entrepreneurs under parental psychological control in China. There are implications for parents, educational institutions, and community services in the provision of programs to facilitate college students’ entrepreneurial pursuits.
The research focused on EFoF among Chinese college students and the impact of parents on their entrepreneurship. The findings of this interdisciplinary research have numerous implications for cultivating a more inclusive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem for college students. The study underscores the need for increased attention on the psychological well-being of student entrepreneurs, with EFoF as a significant yet often overlooked barrier in research and practice. Educational institutions and governments can integrate insights from this study into entrepreneurship education, enhancing courses to address psychological barriers. Support systems and counseling services are recommended to help college student entrepreneurs establish balanced mental wellbeing. The study also highlights the parental role in college student entrepreneurship, emphasising the need for tailored parental intervention programs that mitigate parental psychological control and encourage parents to engage in their children's career development constructively and reasonably.

Period	1 Jun 2021 → 10 Dec 2024
Examinee
Degree of Recognition	International