Improving the Entrepreneurial Competence of College Social Entrepreneurs: Digital Government Building, Entrepreneurship Education, and Entrepreneurial Cognition

This study examines the pathway of entrepreneurship education (EE), digital government building (DGB), and gender differences on entrepreneurial competence of college social entrepreneurs and analyzes the role of entrepreneurial cognition (EC). A sample of 20,134 college students from higher education institutions in 31 provinces of China was used to test the hypothesis. This study found that EE and DGB have positive influence on entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs; compared with men, female social entrepreneurs have a higher level of social entrepreneurship competence. Moreover, EC plays a mediating role among EE, DGB and entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs; however, EC plays a masking role in the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs. This study empirically analyzed the mechanisms that influence college social entrepreneurs and provides a new perspective on the role of EC in entrepreneurial competence. It is suggested to strengthen the building of a digital government and entrepreneurship education of college students’ social entrepreneurs in the future, and to pay attention to the important role of individual psychological cognition in individual social entrepreneurship ability.