Cyber-entrepreneurship as an innovative orientation: Does positive thinking moderate the relationship between cyber-entrepreneurial self-efficacy and cyber-entrepreneurial intentions in Non-IT students?

Abstract Cyber-entrepreneurship has emerged as a nascent type of entrepreneurship in the information era. The issues of whether the lack of cyber-entrepreneurial self-efficacy (CESE) in students without an IT-related disciplinary background (non-IT students) obstructs their cyber-entrepreneurial intentions (CEIs), and how positive thinking (PT) relates to the two have become major topics of discussion in the higher education of cyber entrepreneurship. The present study aims to explore the effect of non-IT students’ CESE on their CEIs, and the possible moderation effect of PT between the two. A total of 364 valid samples were collected from Taiwan college students without an IT background. Hypotheses were verified using Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Our results show that cyber-entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on cyber-entrepreneurial intentions while positive thinking does not, and positive thinking indeed moderates the relationship between cyber-entrepreneurial self-efficacy and cyber-entrepreneurial intentions. Based on these results, we discuss practical implications and propose relevant suggestions and recommendations for future research.