title: Exploring the impact of parents on the entrepreneurial fear of failure among college students in China
Creators: name: Gao, Yuan
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2024

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 doctoral research program is to investigate the impacts of parents on college students’ entrepreneurship and their EFoF in the Chinese context. To address this issue, the doctoral research program followed the exploratory sequential paradigm and adopted a mixed research method to conduct three sub-studies. The findings provided a comprehensive understanding of the role and impacts of EFoF among college students. They elucidated the nuanced effects of parental attitudes and behaviours on college students’ entrepreneurship and EFoF within China's unique sociocultural context. The doctoral study also offered a range of practical implications for student entrepreneurs, parents, policymakers, and educators. 

As the starting point of exploration, a scoping review is critical as it can facilitate specifying the research orientation and foci. The sub-study 1 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. A notable research gap concerning the influence of parents on college students’ EFoF was identified in this review, particularly within the unique sociocultural context of China. The sub-study 1 conducted a comprehensive mapping and synthesis of the literature on college students’ EFoF, offering theoretical insights into the current state of knowledge and providing recommendations for future research directions. Numerous practical implications were offered in the sub-study 1. The practices of 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, which can enhance their ability to manage stress, and encourage a healthy work-life balance.

In the sub-study 2, the grounded theory was adopted to explore the parental impact on college student entrepreneurship in China. Based on the results gained in the scoping review, we found that parents may exert significant influence on college students’ EFoF. Current studies predominantly examine the alleviating effect of parental support on college students' EFoF, but from a Western perspective. Considering the unique socio-cultural factors in China, Chinese parents often hesitate or disapprove of college student entrepreneurship, which can exert distinct impacts on college students’ entrepreneurship and their EFoF. The phenomenon is common in the Chinese context, but current literature lacks an in-depth exploration of it. To explore the parental impacts on college students' entrepreneurship and their EFoF, the sub-study 2 conducted in-depth interviews among 22 college students with entrepreneurial experiences. 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 unique implications for entrepreneurial educators, parents, and college student entrepreneurs for future research.

The last sub-study 3 is a quantitative paper which examined the influence of parental psychological control on Chinese college students’ EFoF. The findings in sub-study 2 highlighted that excessive intervention and protectiveness from Chinese parents could lead to parental psychological control and influence on college students’ EFoF. Based on that, the sub-study 3 introduced a theoretical model to investigate the impact of parental psychological control on EFoF among Chinese college students, and examined how obsessive and harmonious passions moderate this relationship. The sub-study 3 applied hierarchical regression on a sample of 1,957 Chinese college students with entrepreneurial intentions. Findings demonstrated that parental psychological control significantly affects Chinese college students' EFoF. In addition, findings showed that entrepreneurial obsessive passion weakens this influence, but harmonious passion plays the opposite moderating role. Based on the results found in the sub-studies 1 and 2, the sub-study 3 contributed to the theory by examining the hypothetical model outlining the experience of college student entrepreneurs under parental psychological control in China. There are practical implications for parents, educational institutions, and community services in the provision of programs to facilitate college students’ entrepreneurial pursuits.

The doctoral research program focused on college students’ EFoF and the impact of parents on the college students’ entrepreneurship and EFoF in the Chinese context. The findings of this interdisciplinary research have numerous implications for cultivating a more inclusive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem for college students, especially in China. The doctoral research program underscores the need for increased attention on the psychological well-being of student entrepreneurs, with EFoF as a significant yet often overlooked barrier in entrepreneurial research and practice. Educational institutions and governments are suggested to integrate insights from this doctoral study into entrepreneurship education practices, enhancing courses to address psychological barriers. Support systems and counselling services are recommended to help college student entrepreneurs establish balanced mental well-being. The doctoral 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.