Students’ entrepreneurial abilities have been influenced by entrepreneurship education (Beynon, et al., 2016). Many researchers studied entrepreneurship education that mainly focused on assessing entrepreneurship education courses (Pittaway and Edwards, 2012; Gerba, 2012), learning models on entrepreneurship education courses (Graevenitz et al., 2010) and proposing theoretical models of entrepreneurship and emotions (Jones and Underwood, 2017). As an example, Abou-Warda (2016) supported by qualitative and quantitative research approaches, developed the framework of technology-based entrepreneurship education from the following three aspects: centres for innovation and entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship professors/education, and technology entrepreneurship programmes/courses. Additionally, after systematically reviewing the methods in entrepreneurship education research, Blenker et al. (2014) identified five levels in entrepreneurship education activities, namely, regional and national levels, institutional level, programme level, course level and student and teacher level (see a review). From the above literature, it can be found that researchers studied entrepreneurship education from various viewpoints (e.g., courses and activities). Attitude is the extent to which an individual forms positive or negative opinion on becoming an entrepreneur (Farashah, 2013). Attitude is important for changing or enhancing individuals’ intentions and behaviour. Students’ attitudes to entrepreneurship can be developed, based on their opinions to education (Harris and Gibson, 2008; Souitaris et al., 2007). In order to enrich policy in entrepreneurship education, researchers investigating the attitudes and motivation of female students towards entrepreneurship revealed that clear goals should be set for entrepreneurship education (Sowmya et al., 2010). Thus, we defined perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education as the perception on entrepreneurship training and courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Self-efficacy is a social-cognitive process that can be adopted to explain a person’s attitude, intention, performance, and behaviour towards entrepreneurship (Wardana et al., 2020). Self-efficacy can be described as a person’s confidence in their performance and abilities to be successful (Puni et al., 2018). Perceived self-efficacy is a measurement of individuals’ abilities and skills that can indicate their beliefs and intentions on how they want to perform and achieve (Shrivastava and Acharya, 2020). Perceived self-efficacy has been adopted as a predictor to intentions and performance that enhance EI (Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Chen et al., 1998). In this study, perceived self-efficacy is defined as university students’ confidence on entrepreneurial abilities and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, we hypothesized that:

H1. Perceived self-efficacy (PS) positively influences perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education (PPAEE) during COVID-19.

Social norms are defined as informal rules that are not written; however, they might influence individual perceptions (Elster, 1989). Social norms refer to the perceptions of a person who could be influenced from surrounding people, such as friends, family members and important persons (Liñán, 2008). Especially, individuals in society belong to social groups. Some people may prefer to follow social norms, while others may be annoyed by perceived social norms (Iyer et al., 2007). After analysing 170 questionnaires from students in Quaid-i-Azam University, Yousaf et al. (2015) found that when compared to students’ skills and capabilities, subjective norms have a significant effect in improving their intentions to be entrepreneurs. Thus, perceived social norms can be defined as the extent of university students’ care about opinions from friends, family, teachers, and the person who is important to them. The hypothesis is proposed as follows:

H2. Perceived social norms (PSN) positively influence PPAEE during COVID-19.

Researchers examined the barriers in entrepreneurship that were affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors include personal skills, characteristics and abilities (Ibrahim and Goodwin, 1986). Extrinsic factors are those that are out of an entrepreneur’s control, including government regulations and taxes (Theng and Boon, 1996). Stamboulis and Barlas (2014) concluded that there are three categories of entrepreneurial barriers, namely, individual barriers (family and education), organizational barriers (financing, physical resources and marketing) and environmental barriers (socio-cultural factors and rules and regulations). Giacomin et al. (2011) found there were differences in barrier perceptions among students from America, China, India, Belgium and Spain. They found that compared to American, Belgian and Indian students, Chinese and Spanish students rated perceived risk as a less important barrier in entrepreneurship. They also proved that lack of initial capital is the main barrier to starting businesses. Some barriers may have negative effects on EI that should be considered in entrepreneurship education (Shahverdi et al., 2018). Perceived entrepreneurial barriers is defined as university students’ difficulties in entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lack of initial capital, experience, ideas, and formal help. Hence, we hypothesized that:

H3. Perceived entrepreneurial barriers (PEB) negatively influence PPAEE during COVID-19.

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is based on an individual’s rational choice and intention that may predict a certain behaviour (Küttim et al., 2014). Attitudes towards behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control can be adopted to predict intentions to perform behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). This theory has been applied in the studies of entrepreneurship, such as the effect of entrepreneurship education and EI (Shrivastava and Acharya, 2020). Furthermore, intention is a predictor of behaviour and action, such as a self-plan to become an entrepreneur or to start entrepreneurship activities in the future (Lent et al., 1994; Souitaris et al., 2007; Shrivastava and Acharya, 2020). Thus, TPB can be conducted to analyse intentions in an entrepreneurship setting. The conceptual framework of this study is presented in Figure 1.

Nabi et al. (2010) defined entrepreneurial intention as individual awareness that he/she plans to set up a new business in the future. It also means that a person wants to develop entrepreneurship activities (Mohamad et al., 2015; Souitaris et al., 2007). Several researchers found that there is a significant correlation between entrepreneurial education and EI (Harima, et al., 2021; Peterman and Kennedy, 2003). Students’ EI had increased since they had received entrepreneurship education (Sowmya et al., 2010). Further, after analysed the data from 308 university students, Krichen and Chaabouni (2021) proved that perceived educational support positively affects entrepreneurial activities during the COVID-19. However, several researchers found that there was no effect to students’ intentions after taking entrepreneurship education and some students’ intentions even decreased (Mentoor and Friedrich, 2007; Oosterbeek et al., 2010). Various researchers explored the factors that affect entrepreneurship education and EI (see Table 1), while only a few studies investigated EI at a time of crisis (e.g., COVID-19). In this study, entrepreneurial intention can be defined as university students’ intention to participate into entrepreneurship. Hence, we hypothesized that: H4. Perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education (PPAEE) positively influence EI during COVID-19.

In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, it was translated into Chinese by a professional researcher, and then translated back to English by another language researcher. A pilot study was then conducted with ten students at a university to verify if the questionnaire was clear and easily understood. No problems were found. Then, the data was collected via social media (e.g., WeChat and email) direct to students in universities in Shanghai, China P.R. The target participants of this study were the students who have taken or attended the entrepreneurial courses or training at university. For participants, there is no requirements on their major. Before the data collection, the participants were informed of the research procedure. At the beginning of the survey, participants were asked to rate their perceptions and responses in the questionnaire. All participants were volunteers. There was no time limitation. In order to meet the requirement of this study, the data was cleaned. A total of 318 valid data was collected from 122 (38.4%) males and 196 (61.6%) females. The participants were mostly 19–22 years old (82.4%). The demographic information is analysed by frequency analysis (see Table 2).

All measures and scales were extracted from previous studies. The measures and scales of perceived positive attitudes on entrepreneurship education were adopted from Adekiya and Ibrahim (2016). The measures and scales of perceived self-efficacy were supported by Zhao et al. (2005); the measures and scales of perceived social norms were adopted from Boissin et al. (2017); the measures and scales of perceived entrepreneurial barriers were developed by Giacomin et al. (2011); and the measures and scales of EI were supported by Liñán et al. (2011). The measures and scales are presented in Supplementary Appendix SA. All the items were measured by a five-point Likert scale format ranging from “1 = strongly disagree/completely unsure/not at all/no confidence” to “5 = strongly agree/completely sure/very much/complete confidence.”

Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are conducted in the data analysis. First, the reliability is tested by SPSS Statistics 25.0. The threshold of Cronbach’s alpha is higher than 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010). The factor loading should be above 0.5, and the value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin metrics (KMO) needed to be above 0.5 (Hair et al., 2010). Further, the confirmatory factor analysis is operated in SPSS Amos 23.0. The criteria of Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) values should be below than 0.6 (Hu and Bentler, 1999).

In the first step, the reliability and validity of the model was analysed. The validity is measured by three indices, namely, factor loadings, average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). The result of exploratory factor analysis is presented in Table 3. There are 26 items, including perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education, perceived social norms, perceived self-efficacy, perceived entrepreneurial barriers, and EI. It can be seen that the scores of Cronbach’s alpha are between 0.891 and 0.954, the KMO = 0.922, CR > 0.950, AVE >0.760. Correlation of the constructs is significant (see Table 4), which indicated the reliability for the following analysis.

Based on the structural equation modelling, a fitting model was calculated in SPSS Amos 23.0. In total, the validity of the measurement model is confirmed. The relationships between constructs are presented in Figure 2. The overall fit statistics are presented in an acceptable level (see Table 5). As shown in Table 6, it can be found that H1 (β = 0.601, t = 8.168, p < 0.001), H2 (β = 0.518, t = 9.204, p < 0.001), and H3 (β = 0.285, t = 4.067, p < 0.001) were supported. H4 (β = −0.033, t = −0.618, p = 0.536) was not supported (see Table 6).

Although considerable empirical studies (Adekiya and Ibrahim, 2016; Elnadi and Gheith., 2021; Iwu et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2021; Shahverdi et al., 2018) explore the factors that affect EI in different countries, most of them have not studied the relationship in the time of COVID-19. Before the TPB was adopted to test the relationship on EI (Boubker et al., 2021; Fragoso et al., 2019), there still needed to be further research on EI during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research studied four hypotheses via the research model. After data analysis, three proposed hypotheses were accepted, and one hypothesis was rejected.

The first hypothesis of this study (H1) indicated that perceived self-efficacy positively influences university students’ positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education. Specifically, it shows that perceived self-confidence increases students’ positive attitudes towards the course of entrepreneurship. This means that the more confidence they have in themselves to develop their own businesses, the more satisfied and happier they may be in engaging in entrepreneurial education. The finding is in line with a previous study by Farashah (2013). Puni et al. (2018) found that self-efficacy and entrepreneurship education have a positive relationship.

A possible explanation for the finding may be that students like to create new products, develop new ideas and identify new business opportunities. It could further imply that university students intend to operate a business, rather than be employed by a company during the time of COVID-19. Additionally, it could also imply that students recognize the limited employment opportunities available during COVID-19. Therefore, they tend to have more creative and more inspired ideas for their own businesses.

The second hypothesis (H2) found that perceived social norms positively influence university students’ perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education. The finding corroborates with the findings of previous works by Boubker et al. (2021). This finding implies that students who have or run businesses are influenced by family, friends, teachers and other important persons, and thus, an influential person’s opinion would affect a student’s attitude to entrepreneurship education. It further suggests that during the time of COVID-19, these close relationships have an important effect on students’ decision-making. Therefore, the finding reveals that if university students get support from relatives and friends, they would like to devote themselves to entrepreneurship education and improve their entrepreneurial knowledge.

The result of the third hypothesis (H3) showed that there is no relationship between perceived entrepreneurial barriers and perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education. This result supports previous findings that lack of support was not considered as a potential barrier for an entrepreneur (Shahverdi et al., 2018). It indicates that during COVID-19, positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education have no relationship with entrepreneurial barriers (e.g., lack of experience, lack of ideas, and lack of assistance or of formal help). As both intrinsic and extrinsic barriers of entrepreneurship may affect perceptions, this should be explored separately in entrepreneurship education. During COVID-19, the entrepreneurship courses and training are mainly conducted online. Significantly, there are almost no opportunities for students to visit or do internships in factories and companies that may influence their perception on entrepreneurial barriers as company operations may be influenced by the effects of COVID-19 and cannot offer opportunities for students to be involved through internships or part-time work. Limited work experience may influence their perceptions on barriers or risks of entrepreneurship.

With regard to EI, the fourth hypothesis (H4) indicated that students who have positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education may be intending to become entrepreneurs. The finding supports previous studies by Boubker et al. (2021); Küttim et al. (2014); Iwu et al. (2021); Puni et al. (2018) and Liñán (2008). Students can identify opportunities and form creative ideas after having entrepreneurship education. A possible reason for this finding may be that students have positive attitudes to entrepreneurship education, which help them to increase their possibility of engaging in entrepreneurship and improve their impetus to develop their own businesses. Moreover, earlier findings indicate that as perceived entrepreneurship education can enhance students’ knowledge and abilities to find opportunities, it directly affects EI (Zhao et al., 2005). Additionally entrepreneurship education provides entrepreneurial knowledge, theories and cases in the study course, and the students get support to improve their EI. Thus, perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education can inspire students to start their own businesses during the time of COVID-19.

The findings of the current study present theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for both public organizations and universities. In theoretical implications, our research findings highlight the perceptions in understanding the university students’ EI during COVID-19. Therefore, we contribute to a better understanding of university students’ entrepreneurship education in the period of COVID-19. Furthermore, this study develops a new model that is supported by data from Shanghai universities. This study enriches the entrepreneurship literature by considering the relationship of perceptions, perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education and EI. Finally, we extend the use of the TPB with a focus on entrepreneurship education and EI during the period of COVID-19. Thus, this study enriches the literature on university students’ perceptions and entrepreneurship education during COVID-19.

In practical implications, this research studied the perceptions and perceived positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship education in order to improve EI. First, further teaching methods should be explored in entrepreneurship. During the time of COVID-19, students can learn online, which is supported by video and audio technology, and obtain creative ideas from the e-training process. Entrepreneurship education triggers students’ innovative thinking and creativity on entrepreneurship. The universities should set up an entrepreneurship education centre to provide professional and business practice opportunities to students. Second, universities should create an entrepreneurial atmosphere for the public and provide support to students. Company managers, factory operators and entrepreneurs should be engaged in entrepreneurship education so as to extend students’ understanding with up-to-date news in entrepreneurship. Third, our study also provides some suggestions to teachers and education organizers. Barriers of entrepreneurship may be considered as an important section in entrepreneurship education. As most of the teachers have not received up-to-date business service training, it is essential to organize and establish an entrepreneurship team to not only improve the quality of entrepreneurship education and to help tackle the students’ entrepreneurship process but also to meet students’ requirements in entrepreneurship.

Our study offers some suggestions to universities, educational organizations and for government policies. Students’ perceptions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship education should be considered as vital factors for enhancing EI; creating more opportunities and entrepreneurial activities. Students should be fully involved in the entrepreneurship education training, course development and programmes. Thus, education organizers and university teachers should investigate students’ perceptions before and after entrepreneurship education, for example, track their attitudes on entrepreneurship after graduation and collect feedback to their entrepreneurship education.

There are some limitations in this research. First, a small sample size was adopted to analyse the EI. Future studies can study more data from different areas of China P.R. In addition, there is no comparison of before and during the COVID-19 setting. It would be necessary to operate such a comparison, which may enrich the practical implications. Third, relevant influential factors such as students’ perceived desirability and perceived feasibility should be adopted to enrich the EI research model. Future studies could also adopt both quantitative and qualitative research methods to provide insight into the relationships among variables. Further empirical studies may focus on students from different disciplines that may have some effect on their attitudes to entrepreneurship education and EI during the COVID-19 pandemic.