Impact of Psychological Capital on Social Entrepreneurship Intentions: An SEM Approach Determining the Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Attitude

Abstract

This study examines how the four dimensions of Psychological Capital (PsyCap), namely self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism, influence social entrepreneurial intention, and whether entrepreneurial attitude mediates these effects. Data were collected from 235 social entrepreneurs in Uttar Pradesh and the NCR region of India through purposive and snowball sampling, and the hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4.0. Resilience (β = 0.283) and optimism (β = 0.179) directly influenced intention, whereas self-efficacy and hope did not. Resilience, hope and self-efficacy significantly shaped entrepreneurial attitude, which in turn strongly predicted intention (β = 0.435). Attitude fully mediated the effects of self-efficacy and hope, partially mediated the effect of resilience (VAF = 44.4%), and did not mediate the effect of optimism. The findings show that PsyCap dimensions operate through distinct pathways rather than as a single construct, extending the Theory of Planned Behavior by placing psychological resources upstream of attitude. Incubators, educators and policymakers can strengthen social entrepreneurship by integrating PsyCap development, particularly resilience-building, into support programmes.