The Impact of Social Network on Entrepreneurial Intention among Polytechnic Students in China: Focusing on the Moderated Mediation Effects of Fear of Failure and Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship provides significant economic and social benefits. By encouraging and supporting entrepreneurial activity, it can stimulate social innovation and vitality, optimize resource allocation, and promote sustainable and healthy economic development. It also helps to alleviate employment pressure and improve societal well-being and people’s livelihoods. However, the entrepreneurial process is inherently accompanied by various risks and uncertainties. Entrepreneurial failure often leads to negative emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, self-blame, and shame. This study conducted an empirical analysis to examine the influence of social networks, fear of failure, entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurship education among 374 Chinese polytechnic students. Structural equation model was performed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. The analysis confirmed the positive effect of social network on polytechnic students’ entrepreneurial intention; however, the moderating effect of entrepreneurship education was not supported. Two unexpected findings also emerged. First, the more support and assistance students receive from their network members, and the more resources and information provided by the social network, the greater their fear of failure becomes, rather than reducing it. Second, rather than hindering the formation of entrepreneurial intention, fear of failure can actually stimulate entrepreneurial efforts and, consequently, promote the development of entrepreneurial intentions. These findings suggest that a certain level of tension and fear during the entrepreneurial process may enhance motivation and strengthen entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, university-level entrepreneurship education should move beyond purely theoretical instruction and adopt more practical, experience-based approaches that address the real psychological challenges faced by aspiring entrepreneurs.