An Empirical Study of Social Entrepreneurial Intention among Public Sector University Students in Pakistan: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and the Moderating Role of Need for Achievement

Abstract

The significance of entrepreneurship has been widely recognized by scholars and practitioners across the globe; however, social entrepreneurship remains an emerging and evolving field of inquiry. Social entrepreneurship is significant not only for its economic contributions but also for its capacity to address pressing social challenges such as poverty alleviation and community welfare, thereby serving as a catalyst for sustainable social change. Despite its growing relevance, empirical evidence explaining the determinants of social entrepreneurial efforts in developing countries remains limited. Hence, this study seeks to examine the level of youth Intention toward social entrepreneurship in Pakistan. Specifically, it investigates the influence of various antecedent factors on social entrepreneurial intention, while also exploring the moderating role of Need for Achievement and mediating role of entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy. Adopting a quantitative research strategy and a survey-based research design, data were collected from 309 students enrolled in public sector universities located in Rawalpindi Islamabad. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyze the data and test the proposed hypotheses. The results demonstrate that ESE failed to significantly transmit the effects of these support variables to social entrepreneurial intention at QAU and FJWU, showing only a weak direct link at NUST. However, the need for achievement emerged as a powerful and highly robust moderator across all three universities. The interaction effects (NFAxPES and NFAxPSS) consistently strengthened the impact of perceived institutional support mechanisms on SEI. These results underscore that instead of relying purely on building student self-efficacy, higher education institutions must strategically pair robust educational and structural infrastructure with high-achievement student traits to effectively drive youth social entrepreneurial participation.