The Effect of Entrepreneurial Personality Traits on Students’ Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediating Role of Creativity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Badiezadeh 1
Homayoun Asadi 2
1 Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran
2 PhD in Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran.
10.22034/jmek.2026.603703.1213
Abstract
This study examined the effect of entrepreneurial personality traits on students’ entrepreneurial intention and clarified the mediating role of creativity. The central question was how far individual traits translate directly into the intention to start a business, and how far they do so through creative capacity. The study was applied in purpose and descriptive-correlational in method. The statistical population comprised students of Islamic Azad Universities in Mazandaran Province, Iran. Of 400 distributed questionnaires, 383 valid responses were collected through convenience and multistage cluster sampling and analyzed. Data were gathered with a 20-item, five-point Likert questionnaire covering entrepreneurial personality traits (8 items), creativity (7 items), and entrepreneurial intention (5 items). They were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 3. Personality traits had a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention (β = 0.465, t = 7.145, p < 0.001) and on creativity (β = 0.829, t = 34.019, p < 0.001). Creativity, in turn, had a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention (β = 0.258, t = 2.242, p = 0.025). The indirect effect was 0.214 and the total effect 0.679, so creativity transmitted about 31.5% of the total effect, indicating partial mediation. The coefficients of determination were 0.686 for creativity and 0.482 for entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that developing individual traits and creativity together can help universities design interventions that strengthen students’ entrepreneurial intention. However, because personality and creativity overlap empirically, the results should be generalized with caution.
Keywords
Entrepreneurial personality traits
Creativity
Entrepreneurial intention
University students
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 16 June 2026
  • Revise Date 13 August 2026
  • Accept Date 16 September 2026