The role of cultural intelligence in students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy through the mediation of strategic thinking

Introduction: Entrepreneurial self-efficacy plays an important role in nurturing entrepreneurial generation and economic-cultural development of a country. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of cultural intelligence in entrepreneurial self-efficacy through mediating strategic thinking. Methods: The present study was a descriptive-correlation structural equation study. The statistical population of this study included all entrepreneurs working in the technology unit of South Khorasan Science and Technology Park in the period from May to July 1398, from which 120 eligible entrepreneurial students were selected by targeted sampling method. Research tools were the cultural intelligence questionnaires of Ang et al. (2004), Goldman strategic thinking (2006) and Diabol et al. (1999) entrepreneurial self-efficacy questionnaires. Structural modeling and partial least squares algorithm (PLS) and software (SPSS) were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed that there is a direct and significant relationship between cultural intelligence with entrepreneurial self-efficacy and strategic thinking as well as a direct and meaningful relationship between strategic thinking with entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The results of path analysis also showed that strategic thinking plays a mediating role in the relationship between cultural intelligence and students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Conclusion: Given the direct and indirect effect of cultural intelligence and strategic thinking on students 'entrepreneurial self-efficacy, it seems that enhancing cultural intelligence and strategic thinking can improve students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy