The mediating role of big five traits and self-efficacy on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behavior: Study of Tunisian university graduate employees

The present paper aimed to explore the mediating roles of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the big five personality traits in the relationship between entrepreneurship education and university graduate employees' entrepreneurial behavior. Structural equations modeling was applied to data collected through a survey questionnaire among 300 Tunisian employees with a university degree working in the private sector who participated in 2021 in an entrepreneurship education program provided by the Sfax Business Center, a Public-Private organization. The results demonstrate that entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and the big five personality traits affect entrepreneurial behavior positively. Moreover, entrepreneurship education has a positive effect on self-efficacy and the big five personality traits. The findings also show a significant partial mediation of self-efficacy and the big five personality traits on the relationships between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behavior.