Knowledge in entrepreneurial intentions toward rural tourism of higher education students: The moderating role of tourism major

This study applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the formation of entrepreneurial intentions in rural tourism among higher education students, with a particular focus on the role of domain-specific educational background. Using survey data from 498 final-year students at three Chinese universities and structural equation modeling, the results show that entrepreneurial attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms significantly influence entrepreneurial intention toward rural tourism. Advancing TPB research without introducing new intention constructs, this study demonstrates how context-specific knowledge conditions the entrepreneurial intention formation mechanism in rural tourism. The findings reveal that tourism major, conceptualized as a proxy for tourism-specific human capital, strengthens the effects of entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioral control on entrepreneurial intention while also significantly enhancing the mediating role of perceived behavioral control. These findings highlight how the rural tourism context reshapes the relative importance of TPB components and reveal the differential moderating effects of tourism major on perceived behavioral control versus attitude pathways. This study also offers implications for entrepreneurship education and rural tourism development policy.