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Objective: To contribute to a better understanding of the factors that influence university students’ confidence in their ability to engage in entrepreneurial behaviours. Research Design & Methods: Participants were 1741 first-year students (792 women, 949 men) from two Spanish universities (Mage = 18.76, SD = 1.82). They were enrolled in degree programmes in two broad fields: engineering and architecture, and social sciences and law. Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, we obtained measures of creative self-efficacy, leadership self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Findings: Results showed that both leadership self-efficacy and creative self-efficacy predicted entrepreneurial self-efficacy, although creative self-efficacy was the variable that contributed most to the expected change in entrepreneurial self-efficacy. There were also differences in entrepreneurial self-efficacy according to gender and field of study, with students enrolled in a technical field and men in general scoring higher. Mediation-moderation analysis showed that creative self-efficacy mediated the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and also that the field of study buffered the effect of gender on entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Implications & Recommendations: The results of this study showed that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is predicted by creative self-efficacy and leadership self-efficacy, and hence both these variables should be addressed by training initiatives aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among undergraduates, particularly among young women. Moreover, our results highlighted the importance of taking into consideration individuals’ educational backgrounds when analysing students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Contribution & Value Added: This research contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship by identifying factors that influence the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of university students. The findings highlight the importance of

Los objetivos del presente estudio consistieron en identificar las necesidades de las instituciones educativas para promover la innovación y en examinar cómo podría contribuir la universidad a responder a las mismas. Se realizaron tres entrevistas semiestructuradas y un grupo focal en los que participaron un total de 10 profesionales de cinco instituciones educativas de Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Universidad inmersas en procesos de innovación educativa. Los resultados pusieron de manifiesto la importancia de la formación continua de toda la comunidad educativa, principalmente del profesorado, y de la realización de evaluaciones externas. Asimismo, los hallazgos asociaron la contribución de la universidad a la realización de proceso de investigación y transferencia relacionados con los procesos de investigación e innovación educativa

Creative thinking and critical thinking are complementary cognitive processes that are important for dealing with complex challenges. The primary aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of openness to diversity and challenge in the relationship between disposition toward critical thinking and creative confidence beliefs in higher education students. Participants were 1,627 students from two universities in Spain (Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Florida Universit`aria), ranging in age from 17 to 44 years (Mage = 20.35, SD = 2.62; 53.05% female). Results showed not only a direct, positive relationship between critical thinking disposition and students’ creative confidence beliefs but also that this relationship was mediated by openness to diversity and challenge. Thus, those students more disposed toward critical thinking are also more open to diversity and challenge and have a stronger creative self-concept. These results highlight the importance of enhancing students’ disposition to use critical thinking so as to strengthen their creative self-concept. Higher education institutions also need to develop teaching strategies and contexts that promote students’ openness to diversity and challenge as a step towards their becoming active and responsible citizens.