Exploring Gen Z Entrepreneurship: Factors Influencing Business Performance Among Self-Efficacy, Campus Environment, and Leadership

Abstract

Background: MSMEs founded by students continue to grow throughout Indonesia, reflecting the increasing relevance of entrepreneurship in higher education. Despite their potential, many of these businesses struggle to survive due to limited experience and unstable business strategies. Gen Z entrepreneurs also face challenges in balancing academic responsibilities with the demands of running a business. These conditions make it important to examine how individual self-efficacy, leadership, motivation, and campus support shape their business performance.
Purpose: This study analyzes how entrepreneurial self-efficacy, campus environment, entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurial innovative behavior, and entrepreneurial motivation interact to shape the business performance of Generation Z entrepreneurs within a university-based ecosystem.
Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a quantitative approach by surveying 150 active entrepreneurial students. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with a second-order model, which allows detailed analysis of the direct effects and mediating roles between the constructs.
Findings/Results: The findings show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and campus environment improve business performance directly and indirectly through entrepreneurial motivation. Motivation serves as a bridge that connects self-confidence and institutional support to better outcomes. Meanwhile, entrepreneurial leadership, although mediated by innovative behavior, does not improve performance, and innovative behavior itself does not provide a significant contribution.
Conclusion: Student business performance is primarily shaped by self-efficacy, campus support, and motivation. Leadership and innovation, although conceptually important, do not exert a large influence at this stage, meaning that these dimensions will only have an impact if they are strengthened through broader entrepreneurial experience.
Originality/value (State of the art): This study introduces a new perspective by examining five interconnected constructs in a comprehensive model of Generation Z student entrepreneurship. The evidence highlights motivation as a key link between personal ability and the institutional environment and suggests that leadership-driven innovation is not yet a driver of performance at this early stage.

Keywords: business performance, campus environment, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial leadership, gen Z