The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the relationship between perceived social support and the entrepreneurial spirit of undergraduate students at University of Birjand. The research method was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population consisted of 8304 undergraduate students of University of Birjand, that 340 people by using simple random sampling and based on Morgan's table were selected. The Perceptual Social Support Questionnaire (Zimet et al., 1988), Spreitzer and Mishra Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (1995), and the Patrice and Attitude Entrepreneurship Questionnaire (1394) were used. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts. The reliability coefficients of the questionnaires were assessed by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and 0.99 for social support, 0.98 for entrepreneurial spirit and 0.89 for psychological empowerment. Data analysis were done at descriptive level (frequency, mean, standard deviation) and inferential level (Pearson correlation, analysis of variance, regression and structural equation modeling). The results indicated that socially supported social support predicts entrepreneurial spirit (Beta=0.19), and predicts psychological empowerment (Beta= 0.42). Psychological empowerment is also a predictor of entrepreneurial spirit (Beta= 0.42). The findings showed that psychological empowerment plays a mediating role between perceived social support and entrepreneurial spirit and the research model has a good fit. According to the research results, social protection of family, friends and people has a reverse and significant relation with the entrepreneurial spirit of individuals. So that, by increasing the amount of social support, the entrepreneurial spirit of people decreases. The results also indicate a direct and significant relationship between social support and psychological empowerment.
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