The Influence of Physical Exercise Frequency and Intensity on Individual Entrepreneurial Behavior: Evidence from China

Dewen Liu, Shenghao Han and Chunyang Zhou ()
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Dewen Liu: School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China
Shenghao Han: College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China
Chunyang Zhou: College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-22

Abstract: Physical exercise can benefit individuals’ physical and mental health and also influence individuals’ long-term behavioral choices. Doing exercise is particularly important given that physical exercise can impact individuals’ cognitive abilities and positive emotional states, which may further impact entrepreneurial behavior. Therefore, understanding the relationship between exercise and entrepreneurial behavior is essential, because it can provide policy suggestions for popularizing athletic activities and boosting entrepreneurship. Consequently, the present study examined whether physical exercise could predict entrepreneurial behavior and the possible psychological mechanisms within this relationship. Based on the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS2017), this study tested the hypotheses using the Probit and Tobit models. The results showed that individuals’ physical exercise intensity and frequency positively affected their entrepreneurial behavior. In addition, five variables moderated the relationships between physical exercise and individual entrepreneurial behavior: urban–rural differences, education level, marital status, the existence of minor children, and age. Moreover, positive emotions and physical/mental health mediated the influence of physical exercise (exercise frequency and exercise intensity) on individual entrepreneurial behavior. Endogeneity explanations were ruled out by including instrumental variable, copula terms and adopting coarsened exact matching.

Keywords: entrepreneurial behavior; physical exercise; exercise frequency; exercise intensity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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