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This paper investigates how individuals' decision-making approach and perceptions of a game's cognitive realism affect the performance of virtual businesses in a web-based simulation game.

Survey data are collected from 274 business simulation game users and is analysed using the fsQCA technique.

The study identifies three alternative pathways to high and low performance in a business simulation game. Results indicate that a flexible decision-making approach exists in all high performance pathway solutions. Where a game is perceived to be realistic, a more focused decision-making approach is associated with high performance. However, where perceived cognitive realism is absent, a less focused experimental decision-making approach is employed, which increases the chances to achieve low performance. Finally, perceived cognitive realism and an experimental decision-making approach are found to be mutually exclusive for achieving high performance.

Whilst the learning benefits of web-based simulation games are widely acknowledged, the complex interplay amongst factors affecting performance in games is under-researched. Limited research exists on how perceptions of a game's cognitive realism interact with user decision-making approaches to affect performance.

This study aims to estimate the impact of refugee inflows on host countries’ entrepreneurial rates. The refugee crisis led to an increased scientific and public policy interest in the impact of refugee inflows on host countries. One important perspective of such an impact, which is still underexplored, is the impact of refugee inflows on host countries entrepreneurial rates. Given the high number of refugees that flow to some countries, it would be valuable to assess the extent to which such countries are likely to reap the benefits from increasing refugee inflows in terms of (native and non-native) entrepreneurial talent enhancement.

Resorting to dynamic (two-step system generalized method of moments) panel data estimations, based on 186 countries over the period between 2000 and 2019, this study estimates the impact of refugee inflows on host countries’ entrepreneurial rates, measured by the total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate and the self-employment rate.

In general, higher refugee inflows are associated with lower host countries’ TEA rates. However, refugee inflows significantly foster self-employment rates of “medium-high” and “high” income host countries and host countries located in Africa. These results suggest that refugee inflows tend to enhance “necessity” related new ventures and/ or new ventures (from native and non-native population) operating in low value-added, low profit sectors.

This study constitutes a novel empirical contribution by providing a macroeconomic, quantitative assessment of the impact of refugee from distinct nationalities on a diverse set of host countries' entrepreneurship rates in the past two decades resorting to dynamic panel data models, which enable to address the heterogeneity of the countries and deal with the endogeneity of the variables of the model.

This research adopts the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and a moderated mediation model to investigate the moderating impacts of entrepreneurial fear of failure (FOF) and gender on the direct and mediation relationships between entrepreneurial education (EE), entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial intention (EI).

The authors utilized a three-phase random sampling to compile a dataset from 1,890 graduate students from nine universities and higher education institutions in Vietnam. Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis results showed that the key study variables were reliable and valid. Harman's single-factor method and other tests of analysis assumptions ruled out common method bias and other confounding factors. The authors utilized the PROCESS macro to test a hypothesized moderated mediation model that included direct, indirect and conditional indirect effects.

The findings yield that ESE partially and positively mediates the relation between EE and EI. FOF was found to negatively moderate the impacts of EE on ESE and EI, and the direct effect of ESE on EI among females is stronger than among males. More importantly, the mediation influence of FOF on the linkage between EE and EI becomes weaker when the level of FOF is high, yet this mediation relationship among females is higher than among males at all levels of FOF.

The results of this research are valuable for educators, policymakers and practitioners so that they may inspire individuals' entrepreneurial pursuits, especially those of female entrepreneurs.

This study significantly contributes to the entrepreneurship and gender literature by applying the SCCT to elucidate the moderated mediation impacts of FOF, ESE and gender on the relationship between EE and EI.