This study examines the influence of psychological variables on university students' entrepreneurial intention during the current crisis. We argue that individuals use their psychological resources to cope with adverse situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We therefore investigate how the basic psychological needs satisfaction, proactivity and optimism positively influence the intentions of choosing an entrepreneurial career and, on the contrary, how the impact of COVID-19 pandemic perception on the future country's economy can negatively affect the student’s career choice. Methodologically, we used structural equation modelling on a sample of 201 university students in Spain. Our findings support the idea that entrepreneurial intentions are hampered by the perception of COVID-19, but promoted by the basic psychological needs satisfaction, as a motivational factor, when driven by optimism and proactivity. Our research has important implications. From a theoretical point of view, it contributes to the little existing literature on the importance of factors that promote entrepreneurial intention in adverse conditions, demonstrating that students' psychological characteristics can support their performance and, therefore, the economic and social development of the community. From a practical perspective, the present work has important implications for educators and policymakers to introduce programs that encourage entrepreneurship in students by cultivating proactivity and optimism and by offering educational resources that help students reduce perceived risk and increase motivation towards an entrepreneurial career.

本研究探讨了当前危机期间心理变量对大学生创业意愿的影响。我们认为，个人利用心理资源来应对 COVID-19 大流行等不利情况。因此，我们研究了基本心理需求的满足、主动性和乐观如何对选择创业职业的意图产生积极影响，以及相反，COVID-19大流行对未来国家经济的影响如何对学生的职业选择产生负面影响。在方法上，我们对西班牙 201 名大学生的样本使用了结构方程模型。我们的研究结果支持这样的观点，即创业意向会受到对 COVID-19 的认知的阻碍，但在乐观和主动性的驱动下，基本心理需求的满足会作为激励因素而得到促进。我们的研究具有重要意义。从理论角度来看，它有助于现有文献中很少的关于在逆境条件下促进创业意向的因素的重要性，证明学生的心理特征可以支持他们的表现，从而支持社区的经济和社会发展。从实践的角度来看，目前的工作对教育工作者和政策制定者具有重要意义，他们可以通过培养积极性和乐观态度来引入鼓励学生创业的计划，并提供教育资源来帮助学生降低感知风险并增加创业动机。