Background Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, the research addresses a critical gap concerning how environmental support mechanisms in developing-country incubators foster entrepreneurial mindsets and strategic behaviors. This study aims to examine how business coaching within university business incubators shapes the cognitive and behavioral orientations of student founders in Indonesia by analyzing its influence on locus of control, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial orientation. Method A quantitative research design was employed, involving 220 student founders whose startups were incubated in university business incubators across Indonesia. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using PLS-SEM to test both direct and mediating effects among variables. Results and Conclusion The results show that business coaching significantly enhances founders’ locus of control, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial orientation. Both locus of control and self-efficacy also exhibit strong positive effects on entrepreneurial orientation, confirming their roles as central cognitive mechanisms underpinning entrepreneurial behavior. Furthermore, mediation analysis reveals that locus of control and self-efficacy significantly mediate the relationship between business coaching and entrepreneurial orientation. These findings underscore the importance of coaching not merely as a technical intervention but as a psychological and developmental process that strengthens founders’ agency, confidence, and strategic entrepreneurial posture within university incubation environments. This study offers novel empirical evidence on the psychological mechanisms through which business coaching influences entrepreneurial orientation in university incubators within a developing-country context—a setting often overlooked in the literature.
