An empirical contribution towards measuring Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Study of Indian Youth

A rigorous exploration of the available literature outlined a theoretical and empirical gap related to the identification of the key antecedents of Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions and the availability of a comprehensive scale for measurement of Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions of an individual. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the antecedents of Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions from an exhaustive review of the literature and then use the antecedents to propose a scale for measuring Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions. Significant findings from the available literature were collated, data was collected through a structured survey of youth in India, and appropriate statistical procedures for Dimension Reduction using Principal Component Analysis on Statistical Package for Social Sciences v28 were applied. Finally, Internal Reliability and Face validity of the proposed scale was also tested with responses obtained from experts. A comprehensive 31-item measurement scale of Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions was structured based upon the Dimension Reduction results. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015, practitioners and researchers have advanced the need to promote a new perspective of entrepreneurship: Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Given that it is empirically well established that intentions lead to behaviour, it is imperative to study Sustainability-oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions in order to promote Sustainable Entrepreneurship Behaviour, especially among youth. The findings can help policymakers and educationists design strategies to expand the adoption of Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the population by strengthening the identified antecedents.