GREEN ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION OF MBA STUDENTS: A MALAYSIAN STUDY

Abstract

Green Entrepreneurship is an emerging phenomenon in business and academic field because it is an essential component in developing a green economy. Due to a lack of empirical study on green entrepreneurship, our current understanding of the factors that contributes to nurturing green entrepreneurial intention is limited.  By employing Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study aims to explore the relationship between predictors of green entrepreneurial intention such as attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms and educational support to green entrepreneurial intention (GEI). The study samples 175 individual MBA students in Malaysia. The study employs Partial Least Squares – SEM to predict GEI and evaluate the contribution of each predictor in the relationships. The model explains 76.1% the variance of Green Entrepreneurial Intention with strong predictive relevance (R2=0.761, Q2=0.537). From the structural model, the beta coefficient for Perceived Attitude is 0.392, Perceived Behavioural Control is 0.399, and Perceived Educational Support is 0.169. The results imply that perceived attitude and perceived behavioural control are the key intrinsic determinants whereas education plays an instrumental role as an extrinsic determinant to individual interest to become a green entrepreneur. The main theoretical implication of this study is confirming the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour in explaining GEI with additional variable, Perceived Educational Support. Practically, this research provides education practitioner and policymakers with useful insight on cultivating GEI among MBA students, and directional indication on grooming future green entrepreneurs.