Igniting the Flames of Entrepreneurial Intentions: Unravelling the Dynamics of Perceived Business Feasibility, Self-perceived Altruism, Innovativeness and Uncertainty Among University Students

Abstract

The study seeks to elucidate the enablers shaping students’ entrepreneurial intentions across India’s top five central universities. The study evaluated the entrepreneurial intentions of 730 university students utilizing structural equation modelling and augmenting the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the entrepreneurial event model (EEM) and the social entrepreneurship theory (SET). Mediation and moderation techniques facilitated the examination of the direct and indirect linkages in the model. The findings reveal that perceived behavioural control (PBC), entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms and self-perceived altruism magnify perceived business feasibility (PBF), significantly escalating students’ entrepreneurial intentions. PBC and PBF partially mediate the relationship among the underlying constructs. In addition, perceived innovativeness reinforces the association, while perceived uncertainty weakens the association between PBF and students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The study’s findings could help policymakers, social entrepreneurs, educational institutions, impact investors and global development agencies strengthen India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Self-perceived altruism and PBF have not received adequate attention in entrepreneurship. We attempt to embrace these constructs and crucial personality traits by extending the horizons of TPB, EEM and SET using a precise conceptual model.