PAVING THE PATH TO YOUTH GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ACTIVISM, EDUCATION OR BOTH?

Abstract

This study pioneers the application of the Civic Voluntarism Model to investigate youth green entrepreneurship. We conducted a survey among Indonesian students enrolled in higher education institutions. Our analysis of 441 responses using Hayes’ Process Model with 5000 bootstrapping iterations yields significant insights. We discovered that youth committed to the environment are more likely to pursue green entrepreneurship when actively engaging in offline environmental activism. Intriguingly, exposure to entrepreneurship education alone does not significantly strengthen the shift from environmental commitment to the green entrepreneurship unless youth also participate in offline environmental activism. This discovery propels the Civic Voluntarism Model forward, highlighting the critical roles of entrepreneurship education as a moderator and offline environmental activism as a mediator in facilitating the transition from environmental commitment to the pursuit of green entrepreneurship among youth. Despite recognizing the threat of climate change and their capacity to tackle it, youth face criticism for their lack of active participation in mitigation efforts. Our findings address this challenge by providing actionable recommendations for educators, policymakers and young individuals aspiring to become green entrepreneurs. These recommendations aim to empower young individuals to drive positive environmental change beyond the confines of the classroom.