How Does the Appeal of Environmental Values Influence Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention?

Abstract

Global challenges posed by climate change and environmental deterioration are increasingly driving entrepreneurship with sustainable entrepreneurial intention as a key driver in predicting entrepreneurial activities. Together with experience, the environmental values of an entrepreneur are vital for sustainable entrepreneurial intention. However, the extent to which experience is a key factor to start up a sustainable enterprise is still rather unclear. To study the role of experience, we derive from the theory of planned behaviour three factors (personal attitude, social norm and self-efficacy) to examine their impact on environmental values and sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Based on a meta-analysis, the overall directions and effect intensity of the different factors in this relationship can be investigated. We develop a structural equation model to explore the mechanism behind the interaction between the different variables. We utilize information from 37 scientific articles using 40 empirical samples, 117 effect sizes and 192,015 observations. We found that environmental values are indeed positively related to a sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, the relationship between environmental values and sustainable entrepreneurial intention is moderated by experience, as well as personal attitude, social norms and self-efficacy. In addition, environmental values are more positively related to the intention to set up a sustainable venture for entrepreneurs with low-experience compared to those entrepreneurs with high-experience. For policy makers and managers, it becomes important to stimulate environmental values to promote sustainable entrepreneurial intentions in order to stimulate the growth of sustainable enterprises. By enhancing these three factors, sustainable entrepreneurial behaviour can be facilitated by increasing entrepreneurs’ sustainable intention.