The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0368-492X.htm

Young
Perceptions of young entrepreneurial
entrepreneurial aspirants towards aspirants

sustainable entrepreneurship
in Pakistan
Bahadur Ali Soomro Received 26 July 2019
Revised 6 December 2019
Area Study Centre, Far East and Southeast Asia, University of Sindh, 4 May 2020
Jamshoro, Pakistan 11 July 2020
28 July 2020
Accepted 2 August 2020
Hassan K. Almahdi
College of Business Administration, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia, and
Naimatullah Shah
College of Business Administration, Al Yamamah University, Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia and Department of Public Administration, University of Sindh,
Jamshoro, Pakistan

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the perceptions of young entrepreneurial aspirants towards
sustainable entrepreneurship in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on descriptive and cross-sectional data collected
using a survey questionnaire. The study’s respondents were students, all of whom were studying for their
Master’s degree of Business Administration (MBA) at several Pakistani universities (both public and private
sectors). A total of 412 usable cases were used to obtain the outcomes.
Findings – By using the structural equation modeling, the findings suggest a positive and significant
impact of eco-friendly people, green marketing factors, changing consumer behaviour and favourable market
conditions on sustainable entrepreneurship.
Practical implications – The study’s findings are beneficial in understanding the concept of sustainable
entrepreneurship and the significant factors that may affect sustainable entrepreneurship along with the main
components in social and business systems. Organizations can reinforce these factors to stimulate sustainable
entrepreneurship in future studies. Thus, the study contributes to filling the research gap in the area of
sustainable entrepreneurship.
Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate and reveal
young entrepreneurial aspirants’ perceptions on sustainable entrepreneurship. The findings help in
understanding the sustainable entrepreneurship concept, particularly in a developing country.
Keywords Pakistan, Sustainable entrepreneurship, Changing consumer behaviour, Eco-friendly people,
Favourable market conditions, Green marketing factors
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Currently, agri-entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship/
sustainable entrepreneurship are stated as the apparent forms of entrepreneurship Kybernetes
developments (Schaper, 2002). According to Gibbs (2006) and Farrinelli et al. (2011), eco- © Emerald Publishing Limited
0368-492X
entrepreneurship, green entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurship are regarded as DOI 10.1108/K-07-2019-0504
K synonymous with one another. Sustainable entrepreneurship is recognized as one of the new
concepts among the entrepreneurs (Zu, 2014) and has “become popular in the broader field
of entrepreneurship” (Munoz et al., 2018, p. 322). The basis of such notions is on three
dimensions of sustainable development, which are environment, economics and society
(Pacheco et al., 2010). However, a few studies distinguished between conventional
entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurship. Kirkwood and Walton (2010) pointed
out that sustainable entrepreneurs contribute to the betterment and prosperity of the society
more than profit-making entrepreneurs. Researchers considered such perceptions of
sustainable entrepreneurship during the late 1990s (Anderson, 1998).
Nonetheless, only a few quality investigations have been reported in the literature, which
led to the existing significant research gap (Cohen and Winn, 2007). In the business
environment, there is a great need to inspire entrepreneurs to make massive growth through
their capability and better problem-solving strategies to eradicate environmental problems
(Bansal and Roth, 2000). According to Pauli (2010), sustainable entrepreneurship positively
works for the benefit of the natural environment by reducing the negative significance of the
society. Therefore, it tackles the various challenges to have with the green business (Zeyen
et al., 2013). Business enterprises and the government pay attention to the development of
the environment and sustainability (Dean and McMullen, 2007). Such fluctuations prevail
due to the change in consumers’ consumption patterns and create further concern about the
environment (Grimmer and Woolley, 2014). In the past decade, there was a tremendous
increase in deals of eco-friendly products and services (Nielsen, 2014). Such a friendly
business environment not only develops new opportunities but also has a few challenges to
the businesses (Mishra and Sharma, 2012). Companies that believe in innovation tend to
have more opportunities. Some companies confronted with the enormous challenges
effectually work towards progressing in the market (Sharma and Kushwaha, 2015).
Nevertheless, these opportunities fascinate entrepreneurial aspirants who believe in a
revolution in all phases of the business (Cohen and Winn, 2007). Similarly, Kirkwood and
Walton (2010) recommended a market gap, green values, passion and earning living beings,
while the manager is concerned with the protagonist factors for the motivation of
sustainable entrepreneurs. However, the study found the difference owing to the
motivational factors of sustainable entrepreneurship. In addition, various students remain
engaged in their respective enterprises/businesses (Pihie, 2009). Thus, these students
develop the faith of knowledge, inherent qualities, confidence, job dissatisfaction and
unemployment problems that lead to more self-assurance towards entrepreneurship
(Kirkwood and Walton, 2010). Successful entrepreneurs consist of a sound academic
perspective that shows a positive and significant association between entrepreneurship and
education (Bell, 2015). Thus, students are attracted to entrepreneurial activities in the future.
In this way, we consider such students as the entrepreneurial aspirants. Besides, Pakistani
MBA students are willing to perform entrepreneurial strategies as they intend to become
their self-bosses that can achieve sustainable entrepreneurship by turning their ideas into
actual business practices (Ali et al., 2011; Shah and Soomro, 2017; Usman and Ahmed, 2018).
Hence, this study results in an essential factual knowledge of students in Pakistan. The
various students believe that sustainable entrepreneurship develops suitable careers,
including the development of green markets, the positive role of government, ecological
factors, eco-friendly behaviour, changing consumer behaviour and favourable market
conditions. These can be substantial agents for achieving sustainable entrepreneurship.
This study focuses on the investigation of these factors for sustainable entrepreneurship
among MBA students.
 In a nutshell, this study may be supportive in recognizing the promotive factors Young
concerning sustainable entrepreneurs that may be useful in framing healthier policies in entrepreneurial
flourishing sustainable entrepreneurs.
aspirants
Literature review and conceptualization
The concept of sustainable entrepreneurship was introduced in the late 1970s and has
continued to develop (Anderson, 1998; Majid and Koe, 2012). Various scholars, including
Blue (1990), Berle (1991), Bennett (1991), Pastakia (1998), Anderson (1998) and Keogh and
Polonsky (1998), are widely recognized as the leaders of the sustainable entrepreneurship
field. These researchers believe that entrepreneurs are the most important drivers of the
forthcoming industrial revolution (Pacheco et al., 2010). As per the definition of a more
sustainable future, different terms or terminologies including green entrepreneurship (Blue,
1990; Berle, 1991; Bennett, 1991), sustainable entrepreneurship (Dean and McMullen, 2007),
environmental entrepreneurship (Keogh and Polonsky, 1998; Anderson and Leal, 2001; Dean
and McMullen, 2007) and social entrepreneurship (Dees et al., 2002; Richomme-Huet and de
Freyman, 2010) have been used. According to Gibbs (2006), sustainable entrepreneurship is
an amalgamation of business practices and sustainable development in view of changing
the business sector. More holistically, Tilley and Parrish (2006) state that sustainable
entrepreneurs are associated with the economic, environmental, and social components of
sustainability. According to Kundu and Rani (2016), in the Indian context, the skill rated the
highest by respondents was cognition. Comparatively less entrepreneurial orientation was
shown by female MBA students than by other categories of female aspirants. Furthermore,
entrepreneurship was supported by respondents who were younger with a lower level of
educational qualifications and who had a higher socio-economic status. Sustainable
entrepreneurs have different approaches as compared to conventional entrepreneurs (Gibbs
and O’Neill, 2012). The commitment of sustainable entrepreneurs is to sustainably change
the economy through the application of innovative skills (Schlange, 2006). However, the new
emergent concept appeared in 1990, and limited related studies have been conducted (Cohen
and Winn, 2007; Kirkwood and Walton, 2010). In recent years, sustainable entrepreneurship
has produced a sign of global undertakings and goal motivation of businesses by paying
attention to the environmental and social perspectives (Zu, 2014). This development of the
considerable conceptual framework would be able to reduce the consumers’ environmental
problems (Laroche et al., 2001). As per the driving forces of positive changes and job
creation, sustainable entrepreneurs are recognized as the protagonist elements through the
revolution and adaptation of innovative ideas (Farrinelli et al., 2011). From the perception of
Tilley and Young (2006), sustainable entrepreneurs are responsible for bringing out socio-
economic changes for sustainable development from the values and alternative motives.
The empirical study of Parrish and Foxon (2006) also provided the same results as of the
present research.
Correspondingly, Gibbs (2006) stated that sustainable entrepreneurs could be regarded
as new pioneers who vigorously seek to overcome the numerous environmental problems
including climate change and global warming. Additionally, sustainable entrepreneurs also
contribute to the economic development of their countries. Environmental sustainability can
be attained by integrating the contribution of the institution, with consideration to consumer
behaviour in the business model and innovative technologies (Picazao-Tadeo et al., 2012).
Tur-Porcar et al. (2018) proposed that business and behavioural factors are the most
significant and valuable drivers of sustainable entrepreneurship. Parrish (2010) found that
the objective sustainable development and sustainable entrepreneurial usage are
sustainable resources. The development of eco-specific and eco-innovations are the excellent
K predictors of entrepreneurship development (Sarkar and Wingreen, 2013; Silajdzic et al.,
2015). Sustainable entrepreneurs always bring new hopes of sustainable development in the
future market through innovative and pro-business ideas (Hockerts and Wustenhagen,
2010). The factors, including changing consumer behaviour, green marketing factors and
favourable market conditions, have a positive and substantial influence on sustainable
entrepreneurship. Moreover, eco-friendly people bring sustainable entrepreneurship by
making the favourable business environment (Kushwaha and Sharma, 2017). Gray et al.
(2014) revealed that networking is a significant factor in motivating small- and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) owners to embrace sustainable entrepreneurship. Sustainable
entrepreneurship is an opportunity to discover opportunities (Cohen and Winn, 2007). The
sustainable entrepreneurship concept requires further research and interdisciplinary
analyses of sustainable development. Much still needs to be done in shaping
entrepreneurship as a dynamic process leading to sustainable socio-economic development
(Sołtysik et al., 2019).
As a result, several drivers of sustainable entrepreneurship include the business contexts
(Bansal and Roth, 2000; Pacheco et al., 2010; De Clercq and Voronov, 2011; Jamali et al., 2017;
Allet, 2017; Hamann et al., 2017), personal characteristics of entrepreneurs (Kuckertz and
Wagner, 2010; Patzelt and Shepherd, 2011; Testa et al., 2016; Hamann et al., 2017), value
creation objectives (Font et al., 2016) and business and behavioural factors (Tur-Porcar et al.,
2018) as the primary investigations focused on SMEs (Sendawula et al., 2018).
In developing countries like Pakistan, there is limited work in entrepreneurial dynamics
(Hall et al., 2010). Notably, scholars realized the need for more holistic approaches to inspect
the student aspirants towards sustainable entrepreneurship due to a greater desire to
perform entrepreneurial activities in Pakistan (Ali et al., 2011; Shah and Soomro, 2017). Most
current studies on entrepreneurship are focused on students from developed countries rather
than developing countries (Ratten, 2014; Israr and Saleem, 2018; Barba-Sancheza and
Atienza-Sahuquill, 2018). Therefore, there is a strong need to understand sustainable
entrepreneurship in developing economies (Usman and Ahmed, 2018), particularly among
MBA students. Business students have an orientation towards business and have intentions
and attitudes towards entrepreneurship in making career decisions (Pruett et al., 2009). They
can take the risk as well as direction to deal with the different uncertainties of the ventures
(Gurol and Atsan, 2006; Usman and Ahmed, 2018). In a developing country like Pakistan,
the importance of entrepreneurship grows gradually. Young entrepreneurs are ambitious to
improve the entrepreneurial activities in the country (Azhar et al., 2011). Pakistani MBA
students are more interested in performing entrepreneurship activities by working and
starting their businesses (Shah and Soomro, 2017). The intention for entrepreneurship
among the students is continuously increasing owing to crucial factors such as
accomplishment of career and self-employment options (Soomro et al., 2018). In this way, an
intense investigation which may focus on the appearance of entrepreneurship in Pakistan is
required. We propose the following model (Figure 1) for investigation of sustainable
entrepreneurship among the young aspirants.
In an ancient era, individuals were reasonable in the environment due to holding the
educational awareness and knowledge about the situation in a society (Khare, 2015). Thus,
the style of social life so far changed on account of the sustainability of the environment
(Nittala, 2014). In rare situations, such individuals remain more anxious about the
environment rather than economic growth (Berenguer, 2008). Besides, individuals interested
in ecology are highly concerned about the performance of environmental practices using the
optimal use of insufficient natural resources on earth (Cronin et al., 2011). In addition,
different scholars, including Dunlap et al. (2000), Poortinga et al. (2004), Schultz et al. (2005)
 Young
entrepreneurial
aspirants

Figure 1.
Conceptual model
of the study

and Crumpei et al. (2014) opined that individuals that are concerned about the environment
have higher environmental values in such pyramid. Similarly, Berenguer (2008) focused on
the attitude that individuals have for environmental behaviours, as they rely on the
protection of ecological features that are significant to them (Khare, 2015). In contrast, such
individuals are stimulated by environmental values for green business to safeguard these
values and purposive activities (Kirkwood and Walton, 2010). Consequently, sustainable
entrepreneurs are primarily affected by their environmental awareness, social values, interest
in environmental activities and personal motivation (Allen and Malin, 2008). An
amalgamation of green motives and environmental enthusiasm is regarded as the vital factor
in raising the quality of business and environmental structure (Beveridge and Guy, 2005).
Based on a critical analysis of the literature on eco-friendly or sustainable
entrepreneurship, on one hand, sustainable entrepreneurship is often linked to other related
fields, such as innovation, technological development or strategic entrepreneurship (Covin
and Miles, 1999). On the other hand, there is a lack of conceptual development (Thompson
and Scott, 2010). In developing countries, sustainable entrepreneurship is still at a relatively
early stage of development (Lenox and York, 2011; Nagar et al., 2013). Particularly in related
studies on Pakistan, the concept of ecological or sustainable entrepreneurship is an entirely
new issue, which has not received much attention from scholars (Ali et al., 2011; Shah and
Soomro, 2017). Consequently, there is a need for global change towards an environmental-
friendly economy. An eco-friendly economy cannot be imposed from the top down but must
be developed by entrepreneurs who react to policy incentives by implementing innovations
in management and technology (Sołtysik et al., 2019). Therefore, we propose that:

H1. Eco-friendly people have a positive and significant impact on sustainable

entrepreneurship.
Technological advancement and the industrial revolution brought about massive adverse
effects on the natural environment that has increased ecological problems (Polonsky and
Rosenberger, 2001; Bhatia and Jain, 2013). Few enterprises are based on green marketing.
There is limited existence of green products (Osman et al., 2016); further, this develops the
awareness of consumers from green products and services (Carrete et al., 2012). The increase
K in demand for green products among consumers and peremptory norms of the government
in preserving the environment has worn-down the substantial consideration of business
organisations (Xiao-di and Tie-jun, 2000; Saxena and Khandelwal, 2008; Nittala, 2014).
Besides, the norms of government, desires of green consumers and business communities
can be expected through green enterprises (Chan, 2013). These green efforts include green
marketing, waste management and green supply chain management (Sharma and
Kushwaha, 2015).
The practice of green marketing is regarded as an umbrella term that integrates several
green ventures, including green packaging, eco-labelling, green design, green advertisement
and green pricing (Polonsky and Rosenberger, 2001; Gleim et al., 2013). These notions take
place due to the modifications in awareness and the consumption patterns towards
environmental concerns among the consumers (Saxena and Khandelwal, 2008). According
to Gleim et al. (2013), consumers change their insight into green products while entering in
the green market. This insight gratifies the tastes and preferences of the green consumer
that lead to sustainable development (Ar, 2012). The overall marketing policies and
approaches, as well as the innovative perspectives of green marketing, are included in this
regard. Furthermore, it comprises not only the consideration of social and ecological
elements but also the financial and economic aspects (Akehurst et al., 2012). The features of
green marketing also match with the subject of sustainable entrepreneurship for the ecology
and drivers that are the fundamental perceptions of sustainable entrepreneurship (Dixon
and Clifford, 2007). Keskin et al. (2013) stated that green marketing is associated with new
product strategy and innovation, which is numbered as one of the crucial features of
entrepreneurs. Effective sustainable entrepreneurs are helping to bring out healthier
changes in the society and create a better life (Patzelt and Shepherd, 2011). According to
Kushwaha and Sharma (2017), green marketing factors have a positive and significant
impact on sustainable entrepreneurship. More recently, Nordin and Hassan (2019) claimed
that there is a positive and significant association between opportunities for green
entrepreneurship and green practice among SME entrepreneurs. As a result, few studies
investigate how green entrepreneurship, sustainable development and emerging green
markets are interconnected with each other (Sharma and Kushwaha, 2015; Nordin and
Hassan, 2019). However, the green market brings many opportunities in various fields,
including green supply chain, green production and green design (Sharma and Kushwaha,
2015). More specifically, the impact of the green market on green entrepreneurship and
sustainable development in developing countries has not yet been studied in-depth.
Therefore, the following comprehensive hypothesis has been developed:

H2. Green marketing factors have a positive and significant impact on sustainable
entrepreneurship.
Several timely changes have occurred in economies and business (Zarnowitz and Moore,
1986) through technological revolutions (Foxall and Minkes, 1996). Due to these changes,
consumers also vary to their purchasing patterns (Aagerup and Nilsson, 2016). These
consumer behaviour changes can be observed as per the difference in the design of
environmentally sustainable products (Bhamra et al., 2008). Some researchers, including
Kaiser et al. (1999), Saxena and Khandelwal (2008) and Uddin and Khan (2016), argued that
consumers revolve on account of their environmental approach as observed in the shape of
their green purchase behaviour. Hence, green consumers have a significant and positive
appearance towards green products and services that have a less adverse influence on the
environment (Saputra et al., 2012). Changes occur in the behaviour of consumers towards
green products that generate demand for green products and grow an auspicious space for
the green market (Lin et al., 2013). Rex and Baumann (2007) suggested that many Young
marketers do not concentrate on the green market that offers the predicted product, as entrepreneurial
the market suffers from the imperfection. Thus, the flaw creates new opportunities for
sustainable entrepreneurs (Cohen and Winn, 2007). Sandhu et al. (2010) recommended
aspirants
green consumerism as the driving force for sustainable business organizations. In the
behavioural context, individuals who are sustainability-oriented and encumbered with
green personae are more probable to establish a business that is likely to comprise
sustainable development (Kuckertz and Wagner, 2010). Entrepreneurial aspirants at
Pakistani universities revealed their preference for sustainable entrepreneurship. To
become productive and sustainable entrepreneurs, they recognized the need to grasp
opportunities. The change in consumers’ patterns of purchase creates entrepreneurship
(Sharma and Kushwaha, 2015). Further, Villis et al. (2013) emphasized an individual’s
behaviour as highly dependent upon the individual’s knowledge, affect and intention.
Thus, to investigate the role of changing consumer behaviour in sustainable
entrepreneurship, we developed the following hypothesis:

H3. Changing consumer behaviour has a positive and significant impact on sustainable
entrepreneurship.
The market conditions that rely upon government participation in subsidising sustainable
entrepreneurship and market opportunity is reasoned through market failure (Dean and
McMullen, 2007). According to Farzanegan (2014), entrepreneurship is the engine of
employment creation, political openness and global innovation, and a significant role of the
government to nurture entrepreneurs. Similarly, Jahanshahi et al. (2011) suggested a positive
and significant association between entrepreneurship growth and the government. The
involvement of the government serves as a catalyst role in creating favourable market
conditions for entrepreneurial practices. Chowdhury (2007) and Zhang and Swanson (2014)
underlined a capable government policy that encourages a pleasant environment for
entrepreneurship development. Social, institutional, economic and structural constructs may
play a pivotal part in entrepreneurial investment, particularly in new business ventures, as
associated with natural resources (Nikolaou et al., 2011). The market environments are
fundamental for sustainable entrepreneurs. In developing economies, there is an excellent
potential for entrepreneurial undertakings, and subsidies from the government and other
institutions indicate the significant role in entrepreneurship nurture (Joshi and Ruparel,
2016). Henceforth, the overall perspectives and demand for green products may arise due to
different behaviours of consumers (Luzio and Lemke, 2013). These determinations suggest
sustainability creativities through the government (Saha and Paterson, 2008) and the market
gap (Cohen and Winn, 2007) that may consequently affect the development of sustainable
entrepreneurship. As a result of the progress of market growth and development,
opportunities emerge for entrepreneurs across the world. The development of new products,
as well as innovation, have emerged within the concept of green marketing (Kushwaha and
Sharma, 2017). Therefore, entrepreneurs always focus on innovative ideas. Entrepreneurs
innovate and replace traditional products with green products and make an attempt to
generate favourable market conditions. However, among Pakistani MBA students, there is
no evidence found in the literature that has been investigated yet. Based on the importance
of favourable market conditions, we propose:

H4. Favourable market conditions have a positive and significant impact on sustainable
entrepreneurship.
K Methods
In this study, a quantitative approach was used for data collection and analysis. To fulfil the
study’s aim, cross-sectional data were collected and analysed to infer the outcomes. With this
study involving a larger population, this method was essential to gauge entrepreneurship’s
significance to society, with business venture creation being one area of entrepreneurship. A
survey questionnaire was used to gather information from respondents. The reliability and
validity of the steps used in the questionnaire’s validation and assurance were adequately
assessed. To select appropriate methods, the study followed several prior studies, such as Tur-
Porcar et al. (2018), Nittala (2014), Shah and Soomro (2017) and Kushwaha and Sharma (2017),
in which the same strategy was used to investigate entrepreneurship and sustainability factors.

Questionnaire
The study’s survey questionnaire was based on prior studies in the literature from which
existing scales were selected to gather the information needed in this study’s context. Before
launching the questionnaire for the collection of large data, we conducted a pilot study to re-
confirm the validation of the items. The survey consisted of 22 items. We have circulated and
pre-tested with the students as the respondents. For the more satisfaction regarding the scale,
the reliability (internal consistency) of the scale was confirmed through Cronbach’s alpha
reliability (a) that is frequently used in social science studies (Field, 2006; Hair et al., 2006).
Besides, the assumption of the validity of the scale was confirmed with the assistance of the
university professors of entrepreneurship and business who were well-experienced with new
trends of research and were aware of the phases of questionnaire development. As a result, the
internal consistency of the items was found to be above 0.60 in proportion to the rest of the
items, which was satisfactory. Minor changes were incorporated such as correcting typing
errors, and improving text formatting and the questionnaire design. Finally, a questionnaire,
with assured validity and reliability, was launched for large-scale data collection.

Respondents, survey distribution and sampling size

The targeted respondents of the study were the selected students of Master of Business
Administration (MBA) from different public- and private-sector universities in Pakistan.
MBA students build their careers in different areas. Some MBA students desire to contribute
to the business and a few intend to pursue higher education (Kushwaha and Sharma, 2017).
However, there is a distinct group that desire to be entrepreneurs. Due to rising uncertainties
in the global economy, shortage of staff in organisations and government institutions, there is
a decrease in corporate employment and they focus on the budgetary agenda to look forward
towards the new business and entrepreneurship start-up. As stated by Obembe et al. (2014),
corporate job dissatisfaction has inspired individuals, mostly youths, to initiate their
ventures/enterprises. Consequently, in this study, we chose youth who wanted to start their
ventures. We used the judgmental sampling technique to target the entrepreneurial aspirants
because this technique is the only viable sampling technique for obtaining information from
a particular group of people (Taherdoost, 2016). Judgmental sampling is a strategy where
appropriate settings, persons or events are selected purposively to provide meaningful
information that cannot be obtained from other choices (Maxwell, 1996). We adopted this
approach due to low cost, convenience, low time consuming and ideal for cross-sectional
research design (Taherdoost, 2016). Before distributing the questionnaire to the respondents,
the ethical requirements of proper research and unbiased study were followed. The
respondents were made familiar with the aim and objectives of the study. The respondents
also submitted their contributions voluntarily without applying any forceful strategy in
completing the survey questionnaire. The respondents were made to understand that they
can withdraw from the study at any time. Additionally, they were assured of the utilisation of Young
data and privacy of demographic and personal information. At the initial stage, we entrepreneurial
distributed 750 questionnaires to students in different higher education institutes with the
assistance of faculty members. Before the surveys were distributed, we approached those
aspirants
students who were interested in entrepreneurship and were willing to perform
entrepreneurial activities shortly, i.e. after the completion of their degree programmes.
Subsequently, 412 actual responses were received, indicating a response rate of 54.93%.

Measurement scales
Based on related literature, we designed the survey questionnaire. A total of five observable
variables were applied in the study. The study comprised 22 items that were adopted from
various scholars in the domain. All the items of the scale were measured using a five-point
Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree = 1, to strongly agree = 5.
Eco-friendly people. Eco-friendly people predictor was measured with five items adopted from
Cleveland et al. (2005), Lee (2009), Cronin et al. (2011), Nittala (2014) and Khare (2015), as used by
Kushwaha and Sharma (2017). The sample items of the scales included “You love your
environment so much” and “You are very much interested in environmental activities like planting
a tree”. To observe the reliability (internal consistency among the items), the Cronbach’s alpha (a)
was applied. As a result, the reliability was found to be satisfactory ([a] = 0.891).
Green marketing factors. Five items were applied to measure this factor. These items
were adopted from Xiao-di and Tie-jun (2000), Carrete et al. (2012), Gleim et al. (2013), Bhatia
and Jain (2013) and Osman et al. (2016). The sample items of the scale were “You are aware
of green products” and “You know about eco-labelled products in the market.” The
reliability of the items was noted as Cronbach’s alpha [a] = 0.802.
Changing consumer behavior. This factor was also measured using five items adapted
from Saputra et al. (2012), Nittala (2014), Aagerup and Nilsson (2016) and Uddin and Khan
(2016). The sample items of the scale were “You try to avoid those products that consume
more energy” and “You notice that your taste and preference changed over time.” The items’
reliability was observed as Cronbach’s alpha [a] = 0.872.
Favourable market conditions. Favourable market conditions were measured on four
items borrowed from Saha and Paterson (2008), Jahanshahi et al. (2011), Luzio and Lemke
(2013) and Joshi and Ruparel (2016). The sample items of the scale include “You can easily
get loans for your start-up” and “You think that the government policies are favourable to
entrepreneurship.” The reliability of items was noted as Cronbach’s alpha [a] = 0.883.
Sustainable entrepreneurship. The first or dependent variable was measured on three items,
as adapted from Schaper (2002), Pauli (2010) and Zeyen et al. (2013). The sample items of the scale
were “I feel enthusiastic to be a sustainable entrepreneur” and “Sustainable entrepreneurship is a
challenging but interesting task.” The internal consistency of the scale (reliability) was
Cronbach’s alpha [a] = 0.841. Moreover, the details of the consistency of the items are presented
in Table 1, and the measurement scales are shown in the Appendix (Table A1).

Construct No. of items Cronbach’s alpha (a)

1 Eco-friendly people 5 0.891

2 Green marketing factors 5 0.802
3 Changing consumer behaviour 5 0.872 Table 1.
4 Favourable market conditions 4 0.883 Internal consistency
5 Sustainable entrepreneurship 3 0.841 among the items
K Data analysis and findings
Cleaning and screening of data
We used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment
Structures (AMOS) version 26.0 for Windows software to obtain the results. The
collected data were cleaned (detection of missing data and outliers) to omit the errors in
the analysis. We confirmed the data missing and outliers by applying missing value
analysis, box plot, univariate and multivariate outliers’ detection. The normal
distribution of data (Hair et al., 2006) was confirmed through Kolmogorov–Smirnov and
Shapiro–Wilk (K-S) statistics (Shapiro and Wilk, 1965) by observing non-significant
values (Pallant, 2010). Similarly, the linearity was assessed through Pearson’s
correlations (Field, 2006; Hair et al., 2006) and were found as correlated with each other.
Furthermore, the test of homogeneity of variances (Levene’s test of equal variance) was
significant, which ensured the assumption of the homogeneity among the variables
(Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). As a result, valid data (normal, homogenous and linear)
proceeded for the further steps of the analysis. In this way, the problem of the possible
effects of data was noticed (Hair et al., 2006) to avoid the inaccuracy of the
consequential analysis (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007).

Respondents’ demography
We observed three main demographic variables, including gender, age and location or
residency of the respondents. 77.67% (n = 320) of the respondents were male. We found
0.48% (n = 02) of the respondents to be below 20 years old. Notably, 80.58% (n = 332) of
the respondents were aged between 21 and 25, while 17.00% (n = 70) of the participants
were between 30 and 36 years old. Only 19.4% (n = 08) participants were 31 years old
and above. Concerning location, a significant number of respondents were from Punjab
province (n = 140) of Pakistan. The Sindh province respondents hugely contributed
(23.70% or n = 98) after Punjab. 20.39% (n = 84) of the respondents were from KPK,
while 28.20% (n = 75) came from Balochistan province. Lastly, 3.64% (n = 15)
participants also contributed to the other regions including FATA, FANA, Gilgit
Baltistan and Azad Kashmir (Table 2).

Demographic variables Category Frequency (%)

Gender Male 320 77.67

Female 92 22.33
Total 412 100.0
Age <20 years 02 0.48
21-25 years 332 80.58
26-30 years 70 17.00
31 years and above 8 1.94
Total 412 100.0
Province Punjab 140 33.98
Sindh 98 23.79
Khyber 84 20.39
Pakhtunkhwa
Table 2. Balochistan 75 18.20
Respondents’ Others 15 3.64
demography Total 412 100.0
Model estimations Young
We observed the fitness of the model for data by ensuring that the model fit indices satisfy entrepreneurial
the requirement of the sound statistical results (Susetyo and Lestari, 2014), with the model
indices noted. The fundamental and significant indicator of the model fit ( x 2/CMIN: 1.532;
aspirants
p > 0.005) was found to be non-significant. Hence, the remaining model fit indicators
including GFI (0.932), AGFI (0.907), NFI (0.953), CFI (0.986) and RMSEA (0.035) (Table 3 and
Figure 2) were noticed as a good fitness (absolute fit/good fit) of the model from the data
(Kline, 2005; Hair et al., 2006; Cheung and Chan, 2009).
Further, the strong application (SEM) was used to investigate the relationships between
the independent variables and dependent variable (Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2003). For H1,
the SEM scores (SE = 0.044; CR = 4.001; p < 0.01) indicated a positive and significant
association between eco-friendly people and sustainable entrepreneurship (Table 4 and

Demographic variables CMIN/df GFI AGFI NFI CFI RMSEA

Model fit indicators 1.532 0.932 0.907 0.953 0.986 0.035

Suggested values <3 >0.90 >0.90 >0.90 >0.90 <0.05

Notes: CMIN = x 2/Chi-square/df; df = degree of freedom; GFI = goodness of fit index; AGFI = adjusted
goodness of fit index; NFI = normed fit index; CFI = comparative fit index; RMSEA = root mean square Table 3.
error of approximation Model fit indices

Figure 2.
Structural equation
model
K Hypothesis Std.
no. Dependent variable Path Independent variables Estimate estimate SE CR p

H1 Sustainable / Eco-friendly people 0.178 0.171 0.044 4.001 ***

entrepreneurship
H2 Sustainable / Green marketing 0.163 0.159 0.039 4.445 ***
entrepreneurship factors
H3 Sustainable / Changing consumer 0.141 0.133 0.041 3.439 ***
entrepreneurship behaviour
H4 Sustainable / Favourable market 0.172 0.168 0.040 4.240 ***
entrepreneurship conditions
Table 4.
SEM outcomes Notes: SE = standard error; CR = critical ratio; p = significance level ***; p < 0.01

Figure 2). Thus, H1 was accepted. Similarly, the analysis showed a positive and significant
impact of green marketing factors on sustainable entrepreneurship (SE = 0.039; CR = 4.445;
p < 0.01) (Table 4 and Figure 2). Hence, H2 was supported. Furthermore, there was a
positive and significant association between the changing consumer behaviour and
sustainable entrepreneurship (SE = 0.041; CR = 3.439; p < 0.01) (Table 4 and Figure 2).
Therefore, H3 was accepted. Lastly, the SE and CR (SE = 0.040; CR = 4.240; p < 0.01)
underlined a positive and significant influence of favourable market conditions on
sustainable entrepreneurship (Table 4 and Figure 2). As a result, H4 was also supported by
the data.

Discussion and conclusion

This study examined the perceptions of sustainable entrepreneurship among young
entrepreneurial aspirants (MBA students) in Pakistan. The student respondents were
studying at different Pakistani universities (both public and private sectors). To achieve the
objectives of the study, the conceptual framework was developed through the support of
relevant literature. The study focused on a deductive approach. Using this deductive
method, a survey questionnaire was developed, which was validated by experts and used to
obtain information from respondents. We launched a reliable and valid research instrument
to obtain the responses of the study participants (MBA students). The different statistical
tests, including data screening, cleaning and model fit indices, were performed using SPSS
and AMOS.
Regarding H1, the SEM scores indicated a positive and significant association between
eco-friendly people and sustainable entrepreneurship among the Pakistani students. These
results concur with those of numerous scholars, including Beveridge and Guy (2005),
Berenguer (2008) and Kirkwood and Walton (2010). These positive findings may suggest
that environmental education and knowledge can divert the attention of the students
towards sustainable entrepreneurship. Possibly the MBA students were more concerned
about the environment to achieve economic goals. The results are also in agreement with
Ottman et al. (2006) and Cronin et al. (2011), who claimed that people connected with ecology
are more eager to act out environmental practices by selecting a rational choice of limited
resources. However, our results are not supported by Kushwaha and Sharma (2017). The
primary reasons behind that, the respondents may not be friendly behaviour and interest
to perform environmental activities and sustainability. It can be concluded that
the respondents lacked inner intentions towards sustainable entrepreneurship. An
entrepreneurial aspirant desire to be a sustainable entrepreneur and would not start a green
business due to eco-friendliness and affection for the environment. There may be other Young
robust factors that influence entrepreneurial aspirants to become sustainable entrepreneurs. entrepreneurial
Similarly, the findings show a positive and significant association between green
marketing factors and sustainable entrepreneurship (i.e. H2 was supported). Such positive
aspirants
results are supported by various scholars (Xiao-di and Tie-jun, 2000; Saxena and
Khandelwal, 2008; Nittala, 2014; Kushwaha and Sharma, 2017). These results highlight that
green marketing factors instill green market consciousness among the respondents
regarding green and eco-labelled products that are liable for sustainable entrepreneurship.
Furthermore, scholars including Saxena and Khandelwal (2008), Keskin et al. (2013) and
Wang (2014), supported the same findings. Thus, our study found that green marketing
factors lead to success in green businesses. If green marketing factors do not occur, then, it
would be challenging to support sustainable creativities through green products and
services.
Hence, it is necessary to investigate the relationship among sustainable entrepreneurs.
This investigation essential to the success of sustainable entrepreneurship in Pakistan. The
findings also confirm that shifting consumer behaviour towards green products
significantly improve sustainable entrepreneurship. Due to environmental awareness
among the people in the society, the preferences and tastes may be boosted, as it is a source
of inspiration of the people towards green enterprises. Such findings are supported by
Pacheco et al. (2010) who found out that shifting consumer behaviour is a protagonist factor
in creating opportunities that can enhance sustainable entrepreneurship. An encouraging
behavioural change towards greener products reinforces sustainable entrepreneurship and
motivates green businesses as well as green consumers to achieve the objectives of
sustainable development.
Furthermore, the results also suggest a positive effect of favourable market conditions on
sustainable entrepreneurship. Such an effect may be due to several causes including green
concepts and green marketing. There is a wide gap, and the market is also affected by the
limitations (Cohen and Winn, 2007). The deficit is a prospect for entrepreneurs. On the
contrary, the government of Pakistan focuses on entrepreneurial activities in the country by
delivering better infrastructure and more secure finance. Besides, if such movements are
strong and green, sustainable entrepreneurship would be motivated as the environment is a
vital scheme for any state, such as Pakistan. These circumstances promote favourable
market conditions and sustainable entrepreneurship. In the same vein, numerous scholars
strongly supported favourable market conditions as having a substantial effect on
sustainable entrepreneurship.
The overall study findings indicate the inclination of entrepreneurial aspirants at
Pakistani universities towards sustainable entrepreneurship. This is mostly due to their eco-
friendliness, green marketing factors, changing consumer behaviour towards eco-friendly
products and favourable market conditions for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial aspirants
recognize that they have to grasp opportunities in becoming a productive, sustainable
entrepreneurs.
The awareness of green products and services among individuals can be a significant
opportunity for entrepreneurial aspirants. Green marketing is developing, and few
organisations are entirely focused on green consumers and sustainability concerns. In
Pakistan, the government’s role is critical in the development of entrepreneurship. The
study findings indicate that the government needs to take steps to reduce the high level of
apprehension felt by entrepreneurship aspirants towards innovative entrepreneurship, by
providing benefits that create a favourable environment for sustainable entrepreneurs.
Similarly, desirable market conditions need to be established that promote sustainable
K entrepreneurship. Therefore, to achieve these outcomes, the government of Pakistan should
develop more active policies and strategies to encourage sustainable entrepreneurs.
Moreover, the government should provide flexible loans, infrastructure support and tax
rebates to support sustainable entrepreneurship in the country.

Limitations and future research

This study has some limitations. The findings of the survey only focused on cross-sectional
data. The limited sample from which data were collected may not be representative of the
study population; thus, generalizing the results to the entire country could create difficulties.
The authors only targeted MBA students. Moreover, the single source of data collection
(questionnaire) may create some reliability and validity issues. In the future, there is a need
to carry out more longitudinal studies to obtain more suitable and valuable results in
analyzing sustainable entrepreneurship. In addition to MBA students of universities,
students from the other academic sections may be included in future studies. Furthermore,
mixed techniques may be used in future studies.

References
Aagerup, U. and Nilsson, J. (2016), “Green consumer behavior: being good or seeming good?”, Journal of
Product and Brand Management, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 274-284.
Akehurst, G., Afonso, C. and Martins-Gonçalves, H. (2012), “Re-examining green purchase behaviour
and the green consumer profile: new evidences”, Management Decision, Vol. 50 No. 5,
pp. 972-988.
Ali, A., Topping, K.J. and Tariq, R.H. (2011), “Entrepreneurial attitudes among potential
entrepreneurs”, Pakistani Journal of Commerce and Social Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 12-46.
Allen, J.C. and Malin, S. (2008), “Green entrepreneurship: a method for managing natural resources?”,
Society and Natural Resources, Vol. 21 No. 9, pp. 828-844.
Allet, M. (2017), “Mitigating environmental risks in microenterprises: a case study from El Salvador”,
Business and Society, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 57-91.
Anderson, A.R. (1998), “Cultivating the Garden of Eden: environmental entrepreneuring”, Journal of
Organizational Change Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 135-144.
Anderson, T. and Leal, D. (2001), Free Market Environmentalism, Palgrave, New York, NY.
Ar, I.M. (2012), “The impact of green product innovation on firm performance and competitive
capability: the moderating role of managerial environmental concern”, Procedia – Social and
Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 62, pp. 854-864.
Azhar, A., Javaid, A., Rehman, M. and Asma Hyder, A. (2011), “Entrepreneurial intentions among
business students in Pakistan”, Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics, Vol. 5 No. 2,
pp. 13-21.
Bansal, P. and Roth, K. (2000), “Why companies go green: a model of ecological responsiveness”,
Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43 No. 4, pp. 717-736.
Barba-Sancheza, V. and Atienza-Sahuquill, C. (2018), “Entrepreneurial intention among engineering
students: the role of entrepreneurship education”, European Research on Management and
Business Economics, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 53-61.
Bell, R. (2015), “Developing the next generation of entrepreneurs: giving students the opportunity to
gain experience and thrive”, The International Journal of Management Education, Vol. 13 No. 1,
pp. 37-47.
Bennett, S. (1991), Ecopreneuring: The Complete Guide to Small Business Opportunities from the
Environmental Revolution, Wiley, New York, NY.
Berenguer, J. (2008), “The effect of empathy in environmental moral reasoning”, Environment and Young
Behavior, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 269-283.
entrepreneurial
Berle, G. (1991), The Green Entrepreneur: business Opportunities That Can save the Earth and Make
You Money, Liberty Hall Press, Blue Ridge Summit, PA.
aspirants
Beveridge, R. and Guy, S. (2005), “The rise of the eco-preneur and the messy world of environmental
innovation”, Local Environment, Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 665-676.
Bhamra, T., Lilley, D. and Tang, T. (2008), “Sustainable use: changing consumer behaviour through
product design”, Proceedings from Turin’2008 Conference of Changing the Change: Design
Visions, Proposals and Tools.
Bhatia, M. and Jain, A. (2013), “Green marketing: a study of consumer perception and preferences in
India”, Electronic Green Journal, Vol. 1 No. 36, pp. 1-19.
Blue, J. (1990), Ecopreneuring: Managing for Results, Scott Foresman, London.
Carrete, L., Castaño, R., Felix, R., Centeno, E. and Gonzalez, E. (2012), “Green consumer behavior in an
emerging economy: confusion, credibility, and compatibility”, Journal of Consumer Marketing,
Vol. 29 No. 7, pp. 470-481.
Chan, E.S. (2013), “Managing green marketing: Hong Kong hotel managers’ perspective”, International
Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 442-461.
Cheung, M.W.L. and Chan, W. (2009), “A two-stage approach to synthesizing covariance matrices in
meta-analytic structural equation modeling”, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary
Journal, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 28-53.
Chowdhury, M.S. (2007), “Overcoming entrepreneurship development constraints: the case of
Bangladesh”, Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy,
Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 240-251.
Cleveland, M., Kalamas, M. and Laroche, M. (2005), “Shades of green: linking environmental locus of
control and pro-environmental behaviors”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 4,
pp. 198-212.
Cohen, B. and Winn, M.I. (2007), “Market imperfections, opportunity, and sustainable
entrepreneurship”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 29-49.
Covin, J.G. and Miles, M.P. (1999), “Corporate entrepreneurship and the pursuit of competitive
advantage”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 47-63.
Cronin, J.J., Jr, Smith, J.S., Gleim, M.R., Ramirez, E. and Martinez, J.D. (2011), “Green marketing
strategies: an examination of stakeholders and the opportunities they present”, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 158-174.
Crumpei, I., Boncu, S. and Crumpei, G. (2014), “Environmental attitudes and ecological moral reasoning
in Romanian students”, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 114, pp. 461-465.
De Clercq, D. and Voronov, M. (2011), “Sustainability in entrepreneurship: a tale of two logics”,
International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 322-344.
Dean, T.J. and McMullen, J.S. (2007), “Toward a theory of sustainable entrepreneurship: reducing
environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action”, Journal of Business Venturing,
Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 50-76.
Dees, J.G., Emerson, J. and Economy, P. (2002), Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social
Entrepreneurs, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
Dhanaraj, C. and Beamish, P. (2003), “A resource-based approach to the study of export performance”,
Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 242-261.
Dixon, S.E. and Clifford, A. (2007), “Ecopreneurship: a new approach to managing the triple bottom
line”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 326-345.
Dunlap, R., Liere, K.V., Mertig, A. and Jones, R.E. (2000), “Measuring endorsement of the new ecological
paradigm: a revised NEP scale”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 425-442.
K Farrinelli, F., Bottini, M., Akkoyunlu, S. and Aern, P. (2011), “Green entrepreneurship: the missing link
towards a greener economy”, African Technology Development Forum Journal, Vol. 8 Nos 3/4,
pp. 42-48.
Farzanegan, M.R. (2014), “Can oil-rich countries encourage entrepreneurship?”, Entrepreneurship and
Regional Development, Vol. 26 Nos 9/10, pp. 706-725.
Field, A. (2006), Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 2nd ed., SAGE, London.
Font, X., Garay, L. and Jones, S. (2016), “Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism
enterprises in European protected areas”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 137 No. 20,
pp. 1439-1448.
Foxall, G.R. and Minkes, A.L. (1996), “Beyond marketing: the diffusion of entrepreneurship in the
modern corporation”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 71-93.
Gibbs, D. (2006), “Sustainability entrepreneurs, ecopreneurs and the development of a sustainable
economy”, Greener Management International, Vol. 2006 No. 55, pp. 63-78.
Gibbs, D. and O’Neill, K. (2012), “Green entrepreneurship: building a green economy? – evidence from
the UK”, in Underwood, S., Blundel, R., Lyon, F. and Schaefer, A. (Eds), Social and Sustainable
Enterprise: Changing the Nature of Business (Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship
Research, Emerald Group Publishing, Vol. 2, pp. 75-96.
Gleim, M.R., Smith, J.S., Andrews, D. and Cronin, J.J. (2013), “Against the green: a multi-method
examination of the barriers to green consumption”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 89 No. 1, pp. 44-61.
Gray, B.J., Duncan, S., Kirkwood, J. and Walton, S. (2014), “Encouraging sustainable entrepreneurship
in climate-threatened communities: a Samoan case study”, Entrepreneurship and Regional
Development, Vol. 26 Nos 5/6, pp. 401-430.
Grimmer, M. and Woolley, M. (2014), “Green marketing messages and consumers’ purchase intentions:
promoting personal versus environmental benefits”, Journal of Marketing Communications,
Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 231-250.
Gurol, Y. and Atsan, N. (2006), “Entrepreneurial characteristics amongst university students: some
insights for entrepreneurship education and training in Turkey”, Education þ Training, Vol. 48
No. 1, pp. 25-38.
Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R. and Tatham, R. (2006), Multivariate Data Analysis, 6th ed.,
Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Hall, J.K., Daneke, G.A. and Lenox, M.J. (2010), “Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: past
contributions and future directions”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 439-448.
Hamann, R., Smith, J., Tashman, P. and Marshall, R.S. (2017), “Why do SMEs go green? An analysis of
wine firms in South Africa”, Business and Society, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 23-56.
Hockerts, K. and Wustenhagen, R. (2010), “Greening goliaths versus emerging Davids: theorizing about
the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship”, Journal of Business
Venturing, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 481-492.
Israr, M. and Saleem, M. (2018), “Entrepreneurial intentions among university students in Italy”,
Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 1-14.
Jahanshahi, A.A., Nawaser, K., Sadeq Khaksar, S.M. and Kamalian, A.R. (2011), “The relationship
between government policy and the growth of entrepreneurship in the micro, small and medium
enterprises of India”, Journal of Technology Management and Innovation, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 66-76.
Jamali, D., Lund-Thomsen, P. and Jeppesen, S. (2017), “SMEs and CSR in developing countries”,
Business and Society, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 11-22.
Joshi, A. and Ruparel, P. (2016), “India”, Angel Financing in Asia Pacific: A Guidebook for Investors and
Entrepreneurs, Emerald Group Publishing, pp. 151-169.
Kaiser, F.G., Wolfing, S. and Fuhrer, U. (1999), “Articles: environmental attitude and ecological
behaviour”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 1-20.
Keogh, P.D. and Polonsky, M.J. (1998), “Environmental commitment: a basis for environmental Young
entrepreneurship?”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 38-49.
entrepreneurial
Keskin, D., Diehl, J.C. and Molenaar, N. (2013), “Innovation process of new ventures driven by
sustainability”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 45, pp. 50-60.
aspirants
Khare, A. (2015), “Antecedents to green buying behaviour: a study on consumers in an emerging
economy”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 309-329.
Kirkwood, J. and Walton, S. (2010), “What motivates ecopreneurs to start businesses?”, International
Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 204-228.
Kline, R.B. (2005), Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, 2nd ed., Guild Wood,
New York, NY.
Kuckertz, A. and Wagner, M. (2010), “The influence of sustainability orientation on entrepreneurial
intentions – investigating the role of business experience”, Journal of Business Venturing,
Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 524-539.
Kundu, S.C. and Rani, S. (2016), “Female aspirant human resources’ entrepreneurial orientation: a study
in Indian context”, Management Research Review, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 235-263.
Kushwaha, G.S. and Sharma, N.K. (2017), “Factors influencing young entrepreneurial aspirant’s insight
towards sustainable entrepreneurship”, Iranian Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 10 No. 2,
pp. 435-466.
Laroche, M., Bergeron, J. and Barbaro-Forleo, G. (2001), “Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more
for environmentally friendly products”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 503-520.
Lee, K. (2009), “Gender differences in Hong Kong adolescent consumers’ green purchasing behavior”,
Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 87-96.
Lenox, M. and York, J.G. (2011), “Environmental entrepreneurship”, in Bansal, P. and Hoffman, A.J. (Eds),
The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lin, R.J., Tan, K.H. and Geng, Y. (2013), “Market demand, green product innovation, and firm
performance: evidence from Vietnam motorcycle industry”, Journal of Cleaner Production,
Vol. 40, pp. 101-107.
Luzio, J.P.P. and Lemke, F. (2013), “Exploring green consumers’ product demands and consumption
processes: the case of Portuguese green consumers”, European Business Review, Vol. 25 No. 3,
pp. 281-300.
Majid, I.A. and Koe, W.L. (2012), “Sustainable entrepreneurship (SE): a revised model based on triple
bottom line (TBL)”, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,
Vol. 2 No. 6, pp. 293-310.
Maxwell, J.A. (1996), “Qualitative research design: an interactive approach”, Applied Social Research
Methods Series, Sage publications, London.
Mishra, P. and Sharma, P. (2012), “Green marketing: challenges and opportunities for business”, Journal
of Marketing and Communication, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 35-41.
Munoz, P., Janssen, F., Nicolopoulou, K. and Hockerts, K. (2018), “Advancing sustainable
entrepreneurship through substantive research”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial
Behavior and Research, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 322-332.
Nagar, R., Hitesh, T., Srirang, S.S. and Udit, N.V. (2013), “Enterprising a greener tomorrow: role of
ecopreneurs”, Asian Resonance, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 216-221.
Nielsen (2014), “Consumers are willing to put their money where their heart is when it comes to goods and
services from companies committed to social responsibility”, available at: www.nielsen.com/in/en/
press-room/2014/global-consumers-are-willing-to-put-their-money-where-their-heart-is.html
Nikolaou, E.I., Ierapetritis, D. and Tsagarakis, K.P. (2011), “An evaluation of the prospects of green
entrepreneurship development using a SWOT analysis”, International Journal of Sustainable
Development and World Ecology, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 1-16.
K Nittala, R. (2014), “Green consumer behavior of the educated segment in India”, Journal of International
Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 138-152.
Nordin, R. and Hassan, R.A. (2019), “The role of opportunities for green entrepreneurship towards
investigating the practice of green entrepreneurship among SMEs in Malaysia”, Review of
Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 99-116.
Obembe, E., Otesile, O. and Ukpong, I. (2014), “Understanding the students’ perspectives towards
entrepreneurship”, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 145, pp. 5-11.
Osman, A., Othman, Y.H., Salahudin, S.N. and Abdullah, M.S. (2016), “The awareness and
implementation of green concepts in marketing mix: a case of Malaysia”, Procedia Economics
and Finance, Vol. 35, pp. 428-433.
Ottman, J.A., Stafford, E.R. and Hartman, C.L. (2006), “Avoiding green marketing Myopia”,
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 22-36.
Pacheco, D.F., Dean, T.J. and Payne, D.S. (2010), “Escaping the green prison: entrepreneurship and the
creation of opportunities for sustainable development”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 25
No. 5, pp. 464-480.
Pallant, J. (2010), SPSS Survival Manual: step-by-Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS, 4th ed., Allen
and Unwin, Crows Nest.
Parrish, B.D. (2010), “Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship: principles of organization design”,
Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 510-523.
Parrish, B.D. and Foxon, T.J. (2006), “Sustainability entrepreneurship and equitable transitions to a
low-carbon economy”, Greener Management International, Vol. 2006 No. 55, pp. 47-62.
Pastakia, A. (1998), “Grassroots ecopreneurs: change agents for a sustainable society”, Journal of
Organizational Change Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 157-173.
Patzelt, H. and Shepherd, D.A. (2011), “Recognizing opportunities for sustainable development”,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 631-652.
Pauli, G. (2010), The Blue Economy, 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs, Paradigm
Publications, Taos, NM.
Picazao-Tadeo, A.J., Beltran-Esteve, M. and Gomez-Limon, J.A. (2012), “Assessing eco-efficiency with
directional distance functions”, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 220 No. 3,
pp. 798-809.
Pihie, Z.A.L. (2009), “Entrepreneurship as a career choice: an analysis of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and
intention of university students”, European Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 338-349.
Polonsky, M.J. and Rosenberger, P.J. (2001), “Reevaluating green marketing: a strategic approach”,
Business Horizons, Vol. 44 No. 5, pp. 21-30.
Poortinga, W., Steg, L. and Vlek, C. (2004), “Values, environmental concern, and environmental
behavior a study into household energy use”, Environment and Behavior, Vol. 36 No. 1,
pp. 70-93.
Pruett, M., Shinnar, R., Toney, B., Llopis, F. and Fox, J. (2009), “Explaining entrepreneurial intentions of
university students: a cross-cultural study”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior
and Research, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 571-594.
Ratten, V. (2014), “Future research directions for collective entrepreneurship in developing countries: a
small and medium-sized enterprise perspective”, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Small Business, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 266-274.
Rex, E. and Baumann, H. (2007), “Beyond ecolabels: what green marketing can learn from conventional
marketing”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 567-576.
Richomme-Huet, K. and de Freyman, J. (2010), “The fourth way between regular, social and green
entrepreneurs: the sustainable entrepreneur”, ICSB World Conference Proceedings, International
Council for Small Business (ICSB), p. 1.
Saha, D. and Paterson, R.G. (2008), “Local government efforts to promote the ‘Three Es’ of sustainable Young
development: a survey in medium to large cities in the United States”, Journal of Planning
Education and Research, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 21-37.
entrepreneurial
Sandhu, S., Ozanne, L.K., Smallman, C. and Cullen, R. (2010), “Consumer driven corporate
aspirants
environmentalism: fact or fiction?”, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 19 No. 6,
pp. 356-366.
Saputra, L., Rachmad, S. and Putri, E. (2012), “Drivers of the green Brand: Equity green brand image,
green satisfaction, green trust (Studi Empirik Konsumen Toyota BERMESIN vvt-i Kota
Bengkulu)”, Doctoral dissertation, Fakultas Ekonomi UNIB.
Sarkar, A. and Wingreen, S. (2013), “Is resilience in SMEs in post-earthquake Christchurch”, European
Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Academic Conferences International, Vol. 2,
p. 573.
Saxena, R.P. and Khandelwal, P.K. (2008), “Consumer attitudes towards green marketing on an
exploratory study”, University of Wollongong Research Online, pp. 1-31, available at: http://ro.
uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1169&context=dubaipapers
Schaper, M. (2002), “Introduction: the essence of ecopreneurship”, Greener Management International,
Vol. 2002 No. 38, pp. 26-30.
Schlange, L.E. (2006), “What drives sustainable entrepreneurs”, Prceedings from 3rd Applied Business
and Entrepreneurship Association International Conference (November 16-20), Kona, HI.
Schultz, P.W., Gouveia, V.V., Cameron, L.D., Tankha, G., Schmuck, P. and Franek, M. (2005), “Values
and their relationship to environmental concern and conservation behavior”, Journal of Cross-
Cultural Psychology, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 457-475.
Sendawula, K., Turyakira, P. and Bananuka, J. (2018), “Adoption of sustainable entrepreneurship in
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries: literature review”, Journal of
Advances in Social Science and Humanities, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 1-8.
Shah, N. and Soomro, B.A. (2017), “Investigating entrepreneurial intention among public sector
university students of Pakistan”, Education þ Training, Vol. 59 Nos 7/8, pp. 841-855.
Shapiro, S.S. and Wilk, M.B. (1965), “An analysis of variance test for normality (complete samples)”,
Biometrika, Vol. 52 Nos 3/4, pp. 591-611.
Sharma, N.K. and Kushwaha, G.S. (2015), “Emerging green market as an opportunity for green
entrepreneurs and sustainable development in India”, Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Organization Management, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 1-7.
Silajdzic, I., Kurtagic, S.M. and Vucijak, B. (2015), “Green entrepreneurship in transition economies: a
case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 88, pp. 376-384.
Sołtysik, M., Urbaniec, M. and Magdalena Wojnarowska, M. (2019), “Innovation for sustainable
entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from the bioeconomy sector in Poland”, Administrative
Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 1-21.
Soomro, B.A., Shah, N. and Memon, M. (2018), “Robustness of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB): a
comparative study between Pakistan and Thailand”, Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal,
Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 1-18.
Susetyo, D. and Lestari, P.S. (2014), “Developing entrepreneurial intention model of university students:
an empirical study on university students in Semarang, Indonesia”, International Journal of
Engineering and Management Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 184-196.
Tabachnick, B.G. and Fidell, L.S. (2007), Using Multivariate Statistics, 5th ed., Pearson International,
Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Taherdoost, H. (2016), “Sampling methods in research methodology; how to choose a sampling
technique for research”, International Journal of Academic Research in Management, Vol. 5
No. 2, pp. 18-27.
K Testa, F., Gusmerottia, N.M., Corsini, F., Passetti, E. and Iraldo, F. (2016), “Factors affecting
environmental management by small and micro firms: the importance of entrepreneurs’
attitudes and environmental investment”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Management, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 373-385.
Thompson, J.L. and Scott, J.M. (2010), “Environmental entrepreneurship: the sustainability challenge”,
Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference, Vol. Proceedings ISBE, Institute of
Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE), London.
Tilley, F. and Parrish, B. (2006), “From poles to wholes: facilitating an integrated approach to
sustainable entrepreneurship”, World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and
Sustainable Development, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 281-294.
Tilley, F. and Young, W. (2006), “Sustainability entrepreneurs”, Greener Management International,
Vol. 2006 No. 55, pp. 79-93.
Tur-Porcar, A., Roig-Tierno, N. and Mestre, A.L. (2018), “Factors affecting entrepreneurship and
business sustainability”, Sustainability, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 1-12.
Uddin, S.F. and Khan, M.N. (2016), “Exploring green purchasing behaviour of young urban consumers:
empirical evidences from India”, South Asian Journal of Global Business Research, Vol. 5 No. 1,
pp. 85-103.
Usman, A. and Ahmed, F. (2018), “Determinants of entrepreneurial intentions of business students in
Pakistan”, Journal of Management Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 22-39.
Villis, U., Yunus, M., Strack, R. and Bruysten, S. (2013), The Power of Social Business: lessons from
Corporate Engagements with Grameen, Boston Consulting Group, Boston.
Wang, S.T. (2014), “Consumer characteristics and social influence factors on green purchasing
intentions”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 738-753.
Xiao-di, Z. and Tie-Jun, Z. (2000), “Green marketing: a noticeable new trend of international business”,
Journal of Zhejiang University-Science A, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 99-104.
Zarnowitz, V. and Moore, G.H. (1986), Major Changes in Cyclical Behavior, UMI, pp. 519-582.
Zeyen, A., Beckmann, M., Mueller, S., Dees, J.G., Khanin, D., Kruger, N., Murphy, P.J., Santos, F.,
Scarlata, M., Walske, J. and Zacharakis, A. (2013), “Social entrepreneurship and broader theories:
shedding new light on the ‘Bigger Picture’”, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Vol. 4 No. 1,
pp. 88-107.
Zhang, D.D. and Swanson, L.A. (2014), “Linking social entrepreneurship and sustainability”, Journal of
Social Entrepreneurship, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 175-191.
Zu, L. (2014), “An international perspective on sustainable entrepreneurship”, Business Success through
Sustainability, Springer, pp. 67-100, doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-38753-1_6.
Appendix Young
entrepreneurial
Constructs Measurement items Source aspirants
Eco-friendly 1. You love your environment so much Lee (2009)
people 2. You are very much interested in environmental activities, Cronin et al. (2011)
like planting a tree
3. You think that people are much more conscious about the Khare (2015)
environment than before
4. You turn off the lights wherever you see it as unnecessary, Cleveland et al. (2005)
as in your classrooms or office
5. You try to avoid the use of a vehicle for bringing milk in Nittala (2014)
the morning or for travelling very short distances
Green marketing 1. You are aware of green products Carrete et al. (2012)
factors 2. You know about eco-labelled products in the market Gleim et al. (2013)
3. Green products are initially more expensive than non- Bhatia and Jain (2013)
green products
4. You feel there is a lack of green products in the market Osman et al. (2016)
5. A green product is a demand for the present and future Xiao-di and Tie-jun
market (2000)
Changing 1. You buy products that can be recycled Nittala (2014)
consumer 2. You try to avoid those products which consume more
behaviour energy
3. You have a positive image towards green products Saputra et al. (2012)
4. You notice that your taste and preference changed over time Aagerup and Nilsson
(2016)
5. Green or eco-friendly is your prime concern when making Uddin and Khan (2016)
a purchase decision many times
Favourable 1. You can easily get loans for your start-up Joshi and Ruparel
market conditions (2016)
2. You think that the government policies are favourable to Jahanshahi et al. (2011)
entrepreneurship
3. The government will promote the business that is lean and Saha and Paterson
green (2008)
4. There is a good demand for the green product in the Luzio and Lemke
market due to changing consumers’ tastes and preferences (2013)
Sustainable 1. You feel that sustainable entrepreneurs are the need of the Pauli (2010)
entrepreneurship earth
2. I feel enthusiastic to be a sustainable entrepreneur Schaper (2002)
3. Sustainable entrepreneurship is a challenging but Zeyen et al. (2013) Table A1.
interesting task Measurement scales

Corresponding author
Bahadur Ali Soomro can be contacted at: bahadur.ali@scholars.usindh.edu.pk

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com