Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Agriculture Sector: The Nexus of the Triple Bottom Line Measurement Approach

Abstract

The field of entrepreneurship is considered essential for the economy, and many researchers around the world have studied it from diverse perspectives. The outcomes of this research are not yet consensual. Today, it is gaining attention and consensus due to the increasing pressure of sustainable development, so there is a need for academic research to examine this field by incorporating sustainability value creation practices and the efforts of current entrepreneurs towards said goal, especially in the case of the agricultural sector. Accordingly, this study aims to address the problem of what drives students to incorporate sustainable agriculture in their entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover, we aim to determine whether the value placed in the triple bottom line affects the intention to establish sustainable businesses. The study is based on five antecedents of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TBP) and was designed to explore the mechanism underlying the intention to promote sustainable entrepreneurship in agriculture. The primary objective was to collect and analyze the data using the partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to test the determinants. The results revealed that the indicators of a favorable sustainable attitude, supportive subjective norms, control behaviors, adequate opportunity recognitions, and encouraging the triple bottom line had strong influences on the intention of promoting sustainability in entrepreneurship. Besides, the attitudes, subjective norms, opportunity recognition, and sustainability values can also predict students’ significant positive intentions toward sustainable agriculture in entrepreneurship. The research findings contribute to the literature by providing an empirical basis for the formulation of policies to encourage students to start an agribusiness, thereby improving the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education development programs and bridging the gap between sustainable entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Therefore, the insight into the determinants of sustainable entrepreneurship can be an essential step toward designing a practical and durable policy mechanism for the implementation of the triple bottom line when developing entrepreneurial agriculture education programs.

Promoting sustainable ventures among university students in Pakistan: an empirical study based on the theory of planned behavior

“…It can be inferred that acquisition of sustainable entrepreneurial education can enhance student’s self-efficacy and self-identity. In terms of the positive influence of sustainability attitude on SEI, the findings are in line with previous researches (Kalsoom, 2019; Liñán and Chen, 2009; Sargani et al , 2020), where authors found positive influence of attitude on entrepreneurship intention. Therefore, it can be deduced that Pakistani students’ attitude toward suitability can lead them to launch sustainable business ventures.…”

“…Over the past few decades, the study of sustainability in entrepreneurship holds paramount position (Sargani et al , 2020; Fayolle et al , 2014; lakovleva et al , 2011; Usaci, 2015; Koe et al , 2014). The researchers have tried to administer different studies focusing on the sustainable entrepreneurship, but the area of sustainable entrepreneurship has been under-researched, especially in the developing markets.…”

“…In this study, TPB uses strong predictors of subjective norms, sustainability attitudes and self-efficacy to predict student’s SEI. These predictors have been successfully applied to predict entrepreneurial intentions in a wide range of studies (Sargani et al , 2020; Karimi et al , 2016; Harland et al , 1999). This study helps to understand students’ intention to start a sustainable business venture.…”

Sustainable entrepreneurship of small businesses in Uganda: A confirmatory factor analysis

“…It also pertains to creating profitable enterprises and achieving certain environmental and social objectives; and pursuing and achieving what we often refer to as the triple bottom-line (Sarango-Lalangui et al, 2018). Scholars (Hussain et al, 2018;Sargani et al, 2020;Gu et al, 2020) have used the triple bottom line model to explain sustainable entrepreneurship. They developed it on the assumption that entrepreneurs should develop new "win-win-win" approaches.…”

Sustainable agriculture in rural Burundi: exploring the role of farmer groups’ entrepreneurial activities

“…They showed that prior knowledge of both negative and positive trends, changes, and conditions can be influential on sustainable entrepreneurs' abilities to identify opportunities. Sargani et al (2020)' findings revealed a positive effect between sustainability attitudes and intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship in agriculture.…”