Sustainable Entrepreneurs of the Future: The Interplay between Educational Context, Sustainable Entrepreneurship Competence, and Entrepreneurial Intentions

The aim of this paper is to understand how sustainable entrepreneurship competence impacts entrepreneurial intentions in two educational contexts: in higher education and in secondary education. We applied the sustainable entrepreneurship framework, which includes six competencies of sustainable entrepreneurship, and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The data were gathered from seven European countries and consist of 486 responses from higher education students and 642 responses from secondary-level students. The results show that sustainable entrepreneurship competence (SEC) is a significant factor that can explain entrepreneurial intentions. It has a significant direct effect on entrepreneurial intentions in both educational contexts. Perceived behavioral control (PBC) moderates the relationship between SEC and entrepreneurial intentions; the effect of SEC decreases when PBC increases. The moderating effect was found only with higher education students, not with secondary-level students. This study demonstrates a connection between sustainable entrepreneurship competence and entrepreneurial intentions and contributes to a better understanding of the role of sustainable entrepreneurship competence in shaping students’ aspirations for an entrepreneurial career in different educational contexts.