DOI: 10.11648/j.ijsdr.20261204.13 ISSN: 2575-1832

Institutional Support on Green Entrepreneurial Intention of University Students in Kenya

Catherine Thiong’o, Daniel Muasya, Ezekiel Ndunda
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The intensifying environmental crisis has amplified the urgency for green entrepreneurship as a pathway toward sustainable economic development. Although numerous studies have examined students’ intentions to pursue entrepreneurship, most have concentrated on traditional entrepreneurial pathways rather than environmentally oriented ventures. Additionally, of the studies in green entrepreneurship conducted, very few focus on Sub-Sahara Africa. This study investigates institutional support as a moderator of key determinants (environmental values, social norms, perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial self efficacy) of green entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduate students in Kenya. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior and cultural values theory, it investigates how students’ perception on institutional support influences their intention to engage in green entrepreneurship. A mixed-methods design was employed, comprising a survey of 392 students and 12 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. Quantitative analysis involved both simple and multiple regression techniques. The findings indicate that policy support acted as a strong direct predictor of green entrepreneurial intention but did not significantly moderate most relationships, except for a significant negative moderation on subjective norms (β = -1.368, p =.039). The integrated model explained 79.0% of the variance in GEI. The study concludes that Green entrepreneurial intentions amongst university students in Kenya are manifold, driven by an interconnected web of personal values, self-perceptions, social influences, and contextual enablers. Policy support functions primarily as a direct enabler rather than a uniform amplifier of individual factors.

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