Undergraduate Students’ Social Entrepreneurial Intention: The Role of Individual Environmental Responsibility and Absorptive Capacity

As social entrepreneurial intention has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners, no clear conclusions have been drawn regarding antecedent or external factors that influence social entrepreneurial intention. This study aims to develop a structural model to shape the social entrepreneurial intention of business administration students, which involves the theory of planned behavior (i.e., attitudes, subjective norms), social capital, individual environmental responsibility, and individual absorptive capacity (i.e., potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity). Furthermore, this study regards potential absorptive capability as a multi-dimensional construct of a higher-order structure. The participants were students from business administration colleges/universities (including general universities and science and technology universities) in Taiwan. The empirical data from 969 participants were analyzed using Smart PLS 3.0 to obtain the results. The results revealed that: (1) social capital had a significant positive effect on attitudes and subjective norms; (2) attitudes, subjective norms, individual environmental responsibility, and realized absorptive capability had a positive effect on social entrepreneurial intention; however, social capital and potential absorptive capability had a negative effect. The results were discussed, and some specific recommendations for practitioners of business administration education were proposed.