Year: 2026 | Month: March | Volume: 13 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 435-450
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260350
Determinants of Conservation - Oriented Entrepreneurial Intentions among Zoology Students: An Empirical Study
Debajyoti Sarkar1, Juned Alam2, Bidish Borah3
1Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Kaliabor College, Nagaon, Assam
3Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Kaliabor College, Nagaon, Assam
Corresponding Author: Debajyoti Sarkar
ABSTRACT
The accelerating decline of global biodiversity and the growing complexity of wildlife conservation challenges demand innovative and financially sustainable solutions that transcend traditional conservation models. Integrating scientific expertise with entrepreneurial capability has emerged as a promising pathway to address ecological problems through market-based mechanisms. This study examines the determinants of conservation-enterprise intention among students of zoology by drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior and extending it with environmental value orientation and perceived institutional support. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to undergraduate students enrolled in zoology programs at accredited higher education institutions. The relationships among constructs were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques to assess the relative influence of psychological and contextual factors on entrepreneurial intention within a conservation context. The findings reveal that attitude toward conservation entrepreneurship and perceived behavioral control are the most influential predictors of conservation-enterprise intention. Environmental value orientation and perceived university support also demonstrate significant positive effects, highlighting the importance of ecological commitment and institutional ecosystems in shaping entrepreneurial aspirations. In contrast, subjective norms exhibit a comparatively weaker association with intention formation. The proposed model accounts for a substantial proportion of variance in conservation-enterprise intention, indicating strong explanatory power. The study advances emerging scholarship on conservation entrepreneurship by situating zoology students as potential agents of biodiversity-oriented innovation. It further underscores the strategic role of higher education institutions in fostering interdisciplinary competencies that bridge ecological science and venture creation. Policy implications emphasize the integration of entrepreneurship education within zoological curricula to promote sustainable biodiversity enterprises.
Keywords: Conservation entrepreneurship; zoology education; entrepreneurial intention; biodiversity innovation; environmental values; university support.
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