Based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which correspond to a renewed agenda for sustainable development to be achieved by 2030, today, more than ever, the importance of promoting economic growth by making more rational use of natural resources and energy sources that - among others - drive it is more evident. That is, considering the negative externalities in the use of fossil fuels in the generation of goods and services production due to the emission - among others - of carbon dioxide. There is a close relationship between the development of social and environmental conditions (Fan et al., 2019), and they are approached from perspectives such as environmental ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (López-Concepción et al., 2022) and the structuring of environmental and political economy (local and global), as well as the implementation of the same, to face - for example - global warming (Iqbal et al., 2020).

Through promoting eco-friendly businesses and sustainable practices, this model contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It directly addresses SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by encouraging the development of green energy and sustainable urban planning (Østergaard et al., 2022). Moreover, it supports SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by promoting eco-friendly product manufacturing and reducing waste (Ayub et al., 2021). Green entrepreneurship’s focus on renewable energy and carbon-neutral practices also advances SDG 13 (Climate Action) (Neumann, 2022), while its emphasis on sustainable agriculture and forestry aids SDG 14 (Life Below Water) (Petrariu et al., 2021) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Additionally, it helps to alleviate poverty (SDG 1) and promote decent work (SDG 8) by creating jobs in sustainable sectors. Ethical business practices align with SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and collaborative partnerships enable progress toward all SDGs, as indicated by SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). In summary, this model of green entrepreneurship plays a significant role in advancing various SDGs and promoting a more sustainable and equitable future. Promoting awareness - and the respective evaluation - of the relevance of what has come to be called green entrepreneurship in schools is a vital issue: incorporating entrepreneurship into the school education curriculum but within the framework of sustainable business (Barba-Sánchez et al., 2022). Therefore, it is necessary to know what teachers think about the academic support that students receive in their classes regarding green entrepreneurship; on the other hand, it is also necessary to evaluate the support given through extracurricular activities such as receiving visits from successful entrepreneurs or even visiting ventures that are achieving good results. Finally, we would like to know the perception of the country’s support through regulations or programs to promote entrepreneurship. With all of the above, it is appropriate to also measure the role that self-efficacy for entrepreneurship can play in connecting the effects of the 3 variables explained above and the intention to undertake green ventures.

For this purpose, the proposals of Albert Bandura in the field of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) have been addressed (Bandura and Walters, 1977), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1991) and Resources-Based Theory (RBT) proposed by Penrose (1960). Social cognitive theory, developed by Albert Bandura, postulates that human learning is based on observation, imitation, and the influence of social factors in the formation of beliefs and behaviors (Bandura and Walters, 1977). Applied to multivariate research on green entrepreneurship intention, this theory suggests that people can be motivated to undertake green initiatives by observing role models and perceiving that they have the ability to achieve it. Social factors, such as community influence and business networks, can also influence the intention to become a sustainable entrepreneur. This research could identify significant correlations between these elements, offering a deeper understanding of the determinants of green entrepreneurship intention. Also, The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) is a psychological framework that explores the influences behind human intentions and behaviors. It is based on three elements: attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm and perceived control which explain the intention of behavior. This theory would be applied to understand the motivations behind sustainable business decisions. This would provide a solid basis for understanding and predicting green entrepreneurship intention in a multivariate setting. TPB (Ajzen, 1991) takes the intention of behavior, which would be students’ intention of green entrepreneurship from the teacher’s perception.

RBT (Penrose, 1960) argues that the organizations, in this case, students and future entrepreneurs, seek to acquire and develop valuable, rare, irreplaceable, and non-imitable resources (VRIN) to gain a competitive advantage. In this context, high school students can be considered “organizations” seeking resources that enable them to develop green entrepreneurship intentions. In the context of green entrepreneurship, valuable resources can include knowledge about sustainability, environmental awareness and motivation to address green challenges. Teachers play a crucial role in providing students with information and guidance on sustainability, which can influence their perception of the importance of undertaking green projects. Therefore, the teachers’ perspective in promoting environmental awareness among students is crucial. Rare resources are those that are not readily available to everyone. In the context of green entrepreneurship intention, the lack of examples and role models in secondary education can be considered a rarity. Teachers can play a vital role by exposing students to success stories in green entrepreneurship and connecting them with people and organizations that can serve as mentors and provide rare resources, such as technical knowledge and financing. Non-substitution refers to the inability to replace certain resources with alternatives. In the field of green entrepreneurship, students’ commitment and passion for sustainability can be non-substitutable resources. Teachers can encourage these attitudes and beliefs, promoting the idea that green entrepreneurship is a unique way to contribute to the solution of environmental challenges (Yi, 2021). This may influence students’ intention to undertake sustainable projects rather than opting for other career options. Non-imitability refers to the difficulty of others copying certain resources. In the context of green entrepreneurship, the network of contacts and reputation in the field of sustainability can be non-imitable resources. Teachers can help students build connections in the environmental community, which can open unique opportunities and give them a competitive advantage in the green entrepreneurship arena.

There is an interesting complementarity between these theories’ constructs concerning explaining human behavior, especially in the driver called self-efficacy. Human behavior can be explained by different factors that influence the intention to perform a given behavior, which also depends on external variables, subjective norms, and social or cultural control.

In other words, for adequate school education on environmental and entrepreneurship issues, Lieberman’s proposal (2013) regarding transversal incorporation of the environmental issue concerning both natural and social sciences would not be enough. The curricular and pedagogical change should contemplate some constructs of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura and Walters, 1977) and Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). To this end, we have previously diagnosed the elaboration of research works elaborated to capture and identify the relevance of environmental and entrepreneurship topics at the school level in Latin America and Peru, as well as those elaborated in other countries and by various education agencies at the national and international level, as is the case of UNESCO.

TPB (Ajzen, 1991) is a psychological model that provides a basis for understanding and predicting human actions. The TPB holds that a person’s intention to perform a specific behavior is determined by three main factors: attitudes toward that behavior, subjective norms, and perceived control over that behavior. The cognitive, social learning theory, developed by Bandura and Walters (1977), delves into how people gain knowledge, abilities, and conduct using observation and social interaction.

Green entrepreneurial intention refers to an individual’s interest, attention, and decision to take action toward a specific goal. This intention is influenced by various motivating factors that affect behaviour, according to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991). This concept has been discussed by Meoli et al. (2020).

Academic support refers to the training activities provided by universities to help businesses grow (Bergmann et al., 2018). We anticipate that this support will include required or optional courses to teach how to develop businesses, hands-on projects to learn how to implement and grow them, and internships in organizations focused on entrepreneurship. Additionally, universities may offer professional or graduate programs that incorporate entrepreneurship content.

Extracurricular support involves imparting technical knowledge on entrepreneurship to students, which helps create awareness about it. This support motivates students to develop successful ventures and pursue entrepreneurship as a profession (da Silva Moreira et al., 2017). As a result, students come up with innovative business ideas, not just in the social and environmental fields, but also in other areas. The concept of country support refers to a country’s efforts to promote the growth of businesses (Fichter and Tiemann, 2018). Our evaluation focuses on whether students feel encouraged by their institutions to establish ecologically sustainable enterprises within their country. We also consider whether students perceive their country’s economy as conducive to entrepreneurship. This can be reflected in their emotions and attitudes toward obtaining bank loans for business development.

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) describes what a person can believe about their ability to perform a specific activity successfully (Bandura and Walters, 1977). Believing in one’s own ability to succeed in an activity and incorporating specific behaviors into daily routines is known as self-efficacy (Krueger et al., 2000). ESE is the confidence one has in developing entrepreneurial activities and generating business (Newman et al., 2019). Research has demonstrated that high ESE has a positive influence on entrepreneurial intentions (Kumar and Shukla, 2022). This means that individuals with great confidence in themselves are more likely to engage in new entrepreneurial activities.

Research question: What is the effect of academic support, extracurricular support and country support, through entrepreneurial self-efficacy, on the entrepreneurial intention of high school students from the teacher’s point of view? The specific questions are associated with the research model show in Figure 1.

The total respondents were 163 professors, 99 women (60.73%) and 44 men (39.27%). The average number of years as a teacher in the sample was 16.56. The construct reliability and validity describe the values for each variable (Table 2).

The discriminant validity was calculated by the Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion (Table 3).

Bootstrapping (5000 times) was used to evaluate the significance of the effects (Streukens and Leroi-Werelds, 2016). All values were significant (p values <0.05) (Table 4).

The specific indirect effects allow evaluation of the model’s moderation effect (Table 5).

Figure 1 presents the model evaluated. ESE has a positive and significant effect on GEI. Simultaneously, AS, ES and CS positively affect ESE, but only ES and CS have significant effects.

Our study examines the impact of academic, extracurricular and country support for entrepreneurship on the development of ESE and GEI among school students in Peru. We have thoroughly assessed the questionnaire’s reliability and validity, and our findings demonstrate that the instrument was reliable, valid, and statistically significant for our sample. Our research provides crucial insights into the factors contributing to GEI and is a valuable resource for those interested in promoting sustainable business practices. These factors recognized allow develop strategies to increase the GEI which include training programs to professors to become leaders in this process of education of students toward green entrepreneurship practice.

The development of citizens in a country is based on education at home and training at school. The effect of ES on ESE confirmed in the current study is similar to that reported in South Africa by Neneh (2022) and van der Westhuizen and Goyayi (2019); also, similar to results by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) in a review, Pukkinen et al. (2023) in secondary schools students in Finland, in undergraduate students in India (Subhadrammal et al., 2023), Spain (Arranz et al., 2017). Vietnam (Hoang et al., 2021; Nguyen et al., 2021); also, the outcomes are similar to the study of Preedy et al. (2020) in professors in United Kingdom and (Elliott et al., 2020) in Canada. In Peru, there are 5 years of secondary school where different types of learning are generated; however, as shown in the research, there is no impulse from the curricular components oriented toward green entrepreneurship; thus, there could be other factors that may contribute to increasing the GEI, but it is relevant to evaluate the addition of these components absent in the curriculum, including theoretical and practical contents of training oriented to promote the green entrepreneurship. In this sense, it is proposed that high school students can learn various contents of business management and that even though it may seem too many contents or complex to learn, they are increasingly necessary in a hypercompetitive world where it is expected that high school graduates can have a better preparation for their successful passage through universities.

The presence of successful entrepreneurs in the classroom provides students with real examples of people who have achieved success in the world of green entrepreneurship (Boldureanu et al., 2020). These role models can inspire students by showing them that it is possible to turn their ideas into successful and sustainable projects. Successful entrepreneurs can share their personal experiences, challenges and achievements, which helps students understand the reality of the business world. This allows them to anticipate obstacles and better prepare to face them in the future (Hatthakijphong and Ting, 2019). Successful entrepreneurs can offer up-to-date information on trends and opportunities in the field of green entrepreneurship. This is crucial as the business world is constantly evolving, and students can benefit from first-hand advice and knowledge. Interaction with successful entrepreneurs can stimulate creativity and innovation among students.

By hearing about sustainable solutions and innovative projects, students can begin to think more creatively and develop their own ideas for green ventures. Visits from successful entrepreneurs to classrooms can help students make valuable industry connections. These connections can be useful in the future when students are ready to start their own green ventures. Successful entrepreneurs can provide emotional support and mentoring to students, which can be instrumental in overcoming challenges that arise in the entrepreneurial process (Wathanakom et al., 2020). They can offer guidance and advice that students cannot get from textbooks or lectures. Green ventures focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility. Inspiring more students to get involved in these types of businesses can have a positive impact on the environment and society.

In evaluating entrepreneurship, one must consider the government’s support for ecological entrepreneurship beyond institutional support. Governments should be proactive in adapting laws and incentivizing investment in green enterprises, which can be achieved by providing guaranteed loans at reasonable rates through state and bank initiatives to support new green entrepreneurs. Failing to consider this kind of support hinders promoting sustainable development and creating a more environmentally-friendly future.

Contrary to our initial expectations and in disagreement with the results of Maheshwari and Kha (2022); (Mozahem and Adlouni, 2021), who found a strong influence of academic support on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, our study does not yield evidence of such a relationship. This may be due to differences in the samples studied or in the measures used. Importantly, despite this lack of association, academic support is still relevant for the overall development of entrepreneurial skills, but its direct influence on entrepreneurial self-efficacy appears to be more tenuous. A crucial aspect of this study focuses on the relationship between extracurricular support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. This relationship is consistent with the existing literature. Previous research, such as Pukkinen et al. (2023), has highlighted the importance of extracurricular support in the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Our results support these findings and contribute to the understanding of how education and activities outside the classroom can influence individuals’ confidence in their abilities to undertake green initiatives. Furthermore, this study also finds a significant connection between country support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. This relationship aligns with previous research that has examined the impact of business environment and government policies on the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Bozhikin et al., 2019). The influence of the national context on entrepreneurial self-efficacy underscores the importance of creating an enabling environment for green entrepreneurship and providing resources and support to entrepreneurs.

This study identifies critical variables that significantly impact self-efficacy, the ultimate determinant of GEI. The evidence from students is slowly increasing, but the report from professors is minimal and provides another angle of measurement of the phenomenon since students can express their preferences. It is the professors who have a more excellent criterion and understanding of student actions that can better describe the needs of the students and the institution. Finally, they are the agents of change for the students and set the tone for learning. This research provides an instrument that can be used in future studies.

This study was oriented toward knowing the factors that affect the intention of green entrepreneurship, based on the theory of deliberate action and social cognitive theory. From the teachers ‘point of view, it was possible to show that the curricular content is minimal, with content that motivates and guides green entrepreneurship. The tested model showed that the effects are significant, suggesting that this mode can be considered for future planning that can finally give students more tools for developing enterprises aligned with the SDGs. Finally, the training of students with an ecological orientation allows these students, when going on to study at universities, to be more easily oriented to generate more significant learning in ecological issues, to develop environmental research and, mainly, to develop their own companies oriented toward environmental care.

This study, which focused solely on high-school students, provides valuable insights that can be applied to this group. However, to gain a deeper understanding, it would be beneficial to include another group of students to test the relationship between variables. Additionally, it would be interesting to replicate this study in other cities, particularly in Latin American countries, to identify the most influential variables. This would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence the situation. Moving forward, it is crucial to evaluate the future development of green entrepreneurship to recognize the factors that have the greatest impact on entrepreneurs. By doing so, schools can emphasize the necessary changes among students to promote the development of green entrepreneurship.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The studies involving humans were approved by Acta 157 – Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (June 10, 2022). The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

RP-L, AA-R, and AQU: conceptualization, methodology, and data curation. RP-L, AA-R, AQU, and SD-A-A: software, validation, formal analysis, writing — original draft preparation, writing — review and editing, and visualization. RP-L: investigation and resources. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.