Influence of sustainability and innovation on the entrepreneurial intention of Brazilian and Portuguese university students

Abstract This study analyzes the influence of sustainable and innovative behavior on the entrepreneurial intention of Brazilian and Portuguese university students. It seeks to develop a model based on behavioral theory planned for entrepreneurial intention, an adaptive-innovation theory for innovative behavior and sustainability. An exploratory survey was conducted with university students from the Federal University of Ceará (Brazil) and the University of Algarve (Portugal). For data analysis, multivariate analysis techniques such as factorial analysis, logistic regression and classification and regression trees (CART) were used. The results confirm: (i) there is a positive relation between the entrepreneurial intention of the university students and the existence of their own businesses; (ii) there is no positive relationship between the professional experience of university students and their entrepreneurial intention; (iii) there is a positive relationship between the innovative behavior of university students and their entrepreneurial intention; (iv) there is a positive relationship between the sustainable behavior of university students and their entrepreneurial intention. In general, the results contribute to overcome the gap in the empirical literature that aligns phenomena such as entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability, giving this study an innovative character, which allows recommendations for future research.