Decoding rural entrepreneurship: exploring the determinants of entrepreneurial intention in Jharkhand, India

Abstract The study is focusing on understanding the factors which drives an individual’s intention in becoming an entrepreneur. In the current rural context, especially in terms of aspirational states like Jharkhand, entrepreneurship is observed as promising avenue to address unemployment, stimulate local economies and enhance skills of the rural unemployed people. Despite growth in entrepreneurial activities in India, challenges persist in rural areas, including limited resource access, low awareness and financial constraints, hindering individuals from pursuing entrepreneurship. Hence, this study was conducted to define multiple factors influencing rural entrepreneurial intention for establishing new venture on the basis of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen). The study was conducted in South Chotanagpur region of Jharkhand, employing mixed methodology. For identifying the different factors influencing rural entrepreneurial intention 12 existing rural entrepreneur were interviewed through purposive sampling method. Results defines that several factors, including entrepreneurial attitude, self-efficacy, perceived desirability, and entrepreneurial environment, mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention or influenced the relationship between other variables and entrepreneurial intention, underscoring the complexity of factors contributing to entrepreneurial intentions. The study's primary contribution lies in empirically validating an extended model that identifies factors influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of rural youth in the South Chotanagpur region of India, potentially informing policy interventions to support nascent entrepreneurship.