Entrepreneurial and civil service career intentions among rural youth: an asymmetric approach to competing vocational trajectories

Abstract This study examines whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour operates symmetrically when rural youth evaluate two competing career paths: entrepreneurship and civil service employment. This comparison is especially relevant in rural contexts characterised by structural constraints and limited professional alternatives. Using survey data from 599 students enrolled at a rural higher education institution in Spain, we estimate structural equation models linking entrepreneurial attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control to both entrepreneurial and civil service career intentions. Entrepreneurial intentions are positively and significantly driven by entrepreneurial attitudes and perceived behavioural control, while subjective norms are not significant. In contrast, civil service intentions are negatively associated with perceived behavioural control and show no significant relationship with entrepreneurial attitudes or subjective norms. Overall, the findings indicate that the Theory of Planned Behaviour operates asymmetrically across vocational domains in rural contexts, with perceived behavioural control acting as a key discriminator between autonomy-oriented and stability-oriented career trajectories. The study contributes to entrepreneurship-intention research by clarifying the boundary conditions of the Theory of Planned Behaviour across competing vocational domains. The study also offers policy-relevant implications for rural youth employment strategies.