Navigating intentions: exploring the cognitive and environmental drivers of productive and destructive entrepreneurial intentions

Purpose This study aims to understand how entrepreneurial effort is allocated by differentiating between productive and destructive pathways. It examines how cognitive drivers (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) and environmental valuations (trust-based networks and status incentives) interact to steer entrepreneurship students toward value-creating or value-destructive entrepreneurial intentions in an emerging economy marked by institutional complexity. Design/methodology/approach Building on an integrated framework that synthesizes the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with institutional and social capital theories, we developed and tested a dual-pathway structural model. We collected data from 783 entrepreneurship students across nine Iranian universities. We used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to test two separate models for productive and destructive entrepreneurial intentions. Findings Core TPB relationships were supported for both pathways, but critical asymmetries emerged. Closeness valuation significantly strengthened attitudes toward productive entrepreneurship but did not influence the destructive pathway. Social valuation played a dual role: promoting productive intentions by strengthening perceived control and norms, while also inhibiting destructive intentions. Formal testing of comparative hypotheses revealed that attitude and subjective norms were significantly stronger drivers of destructive intention, while perceived behavioral control was more influential for productive intention. Originality/value The study unpacks entrepreneurial intention into distinct ethical pathways, introducing a dual-pathway model specifying how identical environmental factors produce opposing effects depending on a venture's ethical valence. It provides rare empirical evidence from Iran's understudied entrepreneurial ecosystem and demonstrates how institutional voids shape intention pathways. The findings offer actionable guidance for educators and policymakers designing entrepreneurship education interventions that cultivate productive entrepreneurship while mitigating destructive practices in emerging economies.