I am responsible too: promoting green entrepreneurial behaviour through university entrepreneurial support in unstable environments – a female perspective from Iraq, Syria and Yemen

Purpose This study aims to explore how Green Entrepreneurial Intention (GEI) promotes Green Entrepreneurial Behaviour (GEB) through University Entrepreneurial Support (UES) among female students in unstable environments. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a mixed-methods design by sampling 689 female university students in Iraq (n=251), Syria (n = 220) and Yemen (n = 218) in the quantitative phase and 16 female students from Iraq (n = 5), Syria (n = 5) and Yemen (n = 6) in the qualitative phase. It followed partial least squares structural equation modelling to process quantitative data and interpretative phenomenological approach was used for qualitative data analysis. Findings The findings indicate that GEI significantly influences GEB and UES among students in the three samples, while UES significantly influences GEB only in the Iraqi sample. Furthermore, UES significantly mediates the effect of GEI on GEB in Iraqi and Syrian samples. The qualitative study yielded six themes, which are green entrepreneurship understanding and awareness, university support and education, student agency and innovation, government and policy framework, cultural and social context and technological and environmental constraints. Originality/value This study advances the literature on eco-entrepreneurship by offering three novel contributions. First, it pioneers the joint application of the resource-based view and flow theory outside the firm level, revealing how female students in unstable environments may adhere to GEB for survival and development due to the lack of resources and support. Second, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first empirical work to examine this mechanism among women in conflict-affected Arab economies, thereby highlighting under-represented demographic and contextual settings. Third, by using a convergent mixed-methods design, this study provides a wider scope of evidence reflecting the female perspective about the role of university support in promoting women’s green entrepreneurship in unstable contexts.