Karmic beliefs and social entrepreneurial intentions: A moderated mediation model of environmental complexity and empathy

Although the recognition of the importance of religious beliefs on entrepreneurship, the impact of karmic beliefs on social entrepreneurship has not been thoroughly explored. This research aims to fill that gap by adopting a morally extended theory of planned behavior and developing a moderated mediation model to investigate the role of karmic beliefs in shaping individuals’ social entrepreneurial intention underlying the moderated mediation effects of environmental complexity and empathy. The study was performed on a sample of 401 undergraduate students in Vietnam, using the model 4 and the model 7 in PROCESS macro approach to test the hypothesized model. The research revealed that empathy not only positively and directly correlated with social entrepreneurial intentions, but also positively and partially mediated the effect of karmic beliefs on social entrepreneurial intentions. Environmental complexity was found to negatively moderate the impact of karmic beliefs on empathy. Noticeably, our study also indicated that the mediation impact of empathy on the relationship between karmic beliefs was negatively moderated by environmental complexity. The findings of this research thus shed new light on entrepreneurial literature by using the moral extended theory of planned behaviors to examine the underlying moderated mediation mechanisms of environmental complexity and empathy on the relationship between karmic beliefs and social entrepreneurial intentions. Based on the findings of the research, some valuable recommendations and implications for policymakers and practitioners have been offered.