Financial Literacy and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Mindset

Abstract

Sustainable entrepreneurship has become a central agenda in higher education as institutions are pressed to prepare graduates who can create economic value while safeguarding social and environmental well-being. Despite growing interest, empirical evidence on the psychological pathway through which financial literacy translates into sustainable entrepreneurial behavior remains fragmented, particularly among Economics Education students who are simultaneously trained as future economic actors and future teachers of economic literacy. This study examines the relationship between financial literacy and sustainable entrepreneurship, positioning entrepreneurial mindset as a mediating mechanism. Grounded in Human Capital Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, a quantitative explanatory research design was employed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS) with SmartPLS 4. Data were obtained from 250-350 Economics Education students through a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed through measurement and structural model evaluation, including outer loading, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), composite reliability, R², path coefficients, effect size, and mediation testing. The study proposes that financial literacy exerts both a direct and an indirect effect on sustainable entrepreneurship, with entrepreneurial mindset serving as the psychological bridge connecting financial competence to sustainability-oriented venture behavior. The findings are expected to extend Human Capital Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior into the sustainability domain and to offer practical implications for economics curricula and creative-economy policy. This study proposes an integrated mediation model linking financial literacy to sustainable entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial mindset among Economics Education students. This research contributes a rarely tested mediation model in the specific context of Economics Education students, aligning with the Human Capital subtheme of contemporary economics and creative industry conferences.