Fuelling Social Change: Unveiling the Sociocultural and Psychological Complexities in Shaping Social Entrepreneurial Intention

ABSTRACT This study examines the sociocultural and psychological factors influencing social entrepreneurship intention (SEI) within the Indian context. Drawing from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Mair and Noboa's (2006) model, and Social Cognitive Theory a conceptual model is developed and tested. A research instrument was developed and implemented on a sample of 149 social entrepreneurs who have been in this business for no more than a year in India. The study employed a cross‐sectional design recall bias survey technique to gather data. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling using SMART‐PLS (version 4). The results show that Social empathy, religiosity, and role models positively influence SEI, while moral obligation does not. Gender moderates the relationship between moral obligation and SEI, with a stronger effect in males, and between role models and SEI, with a stronger influence in females. Further, it is found that gender does not significantly moderate the relationships between social empathy or religiosity and SEI. These findings emphasize the importance of contextual sociocultural factors in shaping SEI in India. These results highlight the need for gender‐sensitive approaches in promoting SEI and provide opportunities for future research to understand empathic responses in diverse populations.