Sustainable entrepreneurial culture programs promoting social responsibility: A European regional experience

Abstract

Currently in the European Union, regional policies and their related programs are aware of the importance of fostering social responsibility, whilst, at same time, they have to promote entrepreneurship. Promoting the culture of sustainable entrepreneurship could be the answer. In this article, the Spanish case-study of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura is analyzed to show the existing regional policies fostering voluntary educational programs devoted to entrepreneurship since 2012. In this context, a specific entrepreneurship project related to sustainability was developed in 2017-2018 in secondary schools with the leitmotiv to consider the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. Using the Structural Equation Modeling method with a sample of 630 students under the umbrella of the project called Teenemprende, the study concludes by highlighting that sustainable entrepreneurial culture programs in the public educational system already have some positive effect on the students' attitude to social responsibility, thus empowering them to change the world for a better future.