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This study aims to examine the influence of sustainability education in 15 Indian universities and the mediating role of the theory of planned behavior in predicting students’ intentions to start an enterprise supporting sustainability.

The data, which consists of 422 samples, was collected from 15 universities in India. It was analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling, which is frequently used for prediction models. The model was further checked for goodness-of-fit using Amos.

The results suggested that personal and subjective norms play a mediating role in shaping the intentions of students to choose entrepreneurship in the sustainability field. Education on sustainability has a significant influence on personal and subjective norms, and these norms further help to develop entrepreneurial intentions.

The study will be helpful for researchers and universities in understanding the importance and stake of including courses on sustainability.

As the results suggest, social norms play a significant role in determining entrepreneurial intentions; therefore, the study will develop a societal culture of start-up education and ethos.

The research is original and one of the first to examine the mediating role of the theory of planned behavior on the relationship between education and intentions to start a sustainable enterprise.

Sustainability start-ups introduce business models that address current environmental and social challenges. However, to reach their mission, they need to integrate the intention of delivering such impact since their formulation. Business incubators show promise in supporting them in this process by enhancing their access to resources and knowledge during the early stage. For these reasons, this paper aims to investigate the transfer of knowledge in a support program, outlining what knowledge is transferred in the program and through which activities for encouraging the generation of sustainability start-ups’ impact.

The present paper is supported by a qualitative case study methodology based on primary data (interviews) and secondary data (internal and external documents) related to a French support program.

The study shows that the support program transfers explicit and tacit knowledge for encouraging the generation of sustainability impact, throughout three main phases: awareness, identification and assessment.

The limitation concerns the analysis of a French support program and the focus on sustainability start-ups. Future research lines will study other and more traditional business incubators to confirm and possibly enrich the results.

The study has managerial implications for incubator managers willing to support sustainable entrepreneurship and for sustainable entrepreneurs who want to find a support program and reach their impact.

The study shows that a sustainability orientation in business incubators can play a role in fostering sustainable development through the creation of new sustainability ventures.

This paper contributes to two different fields: sustainable entrepreneurship support and knowledge management in incubators.