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Entrepreneurship represents a complex decision-making process capable of influencing the conditions of a socio-economic system. For this reason, stimulating entrepreneurship is a topic that has always fascinated scholars and attracted the attention of public policy makers. This study, from the perspective of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), aims to contribute to the analysis of entrepreneurial intention (EI) in university students. Factors such as entrepreneurship education (EE), mediation of personal attitude (PA), perceived behavioural control (PBC), EI, regulatory support (RS) and opportunity recognition (OR) for university students.

Research data was collected using a questionnaire, and a cross-sectional sample was selected from senior business and engineering students who are most likely to participate in entrepreneurial activities. The survey was conducted in the Delhi NCR region. 240 students were interviewed. Partial least square structural equation modelling using SmartPLS-4 was used to test the explanatory and predictive power of the proposed model.

The results of this study offer interesting contributions to the academic debate. First, EE has a significant impact on PA, PBC and entrepreneurial intentionality. Second, PBC, recognition of opportunities and EI have a significant impact on entrepreneurial education. Finally, PA and PBC significantly mediate the “entrepreneurial education – entrepreneurial intention” relationship.

Interesting elements of originality are offered by this study. First, entrepreneurship is studied as a decision-making process influenced by intentions and not behaviours. Second, the authors limited the efforts to unraveling the effect of the five variables on the formation of EI. Finally, the large size of the sample allows the authors to obtain significant results, directing future studies to other territorial contexts. Additionally, incorporating some control variables, such as gender and family background, would explore the relationship between the model variables more meaningfully.

Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) has emerged as a key component at national and international policy-making agendas. The purpose of this paper is to examine and validate the antecedents of WEE for urban working women.

This study used a descriptive and exploratory research design. A total of 286 responses from women working in the formal sector of Delhi-NCR were collected through self-administered questionnaires on a five-point Likert scale using non-probability quota sampling technique. The sample was controlled for the employment sector, that is, healthcare, education and information technology. Exploratory factor analysis has been performed in the first step to test the data’s dimensionality with the goal of producing a set of items that reflect the meaning of the relative construct. Thereafter, confirmatory factor analysis has been used for data analysis.

Digital banking usage (DBU) has been identified as the most significant contributor to WEE.

Besides digital banking, government support has also emerged as a key indicator of WEE, necessitating a government policy review to improve WEE. Research findings indicate that, if WEE initiatives are to reach their full potential, they must individually address the extracted factors. This study offers a new framework for understanding and enhancing WEE for urban working women in India.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to use factor analysis to explore the multi-dimensionality of WEE using the novel dimensions of DBU, women’s agency and government support, in addition to the established variables of financial literacy, social norms and workplace human resource policies.