Factors affecting women's entrepreneurial intention: An empirical examination of Nepalese perspective

This paper aims to investigate the perceived social norms, entrepreneurial motivation, and entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial intention. The study adopted a descriptive and causal relational research approach. The survey was based on a structured questionnaire and cross-sectional data for primary sources of information. A total of 525 questionnaires were distributed among the targeted respondents during October-December (2023) and received only 231 (44 percent) usable responses of youth women. The study utilized descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis for analysis of demographic information, to assess the association and for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that Entrepreneurial Education (EE), Perceived Social Norms (PSN), and Entrepreneurial Motivation (EM) have a strong and positive correlation with Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) among youth women who are pursuing entrepreneurship. The data demonstrates that the intention of women to engage in entrepreneurship is influenced by independent variables. This discovery significantly enhances the current body of work on the characteristics that influence entrepreneurial activity among youth women with entrepreneurial intentions in Nepal. The study's findings will assist planners, local governments, the federal government, educational institutions, economists, and social welfare agencies in implementing effective measures to promote entrepreneurship and formulating suitable strategies, rules, and regulations within the Nepalese business landscape. Key Words:Entrepreneurial behavior, entrepreneurial capability, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial motivation, perceived social norms, women entrepreneurship.