| Rural development strategy is crucial for the sustainable development rural poor’ s economic and social lives.As a way of restructuring traditional nature-based economy into modern knowledge-based one,rural entrepreneurship has become a key strategy for promoting sustainable rural development.China has officially declared its "total triumph"over poverty especially in rural areas,through strategies developed and implemented at all levels of government in 2021.The Rural Revitalization Strategy aims to improve the living standard of the rural inhabitants and promote the social,economic and ecological development.In this process,entrepreneurship intention stimulates local entrepreneurial talent invest in rural enterprises or companies.With the fast economic development and upgrading of diet structure,consumers attach importance to the organic and healthy food.However,due to urbanization and labor migration,many young farmers transferred to the urban areas for job seeking.The developments of sustainable agriculture mainly rely on the graduates,who own abundant human resource and social networks.The educated rural population is therefore the most powerful human resource ready to speed up rural regions development with high added values.In this sense,entrepreneurship intentions are important for increasing the supply of entrepreneurs especially for rural areas.Concerns arise as lacks understanding of its concept and the role of graduates’entrepreneurship intention on the agriculture business development.Moreover,rural entrepreneurs face many challenges,such as financing difficulty and land use rights,continuous migration of skilled human resources,the knowledge of sustainable agriculture,etc.research questions arise as what is the relationship between graduates’entrepreneurship intention on the agriculture business development?How can the performance of rural farm entrepreneurship be evaluated?What are the significant factors in stimulating rural entrepreneurial intentions among graduates?These questions were rarely addressed previously.The overall objective of the thesis is to explore how graduate entrepreneurial intention promotes the farm business sustainability.In order to realize it,we first conducted an in-depth interview of rural farm entrepreneurship,as well as rural entrepreneurial intentions among graduates to build an overview of the topic.Thus,a systematic literature review on rural entrepreneurship and rural development was conducted,besides two empirical studies in Yangzhou,Jiangsu Province.A conceptual and theoretical framework is established in the second chapter,which includes presentations of the theories of planned behavior and sustainable design,as well as a discussion of the relationships that exist between the issues of the research study.The third chapter a systematic literature review aims to examine rural entrepreneurship research related to rural development,and highlight the relationship between rural entrepreneurship and farm business development.The review conducted a descriptive and thematic analysis of the publications across three databases(Between 1990-2017).The analysis revealed three major themes:rural entrepreneurship development,migrant entrepreneurs and non-farm entrepreneurship.The review revealed frequently asked questions in the literature is,(1)how can entrepreneurship be fostered and developed in rural areas;(2)how does entrepreneurship contribute to rural development;and(3)how can rural entrepreneurs leverage the rural-urban linkages and what is the contribution of return migrants to promote entrepreneurship and rural development?The studies showed that rural entrepreneurship plays a significant role in achieving sustainable rural development.Education,social change policies,financial access,non-financial assistance,entrepreneurial training,public-private cooperation,community participation,marketing links,and modern infrastructure,are the conditions for improving the rural environment and encouraging entrepreneurship to achieve the long-term objective.Chapter fourth aims to enhance understandings of challenges,opportunities and contributions on farm entrepreneurship in the sustainability context.A case study of five farms practicing organic farming was conducted through semi-structured face-to-face interviews in three regions at Yangzhou.The analysis showed that organic farm entrepreneurs promote farm business sustainability through a multitude of economic,social,and environmental contributions.Thus,organic farms create job opportunities and increase rural incomes that can bring stability to the local community,as well as provide healthy food.Specifically,organic aquaculture farms(case 4,case 5)recorded the highest income for entrepreneurs compared to other farm activities.In addition,the study confirmed that organic farming directly contributes to increasing soil quality and the rate of carbon dioxide absorption according to organic management criteria.Emerging community awareness of healthy food and the increasing demand for organic products are the most important opportunity that contribute to the organic agriculture growth and sustainable development.However,entrepreneurs face many challenges,as a lack of educated and skilled labor,land use rights,and a lack of government subsidies,especially for small farms.In addition,poor farm management practices combined with weather fluctuations negatively affect production and lead to a high loss rate,thus posing a threat to the farm business sustainability.Chapter fifth aims to understand what motivates graduates’ entrepreneurial intentions,which is necessary for developing effective policies to foster rural entrepreneurship.A sample of 158 students in their last year of graduation from different educational backgrounds was randomly selected in Yangzhou University,and it is surveyed via an online questionnaire.Descriptive analysis shows that the role of graduates in rural areas has been strongly supported,confirming that graduates are effective human resources for promoting rural entrepreneurial activities and advancing rural development.The results show that having wealth is the strongest motivation for entrepreneurial intentions,as well as implementing an innovative business ideas and the passion for self-employment.About 47.5%of respondents plan to become entrepreneurs within five years after graduation.However,lack of entrepreneurial experience and insufficient funds pose a major challenge to rural entrepreneurship.the study find that rural tourism is the graduate’s highest intention as a preferred business activity,overtaking farm business as the basis of the rural economy.Finally,empirical analysis revealed a significant relationship among the study background,prior experience,motivations and graduates’ rural entrepreneurial intentions.Educational policies play a significant role in stimulating entrepreneurial intentions,as well as social and cultural influences as an influencer of personal motivation.Chapter six aims to answer how graduates as human capital and potential entrepreneurs can promote the development of farm businesses in a sustainable context.This study proposes an integrated framework for the role of graduates in developing farm businesses through the theory of human capital.The study confirms that educational background,experience,and motivation play a role in shaping entrepreneurial intentions towards the business sector and agricultural activities.Thus,the relationship of graduates as human capital with agribusiness is integrative through mutual benefit in providing employment opportunities and developing agribusiness.The final chapter thesis concluded that by overcoming obstacles,attracting opportunities,and attracting well-trained human resources,the rural enterprise sector can develop and attract more rural entrepreneurs.In addition,attracting graduates as educated human capital is the most important factor that contributes to enabling entrepreneurial activities and developing the rural enterprise sector.Thus,the government has a fundamental and important role,especially regarding promoting concepts within rural and urban society and harmonizing further policies to promote entrepreneurship for sustainable rural development.These conclusions have important implications for decision-makers and educational institutions working to promote rural entrepreneurship for sustainable rural development. |
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