Social entrepreneurship and sustainable development attitudes: the roles of creativity and self-confidence with leisure volunteering in educational and societal context

Purpose This study aims to examine how social entrepreneurship traits relate to attitudes toward sustainable development. The focus is on creativity and self-confidence. This study also tests the moderating role of leisure volunteering. Educational and societal sustainability attitudes form the outcome domains. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from female teacher candidates. Validated self-report scales measured creativity, self-confidence, leisure volunteering and sustainability attitudes. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Interaction terms were included to assess moderation effects. Findings Creativity showed a positive effect on both educational and societal sustainability attitudes. Self-confidence positively predicted educational sustainability attitude but not societal attitude. Leisure volunteering significantly moderated the relationship between creativity and societal sustainability attitude. Other moderation paths were not supported. The results indicate a domain-specific and conditional role of volunteering. Originality/value This study extends sustainability research by integrating behavioral reasoning theory with social entrepreneurship traits and leisure volunteering. It clarifies how creative traits translate into societal sustainability attitudes through voluntary engagement in an educational context.