Buddhism and agripreneurship: the mediating effect of market orientation on sustainability among farmers in India and Bhutan

The present study examines the impact of Buddhist values on agripreneurship and sustainability, with a mediating effect of market orientation. The study is carried out in Bhutan and the Sikkim state of India, employing 287 farmers, and utilised the GET2 Test Scale to assess entrepreneurial orientation, which considers five main parameters: Calculated Risk-Taking, Creative Tendency, Locus of Control, Need for Autonomy, and Need for Achievement. This study employs Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS 4 to investigate the relationships among Buddhist values, Entrepreneurial Orientation, Sustainability, and Market Orientation. The results reveal that Buddhist values exert a statistically significant direct influence on sustainability across all samples, with comparatively stronger effects observed in Bhutan compared to India. Buddhist values also demonstrate a modest but significant influence on entrepreneurial orientation in India and the pooled sample, while the relationship is not significant in Bhutan. Notably, Buddhist values exhibit a strong and statistically significant association with market orientation across all contexts. Furthermore, market orientation significantly influences sustainability and partially mediates the relationship between Buddhist values and sustainability. Results suggest that incorporating Buddhist values into entrepreneurship training and policy frameworks can enhance sustainable production and consumption while promoting and retaining sustainable livelihoods. The study further recommends that targeted entrepreneurial training for farmers should focus on balancing sustainability and farm economics and positioning them as exemplars of alternative development models. The present study addresses a timely need for culturally focused models of entrepreneurship that reflect the ethical frameworks of farmers in Buddhist-majority Himalayan regions.