Light at the end of the tunnel: war affected youth's purchase intention of microcredit

The main aim of this research study is to evaluate war affected youths' purchase intentions of microcredit, which, in turn may be used to promote entrepreneurial activities in the post-war era. The Theory of Planned Behaviour underpins the conceptual framework for this study. Hence five constructs relating to affective attitudes, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms were operationalized as the predictors of purchase intention. Data obtained from 1606 youth in war affected regions of Sri Lanka were analysed to test relevant hypotheses. The findings revealed that all the five constructs significantly influenced war affected youths' purchase intention of microcredit. However, perceived behavioural control had the highest predictive power followed by affective attitudes and perceived benefits. Based on these findings, we have provided interesting implications and recommendations to institutions providing microcredit and also to other stakeholders including policy makers.