Providing a Model for Improving Village Entrepreneurship Development: A Case Study of Shazand County of Iran

Creating employment and improving entrepreneurial space processes in rural areas are one of the essentials of rural development program. This study aimed at providing a model for improving rural entrepreneurship development in Shazand County of Markazi province of Iran. The statistical population of the study included 900 rural entrepreneurs in the county. Random sampling method was used to select subjects for the study. According to the Krejcie-Morgan table, a sample of 265 rural entrepreneurs was selected for the survey. The required data were collected through a structured questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by university professors and entrepreneurship experts and its reliability was performed by pre-test. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the variables and research structures ranged from 0.71 to 0.918. The relationships between the items and structures were analyzed using SPSS22 and Smart PLS3 statistical software. Then, the relations between educational, economic and institutional factors and the rural entrepreneurship development were investigated in a structural equation method. The results showed that the GOF criterion was 0.389, indicating that the model for improvement of rural entrepreneurship development was suitable. According to the model, respectively, the institutional factor over the economic factor and the educational factor over the institutional factor had the highest factor loadings; in other words, for the development of rural entrepreneurship, the paths indirectly affecting the entrepreneurship development should be considered. The results also showed that all three educational, economic and institutional factors affected the entrepreneurship development, but the economic factor could be considered as one with the most direct impact on the rural entrepreneurship development.