Designing a Model of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Less Developed Rural Areas

An entrepreneurial ecosystem is a self-organized, adaptive, geographically limited community composed of complex agents operating at multiple and cumulative levels whose non-linear interactions lead to patterns of activities through which new ventures emerge. The present research aims to explain the factors that influence the creation of an entrepreneurship ecosystem in less privileged rural areas of Asad Abad in Hamedan province, Iran using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) technique. Out of the rural entrepreneurship experts and scholars, 15 people were selected purposefully for a semi-structured interview. Based on the content analysis using the ISM technique, the factors underpinning the creation of an entrepreneurship ecosystem in the less privileged areas were determined and leveled. Based on the results, the creation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in less privileged areas requires the availability and implementation of macro-governance factors, individual-behavioral factors, supportive factors, sociocultural factors, financing, human capital, market, and regional capacity. The results reveal that the macro-governance factors are the most important and effective factors in developing entrepreneurial ecosystems in less privileged regions. Financing and regional capacity are the second-most important factors involved in creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem (as a representative of society) in less privileged areas.