Phenomenological Analysis of Factors Affecting the Entrepreneurship of Technical and Vocational Graduates

The present research was conducted with the aim of examining and analyzing the factors affecting the entrepreneurship of graduates of technical and vocational colleges in Kermanshah city and prioritizing these factors in 2022. For this purpose, the qualitative approach and descriptive phenomenological method were used. Using the purposeful and snowball sampling method, the lived experiences and perception of 21 students of technical and vocational graduates in Kermanshah city were investigated. Research data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews. The process of interviews and data collection continued until reaching the theoretical saturation stage (18 interviews). The collected data were analyzed using the interpretive approach and Colaizzi’s seven-step process. To comply with the qualitative features of the research, three criteria of acceptability, confirmability and dependability were used. The results of the inductive content analysis of the data obtained from the interviews led to the identification of factors affecting the entrepreneurship of graduates of technical and vocational schools totaling 271 concepts and 8 categories of factors, which in order of importance were: "educational and skillful", "social and cultural", "personal and individual", "administrative and legal", "organizational and institutional", "economic and financial", "infrastructural and supportive", and "promotional and informative". The findings of the research indicated that each of the identified factors was effective in the dynamics of the skill learning process and entrepreneurship of graduates of technical and vocational graduates. Finally, recommendations were made for policy makers, managers and teachers of technical and vocational graduates to promote entrepreneurship.