Factors affecting formation of agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem: an evidence from Iran

PurposeThe role of startups and venture capital in the economy of countries is becoming more and more prominent. Some countries contribute to the formation and growth of a supportive ecosystem for businesses through formulation of appropriate policies and measures. The principal purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting formation of agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem in Iran.MethodologyThis study was conducted in two phases. Firstly, a qualitative content analysis of selected articles was used to identify the influential factors in the agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem. Secondly, structural equation modeling was performed to determine the impact of identified components on the Iranian agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem.FindingsThe results of the first phase of this research showed that six components influence entrepreneurship ecosystem including markets, human capital, support, culture, financing, and policies. The required quantitative data was collected from a sample population of agricultural startup managers in Iran. The results show that all six components extracted from the literature had a positive and significant effect on agricultural entrepreneurship ecosystem in Iran while two of them have the greatest impact due to the cultural and economic characteristics of the regions.