Journal of Entrepreneurial Strategies in Agriculture

Extended Abstract
Background: The development of rural entrepreneurship is a multidimensional phenomenon, influenced by various fields, factors, and skills. The establishment of rural growth centers, specialized training of entrepreneurs, the use of information and experiences of successful entrepreneurs and access to the media, attention to the specific characteristics of the environmental context, the existence of legal structures, economic conditions, level of knowledge, social and environmental conditions, innovation and pragmatism, access to water, soil texture type and water quality, and institutional factors (such as the property rights system, transparency and accountability), the reward system, etc., are some of the factors and indicators affecting the development of rural entrepreneurship in Iran. With the increase in the number of studies in the field of rural entrepreneurship, which is a necessary condition for the systematic production of knowledge, there is a need for reliable methods to integrate the findings of these studies more than ever. To understand this necessity, therefore, the present study sought to conduct a meta-analysis of the factors affecting the development of rural entrepreneurship in Iran to draw conclusions about the importance of the issue of rural entrepreneurship development and its antecedents by integrating and integrating separate research projects in a coherent manner.
Methods: This research was conducted using quantitative meta-analysis, a type of basic-applied research. In this method, statistical methods are used to summarize and provide a quantitative description of the findings of cumulative research. The statistical population in this study included retrospective research with rural entrepreneurship in the period from 2001 to 2024 as the dependent variable. Based on input criteria (statistical, quantitative studies, complete presentation of results and findings, retrospective research with the dependent variable of rural entrepreneurship and its forms) and output criteria (qualitative studies, meta-analytical research, barrier assessments, non-quantitative modeling, library studies, needs assessment, factor analysis and scale validation, ranking research, fuzzy and pure mathematical studies, and situational assessments of rural entrepreneurship), and also document evaluation based on validation criteria (document quality from the perspective of observing the principles of compiling valid research documents in the field of problem analysis, observing theoretical and methodological rules, and using appropriate statistics for description and analysis, as well as presenting results). Finally, 50 research documents were extracted in the form of 294 hypotheses. The extracted statistics were converted to r (correlation coefficient) using the Hunter and Schmidt approach. For the inferential analysis of the data, the publication bias hypothesis was assessed using a funnel plot and the Begg and Mezumdar rank correlation. A moderation analysis was performed to examine the factors that provided the significance of the effect to interpret the evidence and present the results, and to analyze the effect size and interpret the heterogeneity of the studies.
Results: The significance of the homogeneity coefficient Q revealed the existence of heterogeneity among the effect sizes of studies on rural entrepreneurship development in Iran, and, therefore, a random model was used to combine the effect sizes. The results of the Bagg and Mezomdar rank correlation analysis regarding the evaluation of publication bias in the reviewed studies indicated the confirmation of the no publication bias assumption. The results of the error-free N coefficient analysis indicated that 1570 more studies should be conducted in the field of rural entrepreneurship development so that the final results of the research could be changed by possible errors. Based on the results of this study, it was determined that the average combined effect size of the factors affecting rural entrepreneurship development was 0.475, which indicates that the factors and indicators examined in studies on rural entrepreneurship development explain 0.47% of the changes in rural entrepreneurship development in Iran. This can help rural policymakers to focus on the important factors surveyed, provide the conditions for rural entrepreneurship development, and remove its obstacles. The results of the moderation analysis showed that men, educated individuals with an average age of 45 years, residents of the western regions of the country, and individuals, who were personally engaged in entrepreneurial activities (non-group), had a greater effect size on the development of rural entrepreneurship. A large part of the programs, strategies, and policies in the field of rural entrepreneurship are written as people-centered, and the necessary support for the development of women's entrepreneurship has not been provided in regulatory policies due to the existence of obstacles and limitations. Education and training increase the ability and mind of individuals to receive, process, and synthesize information, and increasing education and knowledge causes individuals to transform their ideas into new risky businesses with higher self-confidence in their capabilities. In relation to the index of the type of effective factors, institutional-organizational factors (0.638), economic and financial factors (0.571), individual factors (0.560), and environmental factors (0.542) played the greatest role in the development of rural entrepreneurship in Iran. Institutional and organizational factors affecting the development of rural entrepreneurship include activity and communication with special organizations for entrepreneurial activities, access to centers for receiving consulting services, provision of facilities, inputs, and raw materials required for entrepreneurial activity by government institutions, development of rural growth centers, support for entrepreneurial research, and formulation and amendment of required laws based on privatization and devolution policies.
Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, our suggestions include the psychological and motivational empowerment of villagers, relying on psychological preparation and motivation of villagers to start new businesses, changing and softening gender attitudes in rural communities toward women's entrepreneurship, increasing interventions by government and private institutions, and formulating intervention strategies to promote and develop rural businesses in the form of cooperatives and partnership communities, expanding new forms of entrepreneurship and self-employment in deprived areas of the country, including the eastern half, considering the environmental conditions and local requirements of the regions, and implementing a job diversification program, creating and strengthening entrepreneurial organizations and networks in rural areas of a province to facilitate relationships and meet awareness needs.