Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship Development through Agricultural Advisory Services Corporations in Zanjan Province

The main objective of this descriptive-survey research was to analyze factors affecting entrepreneurship development in Agricultural Advisory Services Corporations in Zanjan province. The statistical population of the study consisted of members of Advisory Services Corporations in Zanjan Province (N=358) out of whom 95 individuals were taken as sample, using Cochran Formula and Proportionate Stratified Sampling Technique. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts' judgment. In order to assess the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach Alpha coefficients were calculated for the main scales of the questionnaire (0.82 & 0.92). Results of prioritizing factors affecting entrepreneurship development through the Advisory Services Corporation indicated that the top two most important affecting factors (in order of importance) were “government support for consulting services corporation" and "entrepreneurial skills' training courses". For identification of the components of these factors, affecting the advisory services corporations, exploratory factor analysis was employed. In addition, to investigate the index surpasses model, confirmatory factor analysis as well as structural equations model were employed. The results revealed that factors affecting entrepreneurship development in the Advisory Services Corporation are to be tabulated in six separate factors including: educational, supportive, communication, management, business skills as well as policy factors.