An Exploratory Study of the Factors Affecting the Future of Entrepreneurial Business in the Field of Knowledge and Information Science

Purpose: Today, with the increase in the number of graduates whose number is increasing every year, unemployment and employment are among the challenges the societies are facing. Graduates of Knowledge and Information Science are not exceptions to this rule and thus often face employment problems. Given this issue as well as the economic crisis throughout the world, identifying and discovering factors affecting entrepreneurial businesses for graduates can be a good alternative for countries and communities for resolving this crisis as well as for their social and economic development. Accordingly, the purpose of the present research is to discover the factors affecting the entrepreneurial business for the graduates of Knowledge and Information Science. Method: The present study is an applied study in terms of purpose and is exploratory in terms of method, in which the Delphi method has been used. In line with the purpose of the research, the components of entrepreneurship for the field of Knowledge and Information Science were first identified by the content analysis method. Then, the Delphi method was used to complete and confirm the desired components. Finally, in order to summarize and categorize the components, the exploratory factor analysis was used and in order to ensure that a factor structure has been achieved, the confirmatory factor analysis was applied. The statistical population used in the Delphi method included 15 experts in the fields of Knowledge and Information Science, and entrepreneurship, who were selected by applying non-probability sampling and a combination of targeted, judgmental, and chain referral sampling methods. In the exploratory analysis section, due to the volume required for factor analysis, 165 experts, including the faculty members in the field of Knowledge and Information Science in public universities across the country were asked to give their opinions. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Delphi steps, the reliability and validity of which were confirmed. To analyze the data, the SPSS software (version 20) and LISREL software (version 8.8) were used. Findings: The findings show that 32 identified factors affecting entrepreneurial businesses fall into four categories of main factors including entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurial capacities, entrepreneurial framework and future studies, which in total predict more than 62% of total variance in entrepreneurial business in Knowledge and Information Science.  Furthermore, considering that the factor load of all items was estimated to be higher than 0.4 and the fit indices of the model also had the desired value, the research model was also approved. Originality/value: This study is the first to explore the factors influencing the entrepreneurial business of Knowledge and Information Science. In order to provide an entrepreneurial solution to the graduates of the field of Knowledge and Information Science, the four components of opportunities, capacities, frameworks and future studies should be considered based on the model presented in this study.