Determinants of Opportunity Recognition in the Pattern of Agricultural Tech Startups in Northern Provinces of Iran

Today, the role of start-ups in the new approach to the modern economy has received much attention. The purpose of this study was to present a model for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities for technology start-ups in agriculture in Northern Provinces of Iran. The statistical population consisted of 318 founders and executives of tech start-ups. Using stratified random sampling method, 130 samples were selected. The data collection tools in this section included a researcher-made questionnaire containing a set of identified markers for effective factors in identifying opportunities. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts opinions and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach s alpha (0.958). The dominant statistical method was structural equation modeling using partial least squares method implemented with Smart PLS software. The results showed that in the process of opportunity recognition, individual capability and previous knowledge on social network and social network on entrepreneurship ecosystem as well as entrepreneurship ecosystem have positive effect on opportunity recognition performance and on opportunity recognition performance on opportunity development, but the impact of prior knowledge and individual capability on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the impact of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on opportunity development were not confirmed. According to the results, a model has been presented to identify the entrepreneurial opportunity of tech start-ups in agriculture.