Presenting and Validating a Model of Business Diplomacy in International Trade Based on the Grounded Theory and Structural Equation Modeling

The present study is aimed to present and validate the commercial diplomacy model in international trade based on grounded theory and structural equations modeling. The present study is mixed and explorative design. The approach of this study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative (mixed) approaches in which the required qualitative methods including explorative interview are used to design the commercial diplomacy model in international trade and quantitative methods are used to test the conceptual model of study. The study population in qualitative sector of study is managers and experts of commercial companies of Tehran city. The study population in quantitative sector is the employees of commercial companies. Based on the number of study population and to be sure of the full coverage of study sample, 400 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of commercial companies, of which 384 questionnaires were analyzed due to the accuracy and validity of data. Based on the grounded theory in commercial diplomacy field, the cultural, financial, market and political factors were identified and the study model was considered. The results showed that the financial factors had positive and significant impact on political and cultural factors. Also, political and cultural factors had positive and significant impact on market factors. In addition, the impact of market factors and cultural factors on the success of commercial diplomacy in international trade was significant.