Investigating the institutional barriers to entrepreneurship development and the role of government in moderating them; The Case of Iran

This paper examines the institutional and economic barriers to entrepreneurship development in Iran and the role of government in moderating them. For this purpose first using the grounded theory(GT) model and the relationships between the variables are examined and then, using a SEM technique, the model is estimated and the hypotheses are tested. The results of the GT model showed that a total of 27 main concepts can be mentioned as obstacles to entrepreneurship development in Iran. Thus, the 10 concepts of political, cultural, legal, educational, technological environment, government structure, macroeconomics, financial environment, geographical environment and production structure are causal conditions that are under two categories of institutional and economic factors. 7 concepts of efficiency, opportunity, creativity, risk-taking, need for success, desire for independence and power-seeking Entrepreneurs under the category of characteristics of entrepreneurs are the underlying conditions of entrepreneurship development. In addition, 7 concepts of creating a legal framework, drawing special policies, infrastructure development, culture building, providing special services, industry relations and financial aid, under the category of government role, conditions of intervention of the lack of entrepreneurship development and finally, the three concepts of reducing economic growth, increasing poverty and income inequality and reducing the employment rate are the consequences of lack of entrepreneurship development. The results of SEM showed that the government can play a significant moderating role between causal conditions (institutional and economic barriers) and lack of entrepreneurship development in Iran and increase the positive effect of institutional and economic barriers on lack of entrepreneurship development.