Identifying and Explaining the Factors Effective in Launching Knowledge-Based Agricultural Cooperative Companies in Mazandaran Province

Most countries owe their success in recent decades to knowledge-based companies. Mazandaran province also needs the establishment of sustainable knowledge-based agricultural cooperatives despite its abundant labor force and suitable agricultural conditions. So, the present research aimed to identify and explain the factors effective in the establishment of knowledge-based agricultural cooperative companies across Mazandaran province. The general research approach was quantitative-qualitative and it used the Delphi technique to achieve the research goal. A team of 54 people consisting of informed elites was formed using the non-probability (purposive) sampling method. Data were collected in three rounds using a questionnaire. Four items were excluded from the questionnaire in the third round. The credibility and consistency of the findings were confirmed through the review of the findings by the participants, peer review, and the triangulation technique. Also, 70% of Delphi experts agreed on the raised issues. The Delphi experts expressed that the external organizational conditions of cooperative companies were suitable for conducting knowledge-based activities whereas the employment of idea-generating people in cooperative companies, the creation of an entrepreneurial spirit, etc. are among the factors that are considered internal to the organization and are needed to start knowledge-based activities. Therefore, more attention must be paid to human resources in cooperative companies, product marketing, facilitation of the legal conditions, and reinforcement of the interactions of knowledge-based cooperative companies with the surrounding environment and other actors.