A conceptual model of entrepreneurial competencies and their impacts on rural youth's intention to launch SMEs

Abstract The present research aimed to first specify entrepreneurial competencies required for launching small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) among rural youth. Then, weights were assigned to the components by key experts of rural entrepreneurship using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Finally, the impact of entrepreneurial competencies was assessed on rural youth's intention to launch SMEs. The research population in the survey part was composed of the rural youth of Kangavar County in Kermanshah province, Iran (N = 6207). The sample size was estimated to be 361 individuals who were taken by the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed through a pilot study. Pairwise comparisons by experts showed that strategic, communicative, psychological and opportunistic competences were the most to least important factors underpinning the rural youth's intention to establish SMEs. Also, among entrepreneurial competencies, five components including entrepreneurial vigilance, networking ability, individualism, tolerance of ambiguity, and market analysis accounted for 39.2 percent of the variance of the rural youth's intention to launch SMEs. It is recommended to empower rural youth in capabilities such as planning to initiate a business and the analysis of markets in order to strengthen their strategic competencies.