Identifying and prioritizing effective e-commerce criteria on creating entrepreneurial opportunities in rural cooperatives

Abstract

Context and purpose. The use of e-commerce technology in the cooperative sector can improve the situation of job creation and income gains in rural cooperatives, leading to economic growth and development. Based on this, the current research aims to identify and prioritize the criteria of this technology in creating entrepreneurial opportunities in rural cooperatives.Methodology/approach. In this research, 36 components of entrepreneurial opportunities were identified based on literature review, and finally, they were refined using the opinion of 30 experts using the Fuzzy Delphi method. After the refining process, 23 selected components were evaluated and ranked through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using Expert Choice 11 software. At this stage, based on the Krejcie-Morgan table, 127 experts were selected from 200 cooperatives.Findings and conclusions. The results showed that the dimensions of creating entrepreneurial opportunities include commercial opportunities, organizational opportunities, social opportunities, economic opportunities, and technological opportunities, and the sub-components of each of them were weighted. Based on the results of the research, the local model in the cooperative sector is proposed in order to recognize and exploit the entrepreneurial opportunities of e-commerce technology.Originality. By identifying the entrepreneurial opportunities of e-commerce in rural cooperatives, this study has provided a framework that helps to increase the efficiency of these institutions and improve the livelihood of members through orientation to new job opportunities.

Keywords

• e-commerce
• entrepreneurial opportunity
• rural cooperatives