Despite growing research on the significance of transformational leadership as a key contextual factor that determines innovative behavior, recent studies have not investigated the psychological mechanisms that link transformational leadership to employees’ innovative behavior thoroughly. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role the four dimensions of psychological capital—self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism—play in the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ innovative work behavior. Data from 178 Iranian agriculture experts were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that transformational leadership was related to employees’ innovative work behavior directly and positively. Furthermore, the results showed that hope and self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship. This study fills a gap in the literature by clarifying the way the dimensions of psychological capital influence transformational leadership’s positive relationship to employees’ innovative work behavior in the public sector of developing countries. The results imply that to be innovatively effective, organizations need to manage both employees’ contextual (transformational leadership) and psychological (psychological capital) resources to enhance their innovative work behavior. The theoretical and practical implications were further discussed.

Purpose: This purpose of this paper, drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), is to develop an integrated model of entrepreneurial career intentions incorporating the role of motivational factors along with entrepreneurial knowledge. Specifically, this study proposes the existence of a relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge and digital entrepreneurial intentions and asserts that this relation is mediated by the motivational factors. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a sample of 150 computer sciences students from four public Iranian universities using a questionnaire. Findings: Results indicated that the two motivational factors (namely, attitudes towards digital entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control) significantly relate to digital entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, entrepreneurial knowledge indicates indirect effects on intentions via these two motivational factors. Practical implications: The results of this study have clear implications for both educators and policymakers. Originality/value: The study helps to understand the role of entrepreneurial knowledge in shaping digital entrepreneurial intentions through developing an integrated intention model based on the TPB. The results also indicate that the TPB fully accounts for the indirect effects of entrepreneurial knowledge.

This study, by considering the importance of entrepreneurship in rural communities, has the aim to identify and explore barriers and limitations of the development of rural women's entrepreneurship in Iran. This research has been conducted using an exploratory qualitative research methodology with two groups of respondents including both experts on entrepreneurship and rural women's entrepreneurs. Data were gathered through interviews and the Delphi technique. The data collection process was conducted to obtain complete and comprehensive data, and saturation was attained in two rounds. The results revealed that barriers and limitations of rural women entrepreneurship can be divided into nine: demographics; personality and behavioural conditions of rural women; family characteristics; knowledge and skills of rural women (education, experience and communication); cultural and social conditions (community and rural); access to facilities and services needed for rural women (in the process of setting up, managing, and developing businesses); law and legal factors, financial and economic factors; institutional and organisational factors; and geographical and environmental conditions (rural environment).

This research aimed to explore the effect of environmental sustainability and entrepreneurial orientations on the performance of greenhouses in Iran. It is a sort of descriptive-correlational research conducted by the survey methodology. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was checked by a panel of entrepreneurship and environment experts, and its reliability was estimated by conducting a pilot study and calculating Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.88–0.91). The statistical population was composed of all greenhouse units in Mahallat County in Markazi province, Iran (N = 405). The sample size was determined to be 197 greenhouses by Krejcie and Morgan’s table. The independent variables included environmental sustainability orientations (including the dimensions of environmental knowledge and awareness, practices, and commitment) and entrepreneurial orientation of greenhouse managers (including the dimensions of innovation, proactiveness, and risk-taking), and the dependent variable was the performance of greenhouses (including the dimensions of increasing customers, increasing sales, and increasing profitability). The results of structural equation modeling showed that the dimensions of environmental sustainability orientations and entrepreneurial orientations of the greenhouse managers were decisive factors in the performance dimensions of the greenhouses. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial orientations had a positive and significant effect on the environmental sustainability orientations.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate those factors influencing the entrepreneurial behaviour of agriculture students who were members of entrepreneurship learning and training groups in virtual ‎communication networks. In doing this, a conceptual model was developed to examine the effects of characteristics of entrepreneurship virtual social networks and the degree of participation in these networks through entrepreneurial thinking and decision on entrepreneurial behaviour. The study population of ‎this descriptive-correlational research was made up of 180 members of virtual social groups exchanging knowledge of entrepreneurship in ‎WhatsApp and Viber networks. A total of 126 usable questionnaires were collected. Results indicated that participation in virtual social networks ‎had both direct and indirect effects – through ‎entrepreneurial thinking and decisions – on entrepreneurial behaviour. ‎However, characteristics of ‎‎entrepreneurship ‎virtual networks had only indirect effect on entrepreneurial ‎behaviour ‎via entrepreneurial thinking. The study highlights certain implications for policymakers, (potential) entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship support organizations, researchers and underlines the potential of virtual social networking for promoting entrepreneurship.