Investigation and Prioritization of Social Entrepreneurship Components based on Tourism Industry Development Approach using TOPSIS Technique

Tourism industry is one of the important economic sectors in any country which requires cooperation of entrepreneurs' in activities and attempts. Also given to the importance and role of social entrepreneurship that is currently regarded as an effective strategy on social and economic development of countries, it is essential to pay attention to this concept in order to develop tourism industry. The present survey aimed to explore the effect of major components of social entrepreneurship on tourism industry development and determine their degree of importance. Thus, the research questions were proposed as follows: What is the most effective component of social entrepreneurship in tourism industry? And which components have a higher effect on tourism industry development? Two entrepreneurship models proposed by Austin et al (2006) and Kischul and Thomas Lionz (2012) were selected as theoretical basis of the survey and the major components were analyzed and extracted based on the above models. The statistical population included 127 managers and experts of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. Eighty six managers and experts were considered as the statistical sample using Morgan and Krejci Table via purposeful sampling. Researcher self-made questionnaire was tool of data collection that was prepared given to the research background and experts' opinions. Analyses were performed via inferential statistics and TOPSIS technique. The results revealed that mission, opportunity, capital, people, idea generation, and contextual factors have a positive and significant effect on tourism industry development. Finally, social entrepreneurship components were ranked in terms of importance and degree of effectiveness on tourism industry development by means of TOPSIS technique. Having evaluated the components, the results disclosed that components of people, idea generation and contextual factors have a higher and more important effect on tourism industry development respectively.

Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Stable Development, Components of Social Entrepreneurship