2.1. Ecotourism
Among the various entrepreneurial actions at the village, ecotourism is an emerging industry; in addition to diversifying the economy; it aims to stop the pressure that the tourism industry has imposed on natural resources and has severely reduced the resources of countries (Brabdt et al., 2019; Saidmamadov et al., 2020). Six fundamental principles in defining the ecotourism based on Donohoe & Needham (2006) theories include: nature based, preservation/conservation, environmental education, sustainability, equitable distribution of benefits to community, ethical responsible behavior (Swan & Morgan, 2016).
Ecotourism development in many countries has provided a solution for employment of the local population in the form of small and medium-scale entrepreneurship and has helped those people who have little investment power to participate in economic activities and thereby earn income (Daniele et al., 2017); on the contrary, it has a great contribution in preserving and conserving the environment (Swan & Morgan, 2016). Ecotourism tours as a form of tourism facilitate educational trips and visitors' experiences from the natural environment and the related culture (Swan & Morgan, 2016).
Since in Iranian culture, from the perspective of local residents tourism in a rural environment is supposed as a guest; and the culture of hospitality and congeniality is necessary for ecotourism; therefore, ecotourism lodges provide a relatively high level of employment for women in the fields of management and providing services to tourists, tour guides, cooking, catering, selling food products and local handicrafts, etc., which leads to earning income, and the increased participation and presence in the society. In Fars and in the rural districts of the Marvdasht, Darab, and Firoozabad, rural women have completed business and ecotourism trainings; in addition, the production of handicrafts and the processing of agricultural products and animal husbandry provide the prerequisites for businesses such as ecotourism to increase income and create stable markets in handicrafts, for this reason, the present study seeks to identify the factors influencing the entrepreneurial behavior of ecotourism among rural women in Fars, in order to use ecotourism to create employment and generate income for rural women and protect the natural resources of water and soil in this province which is at the top of the country's tourism destinations.
2.2. Rural women's entrepreneurial behavior factors
2.2.1. Behavioral intention
Entrepreneurial intention as the starting point of the entrepreneurial journey, indicates the intensity of an individual's intention to perform the target behavior (Mahfud et al., 2020). The relationship between behavioral intention and behavior demonstrates that people tend to engage in behaviors that they intend to do. Therefore, behavior is always after the behavioral intention and attached to it; in other words, the main predictor in entrepreneurial action is the entrepreneurial intention (Novinsky et al., 2020). Ajzen (2011) gave a general definition of intention as "a person's desire to perform a behavior" (Vamvaka et al., 2020; Novinsky et al., 2020).
Since entrepreneurship is considered as a planned behavior; consequently, entrepreneurs should be inspired. As a result, understanding entrepreneurship is a multi-stage process and intention is known as the first stage (Mahfud et al., 2020; Munir et al., 2018).
In the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), intention is a construct of three predictors: 1. Favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior (attitude), 2. Understanding the social pressure to perform or not perform a behavior (perceived norm) and understanding the ease or difficulty of performing the task (perceived behavioral control). A more positive evaluation of the person towards engaging in an entrepreneurial behavior and how important the behavior is from others’ perspective, and a person's understanding of the ability to carry out entrepreneurial activities leads to more support for performing the behavior and as a result, a stronger intention to engage in entrepreneurial behavior (Kautoen et al., 2013; Vamvaka et al., 2020; Mahfud et al., 2020). Based on this, the first hypothesis was developed.
H1: Entrepreneurial intention has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial behavior with an ecotourism approach among rural women in Fars.
2.2.2. Behavioral attitude:
Based on Ajzen (1991) in the theory of planned behavior, people's attitude towards entrepreneurial actions and expected achievements should predict their intention about creating a business. Attitude towards entrepreneurship refers to the degree that a person evaluates the desirability of the target behavior (Novinsky et al., 2020). This is while this attitude reflects people's feelings respecting potential entrepreneurial experiences and as people's attitude about starting a business increases; their entrepreneurial intention will also increase (Novinsky et al., 2020).
Generally, people have positive and negative attitudes. Former studies have shown that attitude is the most effective factor in creating desirability and starting to become an entrepreneur. In the framework of Ajzen's theory, it has been stated that there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial intention (Munir et al., 2018). The theory of rational behavior has been used in various fields. In this theory, desirable attitudes are expressed as determinants of behavioral intention that predicts people's behavior. The high correlation between attitudes, behavioral intentions and finally behavior is obvious in this theory and is also presented in tourism literature. Moreover, identifying the participation intention mechanism has led to an increase in local people's participation behavior in ecotourism management (Zhang & Lei, 2012). It seems that local people support ecotourism more when they have a positive attitude to its effects. Additionally, considering the residents' attitudes regarding ecotourism is supposed as a prerequisite for their participation. Understanding the attitudes of the residents respecting the principles of ecotourism management can help the planners to develop appropriate management strategies in order to reduce the conflict between the preservation of local resources and the economic development of the regions which lead to the fact that ecotourism flows smoothly (Zhang & Lei, 2012). According to the explanations presented, the second hypothesis was developed.
H2: Attitude towards entrepreneurship has a positive and significant effect on the entrepreneurial intention.
2.2.3. Subjective norms:
Ajzen (1991) has described the subjective norm as the influence of society on people relative to an intention or a behavior. People should consider approved or unapproved relationships regarding starting a business (Munir et al., 2018).
Subjective norms refer to social pressure during performing or not performing a behavior. Social pressure usually refers to family members, prominent people, and close friends. The attitude of people towards subjective norms shows the perspectives concerning the individual and others’ viewpoints about positivity or negativity of a behavior (Lortie & Castogovianni, 2015).
Previous studies revealed different results concerning the subjective norms: Schlaegel and Koeing (2014) showed that it is the most crucial factor in explaining entrepreneurial intention, although other studies such as Marques et al., (2012) have demonstrated that the subjective norms is not a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intention. While, according to Ajzen (2001), it is logical that there is a significant positive relationship between subjective norms and, in other words; we consider the influence of people on decision-making regarding becoming an entrepreneur (Munir et al., 2018; Esfandiari et al., 2017; Najafabadi et al., 2016). Based on this, the third hypothesis was formulated.
H3: The social norm towards entrepreneurship has a positive and significant effect on the entrepreneurial intention.
2.2.4. Perceived behavioral control:
Perceived behavioral control refers to the perceived ease and difficulty in performing a behavior. In other words, past experiences as well as predicting obstacles and other factors are effective in the emergence of a behavior. To put it in another way, people who believe that they have an elevated level of behavioral control have a greater desire and behavioral intention in performing a behavior (Lortie & Castogovianni, 2015).
As stated in the theory of planned behavior, perceived behavioral control refers to a person's belief about the performing a planned behavior and the attitude that the behavior is under the individual’s control. Other researchers believe that perceived behavioral control refers to a person's ease or difficulty in implementing an entrepreneurial behavior (Munir et al., 2018). Moreover, the perceived behavioral control factor not only affects the entrepreneurial intention; rather, it directly affects a person's behavior (Lortie & Castogovanni, 2015).
Based on the explanations provided, the fourth and fifth hypotheses were developed.
H4: Perceived behavioral control towards entrepreneurship has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention.
H5: Perceived behavioral control towards entrepreneurship has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial behavior.
2.2.5. Risk taking:
In usual, studies consider risk-taking as one of the characteristics of entrepreneurial behavior, and as a result, one of the effective factors on TPB structures. In a general definition, the danger of something undesirable to happen is possible. In this case, different researchers explained that the ability to manage a dangerous situation, while choosing entrepreneurship is especially important, since uncertainty plays an important role in the entrepreneurial process. In the study of Roy et al., (2017), risk-taking does not directly affect entrepreneurial intention, but rather, the feeling and understanding of the fact that an entrepreneur can manage risky situations is known as risk-taking and influences the entrepreneurial intention. In other words, entrepreneurship does not happen without personal and financial risk-taking, people with a tendency to take more risks feel more comfortable in uncertain situations (Roy et al., 2017). Perception of risk is another important personality trait that expresses an individual’s willingness to get involved in a risky event. Entrepreneurship is known as one of the risky events. Findings have demonstrated that people with high risk tolerance have a stronger passion for entrepreneurship (Farrukh et al., 2018).
Thus, the following hypotheses were formulated:
H6: Risk-taking tendency has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention.
H7: Risk-taking tendency has a positive and significant effect on perceived behavioral control.
H8: Risk-taking tendency has a positive and significant effect on the attitude.
H9: Risk-taking tendency has a positive and significant effect on the perceived social norm.
2.2.6. Proactive personality:
According to the studies (McClelland, 1987), proactive personality is considered as one of the personality traits of successful entrepreneurs in the field of entrepreneurship. Proactive behavior is mostly related to occupational studies. Bateman and Crant (1993) have established the index of Proactive Personality (PP) based on the tendency of people to influence the surrounding environment and perform various actions. Crant (1995) refers to the extent that people are ready to "take actions and influence their environment". Proactive personality trait states that people have more autonomy in their work and are more willing to be self-reliant and discover new opportunities. Proactive personality trait refers to entrepreneurial awareness and the growth of new entrepreneurial opportunities. Those people who have proactive personality trait have a higher entrepreneurial intention (Munir et al., 2018). Based on this, the following hypotheses were formulated:
H10: Proactive personality has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention.
H11: Proactive personality has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial attitude.
H12: Proactive personality has a positive and significant effect on the perceived social norm.
H13: Proactive personality has a positive and significant effect on perceived behavioral control.
2.2.7. Self-belief:
Self-belief is defined as our attitude, feeling and knowledge concerning our own abilities, performance and capabilities. It refers to the positive perception of our abilities. Self-belief is a person’s attitude about himself, through which a person realizes his capabilities, and positive thinking in this case increases productivity and achievement of goals.
The concept of self-belief is a framework of individual insight towards oneself and the ability to perform behaviors to meet needs (Adigun, 2020). Self-belief increases productivity and achievement in people.
Therefore, the following hypotheses were formulated:
H14: Self-belief has a positive and significant effect on the entrepreneurial intention.
H15: Self-belief has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial attitude.
H16: Self-belief has a positive and significant effect on the perceived social norm.
H17: Self-belief has a positive and significant effect on perceived behavioral control.