Identifying the role of personal factors on opportunity recognition in the area of health tourism

One of the most important questions raised in the tourism industry of Iran is why some people can recognize entrepreneurship opportunities, while others do not have this ability. This research aims to explore individual factors
influencing this issue in the field of Health Tourism. A mixed method approach was adopted. In the qualitative study, the initial conceptual model and research propositions were designed and developed through conducting
15 explorative interviews in a systematic way with the selected entrepreneurs. In the quantitative study, a questionnaire instrument was designed, and data were collected from 80 entrepreneurs operating in the
field of Health Tourism in Mashhad. The effects of independent variables on dependent variable were examined using SPSS software. Furthermore, Friedman Test was used for ranking variables. The results indicate that 62
percent of dependent variableís variance (opportunity recognition) is explained by the variables of personality traits and access to information and the remaining variance is explained by the other items. Moreover, based on
insights from Friedman Test, the variables of access to information and entrepreneurial alertness ranked highest among the independent variables. This research can contribute to promoting entrepreneurship in the field of public health through recognizing individual factors effective for opportunity reorganization, and training and promoting them.