Abstract

Introduction: Entrepreneurship studies influenced by the propositions of neoliberal economics have focused more on the material and instrumental achievements of entrepreneurship by adopting a linear approach. The fundamental assumption of this article, influenced by the theoretical propositions of critical sociology, is that entrepreneurship is a "transformative" phenomenon with "unintended" consequences and can have different effects for different groups. In order to examine the above assumption, the consequences of the entrepreneurial experience - cooperative companies of water pumping stations in Dareh Shahr County, Ilam Province - have been studied.

Methodology: The present study is an evaluation research. For this purpose, by changing the application of the Postel method, it seeks to study the consequences of the aforementioned entrepreneurial experience for the surrounding environment. For this purpose, first, using semi-structured interviews to achieve theoretical saturation, it explored the consequences of the entrepreneurial experience under study by interviewing 22 people consisting of experts and stakeholders.

Findings: Analysis of the research data showed that the entrepreneurial experience under study, contrary to the linear logic governing entrepreneurship studies that have only emphasized the outcome of profitability and job creation, has positive and negative consequences in various political, economic, social, environmental, technological, and legal areas. This entrepreneurial experience has been accompanied by positive consequences such as generating income, establishing secondary industries, maintaining social solidarity, maintaining the population, strengthening the spirit of hard work, expanding cultural and artistic activities, reducing political dissatisfaction, establishing secondary and transformation industries, improving the technical skills of stakeholders, making water management smarter, defining land as a bank deposit for cooperative members, and reducing environmental pollution. The lack of supervision and management in the past decade has led to the emergence of undesirable consequences of this experience such as social inequality and water monopolization, waste of virtual water, and salinization of lands..

Conclusion/ Implications: By creating sensitivity to the consequences of entrepreneurship, this article has shown that entrepreneurship can be explained as a "rhizome" because it can simultaneously have a desirable and undesirable effect on various aspects of its environment, from increasing solidarity and the sustainability of the population and welfare to creating inequality and exploitation and environmental pollution. In other words, entrepreneurial actions should be considered multiple, unpredictable and uncertain starting points rather than being considered ending points. The goal is not to condemn entrepreneurship; rather, it is to propose a critical confrontation with entrepreneurship in order to promise the realization of a "more humane" and "fairer" form of entrepreneurship, as well as to propose a link between "entrepreneurship politics" and "liberation politics" in order to eliminate inequality and "life politics". That is, an effort to develop the possibilities of enjoyment and a satisfying life for all, and finally to pose the question of how entrepreneurship can be transformed into an "ethical" practice?

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, critical sociology, entrepreneurship consequences, critical entrepreneurship studies.