Abstract                   
The purpose of this study was to design and validate the franchisor growth model in Iran insurance industry. To achieve this goal, descriptive-analytical research method and structural equation modeling were used. The statistical population included all managers of Alborz insurance company and its outlets in East Azarbaijan province that entire population was selected using census method as study sample (120 individuals). The results showed that 30 drivers on eight principle components explain 74.32% of the variance of franchisor growth drivers in Iran's insurance industry, and based on the model of franchisor growth drivers, characteristics of insurance business through the franchise characteristics, the franchise system dispersion and the brand reputation, and then through the reliability, knowledge sharing, and conflict management affect the intention to continue cooperation.
Introduction
Franchise as a business model, has many economic and social effects such as job creation, economic modernization, and entrepreneurship development (Naatu & Alon, 2019: 738). The franchise has played an important role in rebuilding the economies of various countries with its significant growth in the post-epidemic period. Based on the esimates of the International Franchise Association (IFA), franchise business returns in 2022 will improve by 4.9 percent to $826.6 billion and their share of GDP in the US economy will be 3 percent (International Franchise Association, 2022). Although franchise in practice, has shown its impact on the prospects of various businesses; however, there are some fundamental gaps in researchers and executive managers' perceptions about the force governing and drivers of franchise performance, as research efforts to identify the relationship between drivers and franchisor growth have led to conflicting evidence (Kang, Asare, Brashear-Alejandro, & Li, 2018: 196). Furthermore, the causal relationships between franchise growth drivers in different industries are not well understood (Kang et al., 2018: 202). Given that there are fundamental differences between the characteristics of business in different industries; it is expected that the drivers of franchise growth in each industry will be different and different causal relationships will be established between them. Due to the limited research on franchise in the insurance industry, the purpose of this study was allocated to design and validate the model of franchisor growth drivers in the Iranian insurance industry.
Case Study
 Alborz insurance company and its outlets in East Azarbaijan province were studied in the present study.
Materials and Methods
Descriptive-analytical research method and structural equation modeling were used in this present study. The statistical population included all the managers of Alborz Insurance Company and the managers of the representative offices of this company in East Azarbaijan province, and due to the limited number of the statistical population, the census method was used to select the participants (N = 120). Initially, based on the content analysis of published articles, 34 drivers were identified and the initial questionnaire was designed. After examining the content validity, the importance of the items was evaluated based on the collected data using two decision tree algorithms (CRT and C5.0), and four items were removed. Then we used exploratory factor analysis to determine the principle components of growth drivers, DEMATEL technique to develop a theoretical framework of causal relationships between eight components of growth drivers based on the perspectives of 12 academic experts and experienced managers of insurance companies (management experience over 10 years) and structural equation modeling to validate the developed model.
Results and Discussion
Exploratory factor analysis showed that 30 drivers on eight principle components consist of franchise system dispersion (16.64%), brand reputation (10.96%), reliability (9.85%), knowledge sharing (9.57%), conflict management (7.98%), intention to continue cooperation (7.81%), franchise characteristics (7.33%) and business characteristics (4.17%) explained 74.32% of variance of the franchisor growth drivers in Iran insurance industry. In the present study, the franchise system dispersion represented three indicators of geographical dispersion, overseas activity and number of outlet, which played the most important role in explaining the franchisor growth in the insurance industry. In other words, the dispersion of the franchise system was the main driver of franchisor growth in Iran insurance industry. These findings are consistent with the evidence reported by Julian & Castrogiovanni (1995) and Dant et al. (2007) explaining franchisor growth based on geographical distribution and number of oulet (Dant et al., 2007: 169; Julian & Castrogiovanni, 1995). : 2). However, outlet growth rate, which covers the growth speed of the franchisor (annual increase in the number of outlet), in the present study, based on the results of decision tree algorithms, did not play a role in franchisor growth in the insurance industry, which is inconsistent with the conclusion of Castrogiovanni and Justice (2002) and Ongo (2007) who have introduced the outlet growth rate as a more appropriate indicator for the franchisor growth (Elango, 2007: 179; Castrogiovanni & Justis, 2002: 98; Shane 2001; 136). The reason for these discrepancies may be related to the different characteristics of industries and also the different characteristics of the studied markets.
In the present study, to design a model of causal relationships between franchisor growth drivers, first the DEMATEL technique and expert opinions were used to develop a preliminary theoretical model, then the validity of the model were tested based on experimental data and structural equations modeling. The results showed that the structural relationships proposed in the initial theoretical model are supported based on experimental data (χ² = 635.33, p = 0.051, SRMR = 0.063, CFI = 0.91, IFI = 0.89). In this model, the coefficients of all paths were positive and the component of business characteristics was the starting factor in the model, whereas the component of the intention to continue cooperation appeared as the final outcome. In the model of franchisor growth drivers in Iran insurance industry, the component of insurance business characteristics through franchise characteristics, franchise system dispersion and brand reputation, and then through reliability, knowledge sharing, conflict management impacted the intention to continue cooperation.
Conclusion
The model of franchisor growth drivers in Iran insurance industry with eight components of franchise system dispersion, brand reputation, reliability, knowledge sharing, conflict management, intention to continue cooperation, franchise characteristics, and business characteristics is a valid model for recognizing franchisor growth drivers and causal relationships among franchisor growth drivers in Iran insurance industry. Therefore, the use of identified drivers and attention to the pattern of causal relationships between their main components can be used for the growth and development of franchise systems in the Iran insurance industry.