Identifying the Mental Models of Managers of Food Industry Companies Regarding Barriers to Export Development (Case Study: Managers of Dairy Product Companies)

Objective This study aims to integrate the two areas of study, namely mental models and perceived barriers to export. Based on the theory of mental models, the present study seeks to increase the richness of the perception of the experiences and perceived meanings of managers of Iranian dairy product companies on the barriers to export development. On the other hand, identifying managers’ mental model and determining the most important barriers to export in each mental model can be considered a guideline for export policymakers to plan according to the existing mental models and provide solutions for export development. Methodology This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of data collection. The statistical population of this research includes chief executives in business, sales and export departments of dairy product companies. Semi-structured interviews based on phenomenological approaches and projective techniques have been used to collect data. Using the theoretical sampling method, chief managers of twelve dairy product companies were the interviewed in order to reach saturation. To ensure data validity and reliability, revie participants’ reviews and multidisciplinary approaches were used through interviews with different groups of participants. Theme analysis and Maxqda 10 software were used to analyze the data. Findings The ultimate model of the study included the following six mental models of barriers to export: 1) market-oriented model: this mental model is made up of the sub-themes of "not being brand-centered", "poor marketing status" and "lack of competitive advantage". This mental model has been the most prevalent mental model among the managers; 2) government-oriented model: this mental model is made up of the sub-themes of "poor governmental support", "poor governmental policymaking " and "poor governmental interaction "; 3) resource-oriented model: this mental model consists of four sub-themes of "poor company updating", "production capability", "financing problem" and "lack of government lobbies"; 4) profit-oriented model: this mental model consists of three sub-themes of "profit-oriented attitude", "lack of global export prospects", and "undesirable image of the country"; 5) infrastructure oriented model: this mental model is made up of the sub-themes of "economic instability", "poor transport infrastructure" and "country backwardness"; and 6) institutional-oriented model: this mental model focuses on co