Village and Development
Year:2017 | Volume:20 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:9

Rural tourism is a new source of income and employment and a context for rural sustainable development. This study aimed at investigating the factors affecting the development of entrepreneurship in rural tourism in Mashhad Metropolis of Iran. For this purpose, the concerned researches were investigated and the opinions of experts were collected in the first place. Then, an AHP questionnaire was designed and a SWOT analysis was conducted in snowball sampling method. Based on the results, the most important sub-factors associated with the strengths were "the high actual and potential functionality of the tourism" and "the public security" in the area and those with the weaknesses were "the weak culture of entrepreneurship among the residents" and "the high cost of supplies and equipment". In addition, the sub-factors of "the existence of more varied ways to obtain income" and "paving the ground for the local community participation in decision-making" were known as the most important opportunities; and finally, "the rural negative immigration" and "the cultural alienation of the villages with the arrival of entrepreneurs from other areas" were found the highest significant threats.

This study used a descriptive and analytical approach in a survey method to recognize and measure the level of quality of life of rural residents in Korbal district, Shiraz County of Iran. The sample size (331 members) was determined by using Cochran formula and these members were selected in a random sampling method. The results of analyzing the field studies by using statistical tests showed the highest satisfaction in quality of interaction and social cohesion domain with an average of 3. 87 and security domain with an average of 3. 64. However, in general, subjective indicators of quality of life in the area were above the average. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that an increase in satisfaction of one dimension of the quality of life was along with the satisfaction of other dimensions. Chi-square test was used for significant differences between the answers given to the statements of each domain.

This study aimed mainly at investigating the corporate social responsibility of rural cooperatives in Tehran County. The statistical population of the study consisted of the 6435 members of the rural cooperatives in Tehran. The sample size was determined based on the Cochran formula, 237. According to the categorized sampling with probability proportionate and randomization, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed among the rural cooperative members to be studied. The formal validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by an expert group using the Cronbach's alpha (α = 0. 89). According to the study results, most respondents (49. 3 percent) assessed the social responsibility of the rural cooperatives to be at very low to low levels. Nine factors resulting from the factor analysis of corporate social responsibility included “ the environmental protection trend” , “ participation in community development” , “ participation in the development of business environment” , “ inclusion criteria and legalism in management” , “ supply management” , “ human resource management” , “ customer orientation” , “ localism” and “ transparent communication” ; these factors altogether explained 62. 710 percent of the total variance of the corporate social responsibility aspects.

Nowadays, undeveloped rural areas and decreased employment opportunities cause mass migration of rural populations towards cities. Rural entrepreneurship is known as one of the latest ways to overcome economic challenges, which requires identification of possibilities and limitations as well as opportunities and obstacles. In this study, these necessities were formulated within SWOT model in the villages around Lar city of Iran. Statistical society included 20700 people living in the rural settlements. So, by using Cochran formula, a community sample of 377 people was determined and investigated. Validity of questionnaire was evaluated by views of experts, and its reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results showed that to promote entrepreneurship, adoption of aggressive strategies was an inevitable necessity. This strategy could be realized by establishment of producing entrepreneurship cooperatives with support of banking system, development of electronic services in order to quick access to information and employment opportunities, and official support of entrepreneurs.

This study aimed at measuring the indicators of environmental sustainability in sub-district of Saravan of Rasht county of Iran. It was conducted in a survey method through a structural equation modeling, by using Lisrel software to provide a model of poverty. Some 351 households living in the studied rural areas were determined by using Morgan table, which was increased to 370 to get more accurate results. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the five factors including implementation of environmental projects in the village, participation and cooperation of all residents of the village as well as the environment-support local institutions and governmental organizations, the environmental beliefs, the necessary training on the consequences of destructive acts against the environment, and previous experience and knowledge of local environment in the village were effective in measuring environmental sustainability. In fact, the designed models for measuring environmental sustainability were confirmed according to the achieved data in this study.

To tackle the shortage of water resources, several water projects were financed by Agriculture [Jihad-e Keshavarzi] organization in Khorasan Razavi, among which water transport projects are of the most important ones. However, despite their significance, no studies were conducted about the factors contributing the effectiveness of water transport projects. Therefore, this study introduced a new conceptual model, consistent with different types of projects and local conditions, and estimated via structural equations model. Required data was gathered from experts as well as farmers who had applied the projects. The study results indicated that effectiveness of the projects was related to the apropos choice of time and location of implementation rather than to the operational outcomes or quality of construction. In the light of this fact, more meticulous studies at project implementation phase for each project was proposed.

This study aimed at investigating the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on changes in lifestyle of rural women in Qarnabad village in Golestan province (as the first internet village of Iran). The study was conducted in a descriptive-analytic method and the required information was gathered through a researcher-designed questionnaire, containing 38 questions with five choices in Likert scale, as well as library and internet searches. The study findings showed that the use of ICT affected rural women's lifestyle in various components including body management pattern, home economics, nutrition, health, cultural consumption, purchasing, employment, and marriage, resulting in considerable changes; however, it did not show any significant impacts on the patterns of religious practice, personal communications, and residence (migration to cities). There was also found a significant relationship between the use of ICT and the changes in the lifestyle in terms of age, education and marital status. The rural ICT had its most impacts on health patterns and its least impacts on residence pattern (migration to cities). Equipping the Iranian villages with technologies necessary for the rural women's training, awareness, promotion of scientific base, and participation in information society was among the primary recommendations presented.