Factors Affecting on the Agricultural Cooperatives Development in Shabestar Township

The general objective of this study was to identify the determinants of agricultural cooperatives development in Shabestar Township of East Azerbaijan province. For this purpose, Confirmatory Factor Analysiswas used. The statistical population of this study was all members of active and passive agricultural cooperatives (298 members) of Shabestar Township in 2017. To determine the sample size, the Cochran sampling formula was used, and the sample size was estimated to be 168, which eventually completed 161. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.728). Validity of the questionnaire was also examined by obtaining opinions of experts. Based on the findings of the estimation of Confirmatoryfactor analysis, from the total of 27 variables, only 16 variables played a significant role in defining the economic, cultural-social, educational, managerial, political, and individual characteristics of the members factors. According to the results, economic, managerial, cultural-social and educational factors had a positive and significant effect on the development of agricultural cooperatives and the individual characteristics of the members and political factors did not have a significant effect on the development of agricultural cooperatives. Based on the results, economic factors with a coefficient of 0.63 had the greatest impact on the development of agricultural cooperatives.