Factors Influencing ICT Offices' Performance in Rural Intelligence (Case Study: Tabas Township Villages)

The dominant form and the first step in smartening rural areas is the establishment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offices. Rural areas have been deprived of many facilities due to distance and dispersion, and the use of smart technologies can effectively play a role in providing services (educational, administrative, banking, etc.). Since the performance of offices is effective in accelerating the process of rural intelligence, so the purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the performance of rural ICT offices in the field of intelligence to expand ICT in rural areas. The present research is one of the applied researches and the descriptive-analytical research method is a comparative research that has been achieved through documentary and field studies. The statistical population of the study includes 24 villages with ICT offices in Tabas city. Data were collected through field interview methods and completing a questionnaire and then the data were analyzed by SPSS software. The indicators studied are the personal characteristics of the staff, the characteristics of the village and the equipment available in the ICT offices. The results show that the performance of the 24 rural ICT offices studied are not significantly different in terms of customer acquisition and familiarity with the smartening process. Other results indicate that at 95% confidence level and significance level more than 0.05, none of the factors of office staff characteristics, village characteristics, facilities and equipment had a significant effect on office performance in attracting customers and promoting rural intelligence. Researchers are advised to use qualitative research methods such as participatory methods and in-depth interviews with staff and customers to better explore the factors affecting the performance of offices.