structural equations modeling

In rural areas, tourism, as one of the most popular forms of tourism can, lead to economic growth and diversification of rural enterprises. On the other hand, it attracts surplus, employment oppurtunities and generate income for villagers, thus giving them an opportunity to develop holistically. In recent years, in line with the growth of tourism d in rural districts, the study of effects and dynamics of rural tourism has become a productive area for interdisciplinary research. One key focus is investigating the impact of tourism on empowerment of rural communinities. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine the role and effects of rural tourism on empowering local societies in social, cultural and economic aspects within the villages of the central district of Natanz.

The present study is descriptive-analytical in both purpose and nature. Necessary information was collected through library and field studies. To operationalize the components of the research, 72 specialists have been used based on the five-level Likert scale, encompassing three dimensions: cultural, social and economic dimensions. Additionally, to gain insights into the society, eight general questions were posed. The data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics, employing SPSS software for AMOS modeling. The population of rural residents in the central part of Natanz city consists of 4046 individuals with a sample size calculated using the Morgan table, resulting in 301 participants. A simple random sampling method was employed and the validity was established through face validity, while reliability was confirmed by Cronbache’s Alpha coefficient (0.927). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, T-tests, ANOVA, Leven, LSD in SPSS software. Also, for modeling the effect of developing cultural indices on the inclination toward tourism development, modeling was conducting using AMOS software.

The significance level less than 0.05 of the impact of tourism on social and cultural indices confirms these effects. The negative lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence interval for analyzing the role of rural tourism development in improving economic indices indicate that the effect of tourism development on economic indices was below average. The results of the ANOVA test reveal unequal averages in the impact of tourism on the development of these indices. Complementary results from the LSD post-test suggest that tourism has influenced the development of cultural, social and finally economic indices, in that order. Additionally, the results of structural equations modeling demonstrate that values and customs, as two factors constituting the latent variable of the cultural aspect, have significantly affected the manifest variable of supporting tourism development. This effect is corroborated by factor loadings of 0.24 and 0.25.

One-sample t-test was conducted to examine the impact of tourism effect on the promotion of cultural, social and economic indicators. The significance level of less than 0.05 regarding the effect of tourism on enhancing cultural and social indicators confirms these effects. The positive and low levels at a 95% confidence interval indicate that the status of cultural and social indicators among individuals has improved as a result of tourism development. Therefore, it can be stated that the results of the research were align with Husam, Mohammadi Yeganeh and Cheraghi (1395). The results of the study on the performance of rural tourism development on improving economic indicators with significant levels below 0.05 and negative high safety margins within the 95% confidence interval, indicates that the impact of tourism development on enhancing economic indicators in the study area is less than the average reported in the survey. This finding contradicts with the results of Aliqoli-Zadeh Firoozjai, Badri and Faraji Sibbar (2007), Robin Beidolf (2015), and Mahmudi, Ghasemi and Shayan (2015), which highlight the positive impact of tourism development. However, it aligns closely with research conducted by Jama Poor and Kiumars (2012), which have been indicative of the negligible economic impact of tourism. The results of the ANOVA test indicate the inequality of the average tourism effects on the promotion of indicators. A significant level of 0.30 indicates that there is a difference between the mean cultural, social and economic dimensions of tourism effects in rural areas. Denying a zero assumption means that at least one of the groups is different from the other. There are a variety of methods for comparing the mean of the groups, one of which is the LSD post test. The results show that the average effect of economic indicators has been lower than social and cultural effects due to the significant level and low and high levels of confidence. Thus, one can conclude that tourism has been effective in promoting cultural, social and economic indicators, respectively. The findings of structural equation modeling show that values and customs as two factors shaping the hidden variable of cultural dimension on the obvious variable supporting the development of tourism considering the lambda parameter as well as the significant level have a significant effect. This effect with factor loadings is 0.25 and 0.24, as well as a significant level less than 0.05 at 0.005 and 0.004 at 95% confidence level.

Coastal regions, as the intersection of two distinct ecosystems, serve as one of the most active areas worldwide for the interaction and mutual communication of marine and terrestrial organisms, while providing diverse ecosystem services to humans.The macroeconomic-political approaches of nations towards coastal areas, followed by population and economic influx, have resulted in coastal cities being acknowledged as centers of population receptivity and arenas of competition among diverse groups for access to aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem services. Conflicting interests among these groups and an ineffective top-down management pattern in industrial coastal cities such as Mahshahr and Asalouyeh have exacerbated the adverse impacts of various socio-economic processes on the sustainability of coastal ecosystems, intensifying the clash between economic growth and environmental preservation. This study endeavors to quantitatively examine the associations between the governance patterns of industrial coastal cities and environmental justice within these regions. The primary objective is to develop a model that elucidates this relationship and, based on the formulated hypotheses, establish a framework for enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of participatory decision-making processes. The ultimate aim is to foster the preservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems, ensure the sustainability of ecosystem services, and mitigate environmental justice disparities during the course of economic and social development in industrial coastal cities and coastal towns.

The present study adopts a quantitative approach grounded in the established paradigm of positivism. The target population consists of residents of industrial coastal cities. The accessible population includes the resident population of Asalouyeh (Bushehr province) and Mahshahr (Khuzestan province). Data collection was conducted through questionnaires, and data analysis and modeling of the relationships between variables were performed using SPSS 26 and SMART-PLS 4 software.The study area encompasses the coastal cities of Asalouyeh and Mahshahr. Asalouyeh is located in the southernmost part of Bushehr province and serves as the center of Asalouyeh county. It has a long history of industrial, commercial, and fishing activities. The port of Mahshahr, on the other hand, is currently industrialized and serves as the center of Mahshahr County. It is situated on the transit routes of land, sea, and rail transportation, making it a significant and strategic port, along with the Imam Khomeini port complex.

The present study employed a three-section approach to assess model fit, including measurement model fit, structural model fit, and overall model fit. The measurement model fit was evaluated using factor loadings, average variance extracted, composite reliability, and two convergent and discriminant validity measures. Convergent validity was computed based on the extracted factor loadings and average variance values, while the Fornell-Larcker criterion was utilized to calculate discriminant validity.The results indicated that the factor loadings of each item exceeded 0.5, indicating satisfactory reliability of the model. Furthermore, the composite reliability, average variance extracted, and Fornell-Larcker table values surpassed the acceptable thresholds, indicating a good fit of the measurement model.The present study utilized the cross-loading validity index to assess the quality of the measurement model. The Q² values indicated that the selected tool for measuring the latent variable had an acceptable level of quality, thereby validating the measurement model of the study. The results obtained from partial least squares analysis, as presented in Figures (3) and (4) and Table (5), indicated that all path coefficients and t-values were significant, with values greater than 1.96 and p-values less than 0.05, respectively, supporting the main hypotheses based on the collected data from the study population.Furthermore, the mediator variable of social capital was found to have a moderate effect, ranging from 20% to 80%, in the relationship between desirable governance and environmental justice, indicating partial mediation.

The findings of this study demonstrate a robust and statistically significant relationship between desirable governance and environmental justice. Moreover, the study introduces social capital as a significant mediator in the relationship between desirable governance and environmental justice. The significance of the association between desirable governance and social capital has been validated in previous research.Based on these results and the substantial link between desirable governance and environmental justice, along with the mediating role of social capital, it is recommended to transition the management approach of industrial coastal cities towards desirable governance. This transition can be accomplished by implementing principles and indicators of desirable governance, such as enhancing participation, transparency, effectiveness, efficiency in decision-making and planning, and responsiveness to diverse stakeholders. These measures will establish a solid foundation for advancing environmental justice in various aspects.Furthermore, particular attention should be given to augmenting the level of social capital through well-defined and practical planning. This strategic focus will establish the necessary groundwork for leveraging social capital to enhance the effectiveness of desirable governance in industrial coastal cities, ultimately fostering environmental justice.

The aim of the current research is to model the environmental quality of tourist attractions on the satisfaction of tourists in Zanjan city. The research method is a descriptive-analytical type that was carried out by a survey method. The statistical population of the research is the tourists of Zanjan city in 2021. In order to determine the number of research samples, due to the unknown number of statistical population, the required number of samples was 350 questionnaires. In order to analyze the data, the statistical test of factor analysis, single-sample T-test was used in EXCEL software, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in Amos Graphics software environment. by using the factor analysis test in order to evaluate the environmental quality of tourist attractions in Zanjan city; Seven factors of environmental quality were identified Also, selected indicators on tourist satisfaction were extracted from the model of Akama and Kiti 2003 (a model based on the Seroqual model). The results of the level of satisfaction with the environmental quality of tourist attractions, with the value (2.64) are in an unfavorable situation and below the average level. The correlation coefficient between the latent variables and manifest variables of the measurement model through the second-order structural equations of the environmental quality of tourist attractions shows that the latent factors and variables identified in the research have been able to account for 68% of the variance of the effects of the environmental quality components of tourist attractions on Explain the satisfaction of tourists and the factor of economic and social dynamics has the highest factor load with a relative importance and an influence coefficient of 0.80. The final results of the structural equation model show that the environmental quality of the tourist attractions in the study area has low impact to the extent of 0.31 on the satisfaction of tourists and among the hidden factors of environmental quality; The factor of certain tourism services with an impact factor of 0.83 and the factor of urban public services with 0.80 had the highest role and relative importance which indicates the predominance of physical programs and 5-year economic-social development programs of the country regarding the environmental quality of tourist attractions. Achieving the desired situation requires the development of specific criteria in the area of Zanjan tourist attractions, the scope of intervention and the design of nearby buildings according to specific criteria with the coordination and participation of all relevant ministries and institutions with sufficient legal and executive requirements.

Nowadays the concept sense of place is one of the important issues that the contemporary urban development is facing with. In the past cities used to have the high potential of providing interaction between man and space; but today despite of high potentials in most of historic areas, undesirable environmental and physical quality causes weakening of social ties among the inhabitants, lower sense of belonging and gradual decline of these areas. This issue motivated the authors to clarify the relationship between criteria of environment’s quality (environmental and physical) on sense of belonging in historic neighborhoods of the city of Kerman. Questionnaire was the main data collection method, and 374 questionnaires were distributed and analyzed. The results show a direct and meaningful relationship between the physical variables and sense of belonging but reverse and meaningful relationship between environmental variables and sense of belonging. In attention to components of physical variables and sense of belonging, in Arg-Ganjalikhan and Mozafari areas buildings and spaces has the highest effect over sense of belonging. However, in GhalehMahmood area it was accessibility. Regarding the components environmental variables and sense of belonging, it is notable that sound pollutions in Arg-Ganjalikhan, Mozafari and GhalehMahmood areas has the highest influence on the sense of belonging. The results of structural equations modeling also demonstrate that improving the condition of environmental and physical variables can improve the condition of sense of belonging as well. However, the influence of environmental variables on the sense of belonging was higher comparing to physical ones.