Analyzing the Influence of Social Capital on the Success of Production Cooperatives of Yazd

Social capital consists of elements such as trust, awareness, cooperation, and network. It is a kind of social product and is a result of social interaction. Unlike physical capital, which decreases due to overuse, social capital grows and strengthens when overused. Since cooperatives are organizations which should be full of trust, cooperation, awareness, unity, and agreement, this study investigates the effects of social capital on the success of production cooperatives of Yazd. This research is descriptive-explanatory. It is also synchronic and applied. The method used is used and it is wide in scope. 128 subjects were selected using stratified cluster random sampling, estimated by Cochran formula. The instrument used in the study was a questionnaire. The content validity and the reliability were estimated using Cronbach's alpha. The data was analyzed by SPSS program.The findings indicated that, for the subjects, the mean of social trust was 47.46, social norm was 44.11, social awareness was 41.61, and social cooperation was 44.56, which are lower than the average level. In sum, the mean of social capital among the production cooperatives in Yazd was 46.75 and the mean of success of the cooperatives was 38.77 which were lower than the average level. The results revealed that among the different dimensions of social capital, the mean of social awareness was less and the mean of social trust was more than other dimensions. By using Pearson correlation test, it was found that there were a positive and significant correlation between age, education, income, and different dimensions of social capital and the success of the cooperatives. Analyzing the effects of independent variables on the success of cooperatives, multiple regression analyses were done which indicated that only social network and social norm had the greater effects on the success of cooperatives.