Good Governance based on Social Capital in Rural Management in Joibar County

Sustainable rural development requires an efficient system of management and governance based on local capacities and resources. Nowadays, the constructive impact of social capital on the establishment and the stability of local democratic structures in rural and urban areas is considered. In the light of current discussions on enhancement of local management in rural ares, the research question raises if there is any relationship between social capital and good governance, and if so, what type and strength do possible correlations display and how do different levels of relationships in terms of social capital and the sub-components of good governance appear.This survey research was aimed to investigate the relationship of social capital and good governance in rural management in Jouybar County. Statistical population of this research was included all head of rural families in Jouybar County (N=12654). Sample size was determined by Cochran formula (n=314). The respondents were selected through cluster sampling technique, randomly. A researcher–made questionnaire were used to collect data. Reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α= .7). Formal and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed based on opinions of a expert panel. Using SPSS 16.0, data were analyzed. According to descriptive findings, 47/1% of respondents have assessed the level of good governance in rural management as good. Also, most of the of respondents (50/3%) have assessed the level of social capital in their villages as moderate. Correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between some of the components of social capital in rural areas, including social network, trust, social awareness and total index of social capital (as predictor variables) and some of the components of good governance in rural management, including law obedience, justice and equality, responsibility and accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness. Totally, increase of social capital in villages led to improve of good governance in rural management in Jouybar County.