The Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on Development of Som Social and Economical Indicators of Rural Areas of Central Part of Bahar City

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of information and communication technologies on development of some social and economic indicators of rural areas in Bahar city.This study was an applied research in terms of purpose, a surveying study in terms of data gathering method and a descriptive-analytic in terms of data analysis. The study population consisted of 15,933 residents of 13 villages with ICTs in the central sector of Bahar city. Of them a sample of 375 were selected based on Kregsi and Morgan's sampling size table and the samples were distributed among the villages proportionally. Data collection tool was a questionnaire which first validated through a panel of experts and university professors. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated through Cronbach's alphas and they were ranged from 0.863 to 0.872. A 5-point Likert-type scale ranged from one (very high) to five (very low) was used to measure the economic and social indicators. The extent to which users made use of ICT services was measured through a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranged from one (never) to five (frequently). The data processing was run by SPSS software in two separate ways descriptive and analytic. Results of testing the hypotheses showed that the use of ICT has a positive effect on all economic indicators studied in this research such as increasing production, amounts of income's generating by rural people, employability, decreasing transportation costs, and marketing. The results also showed that the use of ICT may improve some social indicators such as rural participation, social trust, social welfare, education and communication, but had a negative effect on rural migration. Due to the impact of ICT on both social and economic indices, it is recommended that more attention be given to the rural ICT centers and offices by governmental and non-governmental supports. In order to better support from rural ICT centers, a supervisory role of state and a strong training system should be planned.