Role of Social Capital in the Employability of Agricultural Students: Case of Agricultural and Natural Resources University College, University of Tehran

Given to the importance of employability as an indicator of higher education quality and social capital as a key factor for this system efficiency, examining the relationship of these variables is necessary. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social capital dimensions in employability of agricultural students of agricultural and natural resources University College, university of Tehran. The statistical population of this research was consisted of all agricultural majors’ senior and junior students of agricultural and natural resources university college, university of Tehran (N=715). The sample size was calculated by Cochran formula (n=190) accessed through proportional stratified random sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire including demographic characteristics and two main variables i.e. employability and social capital. In order to investigate the validity, reliability, fitness of latent variables and test of conceptual model, structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL8.80 software was used. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the validity and reliability latent variables. Results of structural equation modeling showed that five dimensions of social capital i.e. Social values, Social trust, Social networks, Social cohesiveness, Social participation, Sharing knowledge, Social Communication had positive significant effect on the employability of surveyed students.