The Effect of Social Capital Aspects on Entrepreneurial Behavior of the Members of Rural Women Cooperatives in Mazandaran Province

Women play a significant and growing role in business development and their entrepreneurship has attracted so much attention throughout the world. Since women entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior are influenced by several factors, the present study aims to explore the impact of social capital and its components on entrepreneurial behavior of rural women who were members of cooperatives across Mazandaran province, Iran.

The statistical population was composed of 1396 members of 11 rural women cooperatives out of which 320 individuals were taken as the research sample using proportionately allocated stratified technique based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. Data were collected with a self-designed questionnaire composed of two sections for social capital in five aspects and entrepreneurial behavior in six aspects. The validity of the research instrument was checked by a panel of experts and its reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha to be 0.921 for social capital section and 0.905 for entrepreneurial behavior section. Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential sections using SPSS and LISREL software packages.

The social participation aspect of social capital and the resource supply aspect of entrepreneurial behavior were ranked the first. The qualitative assessment of social capital and entrepreneurial behavior showed that they were at a satisfactory level among the members of rural women cooperatives. According to the path coefficient calculated in the structural equations (0.9), social capital plays a significant role in entrepreneurial behavior among the members of rural women cooperatives. Also, the results of structural equations revealed that intra-group social participation was the most important aspect of social capital in terms of the influence on the entrepreneurial behavior of rural women.

The dispersion of rural women cooperatives across the province and difficult access to their members to fill the questionnaire were the main constraints of the study.

Entrepreneurial behavior can be strengthened and developed by improving social capital through communication of cooperatives with other agencies and institutions involved in rural affairs such as other successful cooperatives, regular meetings to clarify the activities of cooperatives, and the enhancement of women’s awareness of opportunity recognition and decision-making through holding training workshops and courses of practical entrepreneurship.

The results can be used by relevant organizations to develop and accomplish pre-determined goals for rural women cooperatives through strengthening the issue of entrepreneurship.