The Role of Rural Production Cooperatives in Sustainable Social and Economic Development of Rural Communities of Guilan Province

Rural production cooperatives, as organizations that had at the same time strong economic and social dimensions, form an important part of the organization formed by the membership and management of villagers. Regarding the role and importance of these companies in sustainable rural development, the overall aim of this study is to investigate the role of rural production cooperatives in sustainable social and economic development of rural communities of Guilan province. This research was descriptive-correlational. Data was collected using a questionnaire from 184 members and non-members selected by cluster sampling. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and exploratory factor analysis and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The research findings show that more than half of the members and non-members are assessed for the level of economic stability, social sustainability and overall sustainability at the semi-sustained level, and only a small fraction of the beneficiaries are in sustainable conditions. The results of the research showed that there was a significant difference between the members of the rural production cooperatives in terms of economic stability, while there was no difference in terms of social stability between the two groups. Also, structural and financial factors of production cooperatives had,  a positive and significant relationship with both economic and social sustainability, but the relationship between managerial characteristics of production cooperatives and economic and social sustainability is not statistically significant.