The Study of Effective Factors on the Prosperity of Traditional Bazaars with the Approach of Structural Equation Modeling (Case Study: Rasht Metropolis)

Although traditional bazaars have long been considered as one of the components of the identity of the Iranian cities, but today, with the expansion of stores and shopping centers, the role of traditional bazaars in many cities and especially in metropolitan areas of Iran has declined, which if not planned properly, the likelihood of the deterioration of some of these markets will be strengthened. This research seeks to study effective factors on the prosperity of traditional bazaars (Case Study: Rasht Metropolis), with a structural equation modeling approach. Today, in spite of various shopping malls and shopping centers, multi-purpose commercial complexes, megamals, chain stores, etc., the role of traditional bazaars has decreased in many cities of Iran. In the absence of attention to existing weaknesses, some of these traditional bazaars are lacking in prosperity and even complete destruction. The need to pay attention to this issue becomes more and more obvious when we know that the traditional bazaars is operating in many cities of Iran as one of the constructive and identifiable elements of the city, which in the event of a weakening of the vital role of the bazaars, the identity of that city is disturbed. This research seeks to investigate the factors affecting the prosperity of traditional bazaars (Case Study: Rasht Metropolis) with the approach of structural equation modeling. In order to achieve this goal, it has been attempted to answer the following question: What are the most important Effective Factors on the Prosperity of Traditional Bazaars (Case Study: Rasht Metropolis)?

This research is a survey based on research design and is applicable to the research purpose. The statistical population of this study is 956971 people and the sample size is 384 people. To analyze the data, structural equation modeling approach was applied using SPSS and Mplus software. In this research, the exploratory factor analysis and then the confirmatory factor analysis method were used. Finally, fitting indexes were used to assess the fit of the final model.

In the first step, exploratory factor analysis has been used to extract the main factors affecting the Prosperity of traditional bazaars. The most important application of factor analysis is the reduction of a relatively large number of variables to limited factors that are usually indirectly and indirectly affected by the main variable. In this research, after interviews and field surveys, 33 factors influencing the prosperity of traditional bazaars were identified. These factors were reduced to 5 main factors by varimax method. These factors are: sellers attraction, physical attraction, economic attractions, welfare attractions and social attractions. After performing exploratory factor analysis using SPSS software and extracting the main factors affecting the prosperity of traditional bazaars, Mplus software has been used to model structural equations. Different fitness indices have been used with the use of Mplus. These indicators include the Chi-square index for assessing the overall fitness of the model (X2/df), comparative or comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker Lewis's index (TLI), root mean square error (RMSEA), approximation and index error Average left squared (SRMR). This chart consists of 10 structural models and 5 measuring models. Structural models include the communication of five hidden variables together, and the measurement models include the separate measurement of each of these five hidden variables (the relationship between each hidden variable and the observed variables).

The results of this study indicate that the five main factors driving traditional bazaars are: sellers’ attraction, physical attraction, economic attractions, welfare attractions and social attractions. Overall account for 86% of variance of all variables by this the main factors are covered. Also, the results of this study indicate that the structural model of this research has a good fit and the features of this research have had good explanatory power.