Identifying and Prioritizing the Factors Affecting the Development of Cooperative Companies Using Mixed Methods in Sarab County

Given the importance of the cooperative sector in the Iranian economy, from the perspective of its theoretical foundations and potential capabilities, the effective factors and ways of activating this capacity have become increasingly important. Co-operatives can be an appropriate lever for economic development that, along with government policies, are effective in improving the living and working conditions, production, and improvement of income and social status of the people. To achieve this goal, a mixed method research was used. Thus, in the first phase of the study, using unstructured and semi-structured interviews with managing directors and Board of Directors of cooperative companies in Sarab, Iran, as well as experts and using the qualitative grounded theory, the factors affecting the development of cooperative companies were identified. According to the results of grounded theory, management, organizational, economic, socio-cultural, legal, marketing, and educational factors are effective in the development of rural cooperatives. Co-operatives should, therefore, have the necessary planning in mind when selecting appropriate managers for co-operatives to enhance managerial factors. Based on the results, economic, legal, cultural-social, marketing and educational factors are in the next influential ones and rural cooperative planners should consider these factors in cooperatives and use these factors to develop rural cooperatives.