Assessing the Social Capital among Farmers in Urmia City and Its Effect on Their Pro-Environmental Behavioral Tendencies

The concept “social capital” was proposed by experts after the topic of “sustainable development” was raised in the last decades of the 20th century. The central concept of social capital is that social interactions create social networks, strengthen trust, form values, support norms and culture, and create community. Social capital and its components influence many people's views, attitudes and behaviors of environmental protection. Environmental protection behavior is also called pro-environmental behavior. The purpose of this research is to measure the amount of social capital of farmers and its effect on their Pro-Environmental Behavioral Tendencies (PEBT). The purpose of this research is to measure the extent of social capital of farmers and its effect on their PEBT.

This research was done with a quantitative paradigm and survey method. The statistical population included all farmers of Urmia, 184 of them were selected by random sampling. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by 4 related faculty members of Urmia University and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.75 to 0.83). Data were collected by interview technique and analyzed with SPSS version 26 software and by using one-sample and two-sample t tests, regression modeling and path analysis.

The findings showed that in overall, the extent of social capital among farmers is lower than average. The results of the components of social capital also showed that internal social capital includeing, trust in the internal society, social cohesion, participation and interaction with the internal society (internal relations network) were significantly higher than the average, but external social capital including, trust in the external society, trust in public, civil, and private institutions, and the interaction of the villagers with the external society (external relations network) is significantly lower than the average. Overwhelming majority (95%) of farmers had destructive environmental behavioral tendencies. The variables of trust in social institutions, external relations network, the educational levels of farmers and their children (ELFCH), and using extension publications and the Internet have a significant positive relationship, and the variables of age and number of children have a significant negative relationship with PEBT. In addition, the level of PEBT among urban farmers with non-agricultural occupations is higher than rural farmers with agricultural occupations. The variables of the external relations network and ELFCH, explain more than 15% of the changes in farmers' PEBT, and the two variables of ELFCH play a moderating role.

Based on the results, it is suggested that the agricultural governmental and non-govermental organizations put transparency and accountability and fight against corruption in their work priorities in order to strengthen trust and social capital. By making policies, creating a suitable market for organic products and formulating suitable mechanisms, the agricultural governmental organization should drive the behavior of farmers towards pro-environmental behavior. At the same time, using extension channels, agricultural extension officiers should try to provide more information and training, especially for the elderly farmers, and do not forget this group because most of these farmers are subsistence, small-scale and traditional farmers, and extension training should be a priority for this group. Finally, the development of human resources in rural areas should continue at a faster pace so that by improving the education level of farmers, their behaviors will be directed towards environmentally friendly behaviors.