Relationship between Social Capital and Conflict Management and its Impact on Institutional Effectiveness in Rural Cooperatives

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between social capital and conflict management and its impact on institutional effectiveness in rural cooperative companies. This research was conducted through the survey approach and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect field data. The statistical population of the research included members of 13 rural cooperative companies of Gorgan county (N=14988). The sample size was estimated using Cochran's formula (n=315) and the respondents were selected by random cluster sampling.. All statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS21 and AMOS20. At the descriptive level, according to the measurement of the non-weighted linear combination of variables, most of the respondents evaluated the status of social capital, conflict management, and institutional effectiveness in cooperative companies at an average level. At the analytical level, the fit of the structural model indicated the causal relationship between social capital and conflict management, and institutional effectiveness. Among the three components of social capital, two communicative and cognitive components had a significant impact on conflict management. Also, among the three components of social capital, two structural and cognitive components had a significant effect on institutional effectiveness. Finally, investigating the causal relationship between social capital and conflict management with institutional effectiveness, showed that the conflict management variable has a fully mediating role in the relationship between social capital and institutional effectiveness.