فصلنامه پژوهشهای روستایی
سال یازدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 44، زمستان 1399)

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in economic development. One of the necessities for developing countries is to move SMEs towards internationalization. Small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly leading to economic development because competitive pressure is increasing and direct financial aid and government support are declining. Therefore, moving from the national markets to the international markets is considered to be a very important decision for SMEs, which have a small financial base, a domestic focus, and a limited geographic scope. The present research is applied and fundamental, and in terms of data collection method, it is a meta-synthesis study. The present study is a qualitative research and meta-synthesis was used as the research method. Meta-synthesis offers an appropriate balance between an objective framework, a rigorously scientific approach to data analysis, and the necessary contribution of the researcher’s subjectivity in the construction of the final work. Unfortunately, there has been no comprehensive approach to the existing models of internationalization of rural businesses. This paper aims to start filling this gap by exploring the factors influencing the internationalization of rural businesses in the form of an integrated model.

Increasing resiliency is the most important factor in maintaining the flexibility of socio-environmental systems and combating drought. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze resilience indices in rural communities facing drought in three villages with different drought intensities in Sabzevar city. Therefore, first, using drought zoning maps based on SPEI index in a ten-year period, villages in three very severe, severe, and moderate drought zones were identified and one village from each zone was randomly selected. Then, farmers were identified and surveyed as the target population using a survey approach. According to the total number of farmers in the three villages, the sample size was estimated at 105 people, according to the Cochran formula. Based on resiliency questionnaires and statistical tests, dimensions and indices affecting resiliency were evaluated. The results of the LISREL measurement model based on the first level variables of resilience measurement showed that the most influential and important dimensions on resilience were infrastructure, physical and natural dimensions. The economic and financial, social and cultural, governance and management, and human and individual dimensions are respectively in the next order of importance. Measurement of resilience dimensions in the studied villages showed that social and cultural dimension had the highest and natural dimension had the lowest impact among dimensions in the studied villages in this area. In general, reinforcement of effective dimensions can enhance flexibility and adaptability to the environment and play a major role in minimizing potential losses in critical situations. In this regard, special attention should be paid to the decision-making and allocation of resources to the local farmers in the face of disasters.

Resilience plays an important role in empowering rural communities against flood risk. Therefore, resilience has been paid attention to as a suitable strategy mitigating vulnerability and crisis management of natural disasters in many countries. The present study aims to analyze the social components affecting the resilience of rural areas in the east of Guilan province against flood hazard. The present research is an applied research and data was collected using a descriptive-analytical method based on documentary sources and field studies (questionnaire). The study sample consisted of 379 householders in rural areas which were selected by Cochran's method. Then, one sample T-test was used to prove the significance and generalizability of the results, and coefficient of correlation and regression method were used to analyze the data and the effect of social components on resilience. The results show that the component of collective participation has the greatest impact on improving the resilience of rural communities to the components of place attachment, social trust, and knowledge. Finally, resilience scores from the study area indicate that the villages of Eshkevar Sofla and Divshal are at the lowest level and the villages of Dahgah, Daryasar, and Kojid are at the highest level in terms of social components of resilience to floods.

The purpose of this study was to identify the level of responsibility of rural people and the factors underpinning their environmental behaviors. Protection motivation theory was used to explain the problem. The survey method and questionnaire were used to collect data. The statistical population was rural people of Mazandaran province where 536 people were selected as the statistical sample using multi-stage cluster sampling. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability, and formal validity and construct validity were used to measure validity. Tau B. Kendall correlation, T-test with independent data, and multivariate regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings show that villagers reported a moderate level of environmentally responsible behavior. Responsible behaviors in terms of age, gender, marital status, education, and employment were not significant. The tendency to do environmental behavior, efficacy and perceived severity of risk were the most important explanatory factors. In the present study, coping assessment elements (efficacy) had a greater impact on responsible environmental behavior than elements of threat assessment (perceived severity risk).

There are different types of flows between urban and rural areas that have a lot of potentials. There have been many rural-urban linkages for many years, but their potential remains diminished and ignored. This article reveals the relationship between improving rural-urban linkages to empower local farmers in sustainable food security in southeastern Tehran's rural areas. To explain this issue, four hundred questionnaires were completed by agricultural operators using a simple random sampling method. The findings of this descriptive-analytical study indicate the positive impact of rural-urban linkages on farmers' participation in investment, access to resources, product marketing, and diversification of activities. The results revealed improved spatial flow indices for empowerment and food security. In other words, the improvement of spatial flow indices facilitates the participation of agricultural operators in production in various fields and various agricultural and non-agricultural activities, resulting in the improvement of the average dimension of sustainable food security. In this regard, it is suggested to adopt appropriate policies and revise the policy-making system to pay more attention to rural-urban linkages potential to improve sustainable food security.

Creative tourism is one of the most popular tourism development strategies in recent years and creative tourists are looking for new destinations to get a unique and creative experience. In fact, creative tourism seeks to add new ways to develop tourism. The research method is descriptive-analytical based on field surveys. The research instrument is a researcher-made questionnaire with 14 general and 88 professional open-ended and closed-ended questions that measure tourists' opinions. The results of the ranking of creative tourism explaining factors in rural areas of Borujen city by using Friedman test show that innovation and value creation index in tourism has the highest average value of 4.74. In this ranking, the handicrafts index received the lowest rate of creative tourism development (2.91). Using factor analysis test, sustainable tourist behavior factors have been identified in three cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions. The study of the effectiveness of creative tourism on sustainable behavior of tourists according to the operating load of -0.11 and also gaining a significant level higher than 0.05 to 0.01 indicates the lack of confirmation of the significant effect of creative tourism formation on the occurrence of sustainable behavior  among tourists.

This study aims to analyze the factors affecting experience-based tourism in nomadic areas (case study: Qashqai tribes). The population of the study includes domestic and foreign tourists that visited the study areas between March and July 2018. Using the Morgan table, a sample size of 400 was selected from which 384 correct questionnaires were extracted. This applied study was done by descriptive-analytical method using open interview and a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the tools was confirmed by 15 experts (academics and industry practitioners). The impact of tangible cultural and intangible cultural factors, perceived quality, and perceived sense of the place on the perceived experience of the nomadic tourists was analyzed. The variance analysis and the influential coefficient of independent factors were used for scientific inferences using the confirmatory factor analysis in the form of structural equation modeling (SEM) in the PLS environment. The results showed that the cultural tangible factor with influx coefficient of 0.33 and the factor of perception of the sense of place with influx coefficient of 0.29 were the most influential factors on the perceived experience of the tourists visiting nomadic areas. Furthermore, the variance analysis of the factors on the perceptual experience is equal to 34%.

Each part of the landscape has a distinctive character, which offers a unique sense of place. Moreover, there are specific cultural backgrounds, which have influenced the settlement patterns of regions and countries. The rural landscape patterns are particular contexts since they have cultural characteristics. As local residents in rural areas tend to use modern technology, preservation of cultural values and natural attractions should not be underestimated. There are many criteria that must be considered in order to achieve sustainability. This research has been done by investigating the sustainable landscape indicators in the Iranian rural ecosystem based on the stakeholders’ attitudes. Iran’s geographical location and natural characteristics import a wide climatic diversity that ranges from semi-arid to subtropical. Therefore, four villages with different climates were selected: 1. Furg, a village in Darmian rural district, South Khorasan province in the hot and dry climate; 2. Anbooh, a village in Roodbar, Gilan province, in the cold and mountainous climate; 3. Dastak, a village in Astane-Ashrafieh, Gilan province, in the moderate rainy climate, and 4. Tabl, a historic village in Gheshm, Hormozgan province, in the hot and humid climate of Iran. The researchers analyzed the rural landscape and defined the main characteristics that shape the sustainable rural landscape, based on the research method. The results indicate that the economy of rural areas has been strongly dependent on natural resources exploitation. Also, the recent technological advancements in exploitation, loss of rural livelihood, and increased social demand for the amenity aspects of these resources have dramatically changed the rural landscape and visual quality.

The prevailing climatic diversity in different regions is ignored and generally rural areas with the same spatial organization are built for all climatic regions of the country. The purpose of this study is to identify the rural housing spatial organization of East Azerbaijan province based on the climatic diversity prevailing in this province. In the present research, the analytical method of spatial syntax (spatial arrangement) has been used to study the spatial organization of rural housing. In order to select the studied samples, first, the studied villages were selected based on the climatic zoning of the province by cluster method from different climatic regions and then the native and original houses in the selected villages were carefully harvested. In order to analyze the information obtained from in-place studies, these houses were examined in terms of spatial organization for each sample by "UCL DepthMap" and "A-Graph" software using a descriptive diagram. Most types of rural housing have low depth and high interconnection and communication between different spaces inside the housing is possible through them. Examining the diagrams, it can be seen that the most connected space in the spatial structure of the houses is the vestibule, which plays the main role as a control element in the spatial organization of other house spaces and spatial hierarchy has always been considered by the creators by locating private spaces at greater depths and public spaces at lower depths, regardless of climatic diversity.

The villages have maintained a long and complex relationship with the cities through the production and transfer of power to cities which, in turn, have used and exerted power over villages. Understanding this relationship requires an examination of the effect of the forces that generate and consume power. Therefore, Foucault's qualitative method was used in this study. Accordingly, the power relations between producers and consumers were divided into quadruple periods: before the Safavid Era, Safavid Era-Constitutional Revolution, Constitutional Revolution-Islamic Revolution, Islamic Revolution and afterward. According to the findings, in the early stages, village-city relations were in the form of tax transfer and supply of soldiers, but over time, with the intervention of various internal factors - the emergence of oil, land reforms- and foreign-international trade, power transmission was transformed and, with the establishment of the government and capitalist relations in the villages and the introduction of luxury goods, the villages were deprived of their power. Therefore, cities as the power bases have always been a factor in weakening the power of the villages since the time of their emergence. In this regard, they have used many techniques that were more obvious in nature at the beginning, but today they in the form of services provided to rural areas. To change the power relations between cities and villages and to create a rational balance of power, one can: adjust the power differences between cities and villages and make power accessible to all; ensure proper distribution of power among stakeholders; create a proper structure for the institutionalization of the power process between cities and villages and redistribution of power.

Water scarcity affects the development of irrigation agricultural land and reduces agricultural products directly. In addition, it threatens the food security and income of the villagers. The present research was conducted on the typology of mental models of good operators for agricultural water management in South Khorasan province. The study deals with the subjective opinions of the participants based on Q methodology. It is applied in terms of goal and exploratory and mixed in terms of data collection method. The participants of the study consisted of 21 well operators selected by the targeted judgment method and snowball technique. According to the results obtained from the exploratory factor analysis, the perception of the participating well operators about sustainable groundwater management at the farm level was classified into four types including Equalist, Fatalist, Scientist, and Consumerist types. The levels of variance explained by each factor are 27.7%, 16.10%, 14.35%, and 13% respectively. Finally, the results showed that the most important factor in achieving a common perception of sustainable agricultural water resources management is considering conflict management and negotiation techniques among well operators.

This research was conducted quantitatively to identify and analyze the sources of risks of saffron production in Kermanshah province. The statistical population consisted of 114 saffron farmers of the province, of whom data were collected by complete enumeration technique. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of two sections including the demographic and occupational characteristics of the participants and items to measure risk. The data were analyzed by opinion polls and related formulas. The results of the multi virtual cluster analysis showed that most saffron farmers reported low production risk, price and financial costs, and moderate and high natural and human risks. According to saffron farmers, the most important risks include production risks (such as the lack of timely delivery of inputs), human risk (the shortage of available labor to harvest saffron, disease, and migration of young family members, and the theft of agricultural products and equipment), market risk (guaranteed sales, lack of equipment and facilities for packaging and bulk sales of the product, and arbitrary pricing), financial risks (lack of access to bank facilities, lack of liquidity, shortage of funds, lack of savings accounts to avoid selling the crop at a low price, and a short interval between receiving and repaying loans), natural risk (lack of government support and assistance for the sale and marketing of saffron at reasonable prices, absence of state-sponsored insurance, lack of communication network between saffron farmers at the local and regional level). The development of saffron production calls for efforts to eliminate the relevant risks.