فصلنامه روستا و توسعه
سال بیست و پنجم شماره 4 (پیاپی 100، زمستان 1401)

TThe purpose of this study is to provide a value creation model in rural businesses based on strategic sensemaking. This research is a descriptive-survey method and applicable in terms of nature. Statistical population was of rural business owners active in the rural sector of South West Azerbaijan in the field of industrial animal husbandry, industrial greenhouses, handicrafts and semi-industrial Rug weaving in 2020, of which 265 were identified and 155 were selected by the sample size of Georgian-Morgan. The research instrument included the strategic significance questionnaire of Neil et al. and to measure the value creation of businesses, their classification information was used according to the method of calculating the approximate return. Multivariate linear regression analysis and quadratic structural equation model were used to analyze the data. Findings showed that four components of strategic meaning including internal communication, external communication and data collection and information classification predict 43.4% of the value creation variable. As a result, a business that is aware of its environment and, on the other hand, the transfer of information and communication within the business flows smoothly, therefore, is in a better position to create value.

Using tourism opportunities to improve rural development to preserve social and natural values and control the quality of eco-lodge’s architecture, necessitates the creation of a framework that addresses the relationship between the quality of architecture and tourist satisfaction. The purpose of this article is to find a framework for standardizing the architecture of residences and assessing the level of tourist satisfaction as well as the relationship between motivation, tourist satisfaction and their willingness to stay in again. The research method is descriptive-analytical in which after after compiling a conceptual model based on content analysis of theoretical content of vernacular architecture and identifying measurable models of tourist satisfaction, field information was collected through a questionnaire. According to the developed conceptual model, the physical-spatial, naturalistic and socio-cultural dimensions of architecture are assumed to meet the basic, functional and emotional requirements of tourist satisfaction, respectively. The statistical population includes ecotourists who refer to four active ecotourist residences in Tonkabon. The results show that the architecture of eco-lodges in terms of meeting the naturalistic /functional needs of tourists with an average of 3.08 is the most satisfied and in this regard, they prefer these resorts. In the next stage, the index of physical space needs with an average of 2.03 gained audience satisfaction. Socio-cultural indicators of residences had the lowest level of satisfaction. The analysis of the results indicates that in the research samples, location and naturalistic features of the architecture of the eco-lodges have been consistent with nature tourism as the dominant motivation of the eco-tourist. At the same time, these residences have not been able to motivate the clients to experience the rural life and to enable them to experience and interact with the indigenous culture and community. Finally, suggestions for improving the architectural quality of eco-lodges are presented.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of social responsibility on creating customer value with the mediating role of customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and improving service delivery and the moderating role of customer empowerment behaviors in Oramanat region. The sampling method of this study was available, and included 384 people. The assessment tool in this study was a researcher-made questionnaire. Statistical analyzes were performed using structural equation methods. The statistical population of this study is all employees of ecotourism and hospitality resorts in the Oramanat region in Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces. The results showed that social responsibility promotes social development in rural areas. The results of the study indicated that special attention should be paid to the empowerment of tourists. The results of this study showed that people who work as investors in the field of tourism, can provide better services by training in eco-tourism and hospitality sector, and tourists who have a pleasant interaction with staff and officials, are eager to share their experiences.

In order to achieve development, the society needs to realize social justice and this will be possible in the shadow of women's empowerment. The study qualitative research was conducted with the aim of providing a model for empowering rural women in Kermanshah. The study population was experts in women's affairs in different departments as well as key informants who were selected by sequential sampling method and snowball technique. Data were collected using 16 in-depth and semi-structured interviews, and data were analyzed using directional content analysis. Findings showed that lack of priority for women in development and empowerment programs, lack of business conditions for rural women, diminishing work culture and participation in rural areas, and special conditions of rural women are among the factors that limit empowerment programs. Based on the findings, the goals of the optimal empowerment model should include: changes in women's attitudes and beliefs, attention to different dimensions of empowerment, increasing the role of agency in empowerment and improving the opportunity. To empowerment of women, actions such as identifying the current situation, targeted and continuous training, transformation in support actions, recreating the planning structure, increasing the role of actors and supporters in empowerment programs are essential. The consequences of women's empowerment programs are the re-creation of roles and responsibilities, the promotion of the social and economic status of rural women in society, and the transformation in the design and development of empowerment programs. The results of this study can be used by planners for planning to improve the status of women in rural communities.

The micro credit fund is a mechanism for mobilizing financial resources and granting small loans in order to launch sustainable income-generating activities and strengthen women's participation in the rural development process. This descriptive and survey research, aimed to identify achievements and barriers ahead the micro credit funds of rural women in 2019 in Golestan province. The statistical population of the study was 913 members of 19 rural women micro credit funds in Golestan province. Using Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling, 226 of them were selected as research samples. Data gathered through a researcher made questionnaire and its face validity was confirmed by experts. The reliability analysis was calculated with Cronbach alpha coefficient and it was 0.91 for achievements section and 0.84 for barriers section. The research findings showed that 9 achievements consist of social, occupation, group production work, entrepreneurial, self reliance, control on financial resources, responsibility acceptance, family stable and gender equity, explain about 61% cumulative variance of the funds’ achievements and 10 barriers consist of participation barrier, barrier the loss of governmental support, mistrust barrier, individual barrier, cultural-economical barrier, dependence barrier and lack of independence, family poverty barrier, lack of control barrier, cover barrier and hazards, explain 63.6 % cumulative variance of barriers ahead the funds. This study recommended the focus of the fund's activities on achieving all the goals in a balanced way, with an emphasis on educating members and providing the necessary intellectual and practical contexts to promote members' participation in decision-making.

Today, rural social capital is one of the components of the wealth of nations, which can play a prominent role as an effective factor in the increase and efficiency of other forms of capital (human, economic, physical). Meanwhile, villages are a suitable platform for the formation of this type of capital, because this type of capital has been able to overshadow the quality of life of rural households. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of social capital on the quality of life of rural households. This research is applicable in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlation in terms of method. Data collection was done in two ways, documents and field (questionnaire). The statistical population of the research includes the heads of households in the villages of Dehistan Kavir located in Khalil Abad city of Khorasan Razavi province, based on the Cochran formula, the sample size of 319 households was calculated and distributed randomly. Shannon, Copras, SAR model and stepwise regression were used for data analysis. In this research, using the Shannon technique, the trust index got the highest score (0.8226) and the local network index got the lowest score (0.6633). The results of the regression analysis showed that among the four components of social capital, the trust component has the greatest effect on improving the quality of rural households, according to the beta values.

Today, one of the most important human challenges is to achieve food security around the world, a concept that means safe, nutritious and adequate food for all. The main objective of this study was to investigate food insecurity challenges among rural households in Bushehr Province. Statistical population was total rural households from two towns of Dashtestan and Tangestan in 2020. Sample size was calculated 380 by Krejcie and Morgan table. Main instrument of the study was a questionnaire that its validity and reliability were proved by a panel of experts and Cronbach Alpha coefficient respectively. The results of groping rural households indicated that more than 60% of them have food insecurity. In addition, results showed that the most important challenges of food security in rural households of Bushehr Province include “food price increase” and “weakness of agricultural supportive system.” Also based on the results of factor analysis, challenges of food security are categorized in 7 factors include agricultural and environmental challenges, supportive and economical challenges, marketing challenges, professional and cultural challenges, social challenges, technological challenges and climate challenges that totally explained 62% of total factor variance.

Regarding to the undeniable importance of the effectiveness of the provincial supporting funds for development in agriculture (SFDA) in rural and agricultural development, present study aimed at this importance with the case study of North Khorasan province's SFDA. For this purpose in order to data gathering, designed questionnaires were distributed among whole SFDA members and experts in private (rural) and public sector of each agricultural sub-sectors of North Khorasan province (N=66). Also, the Delphi technique, structural equation modeling (SEM) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied for data analyzing. Results indicated that the farming and horticulture subsectors (20.17%) and aquaculture (0.18%) have the most and least share in capital and dedicated loans of SFDA, respectively. In addition, findings of Delphi showed that there are 31 sub-criteria in 4 groups for evaluating the effectiveness of SFDA activities which they include economic, social, production and training-skill. Results of SEM indicated that assessed criteria and sub-criteria are statistically significant. Results of evaluating and ranking of SFDA effectiveness by AHP indicated that SFDA effectiveness in “economic” activities is appropriate, in “social” activities is medium, in “production” and “training-skill” activities isn't appropriate. Also, between economic sub-criteria "lending inexpensive loans", between social sub-criteria "increasing producers bargaining with banks and financial and credit institutions", between production sub-criteria "providing production inputs on time" and finally between training-skill sub-criteria "fixing and developing previous occupations by training", have the most priority of effectiveness.

Due to the importance of measuring the quality of life and the necessity of correct and efficient planning to implement necessity projects to improve and enhance the welfare of villagers, especially their deprived class, there is a basic need for extensive and in-depth studies in rural areas. Therefore, the present study was done, to investigate the factors affecting rural households’ life quality in the climates of East Azerbaijan province. For this purpose, a questionnaire after validity test, in the form of face validity, and reliability test by Scout study method (with Cronbach's alpha coefficient from 0.80 to 0.96) from 384 heads of households by stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment, were completed. In this study, climate classification method of Amberje with climatic indices of rainfall, average maximum and minimum temperature in the warmest and coldest months of the year under the headings climates super-arid of cold, semi-arid super-cold to semi-arid temperate, Mediterranean of super-cold and cold, and semi-humid of ultra-cold was used. According to the results, the average quality of life of villagers was low compared to the average standard score, and had statistically significant difference from it. Of course, due to the suitability of the Mediterranean climate of super-cold and cold of this province for the production of agricultural products, we find increases in the yield and income of agricultural products. Therefore, villagers of this climate statistically with significant difference had more quality of life than the other regions of the province. In addition, this study was able to investigate 50 percent of the important factors that affected the quality of life of villagers in this province. As the results of regression showed that 50 percent from variations of the life quality variable of villagers with 5 factors: "agricultural revenues", "distance of village from suitable asphalt road", "number of educated people in the family", "education level of the head of family", and "level of progress in the use of industrial technologies and methods in agricultural productions", were explainedwhen learning indirect effects on them. Informing about the necessary economic forecasts such as fluctuations in the price of cultivated agricultural products, implementation of construction road projects in the villages of this province, implementation of effective literacy projects and increasing educational facilities in all educational levels in the villages, revival of enterprises and cooperatives of the development of agricultural mechanization and the payment of long-term, low-interest and supervised loans to villagers, especially in unsuitable climates for agricultural productions were the recommendations of this study.

One of the important products in South Khorasan province, Iran, is saffron, which can play a significant role in the lives of farmers, rural development, and agricultural development. The main objective of this study was to investigate the role of saffron business clusters in rural development in South Khorasan province, Iran, during 2019-2020. The study population consisted of managers (n=100), deputies (n=50) and marketers working in workshop on processing of productions (n=150) and saffron sales centers (n=687) in South Khorasan province. A total of 987 people participated in the study. The dependent variable of study was the role of the saffron business clusters in rural development, and also the independent variables included economic and social factors. The results demonstrated that the factors had a positive effect on the level of development in a 0.95% confidence level. Therefore the commercialization of saffron product by creating a strong brand, the design of a coherent network from the rural area to the market, financial support from the government, facilities with low bank loan interest rates for farmers and workshops on saffron, and the creation of rural development policies are recommended.