Studying and investigating the development of rural areas with an emphasis on social capital (a case study of villages in Kermanshah province)

Alireza Esmaili ¹ ( Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, Azad Shahr Branch. Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran )
Mansoor Amini ² ( PhD student in sociology, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran )
Azar Eskandari Charati ³ ( Department of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran )
Rahmatollah Amirahmadi ⁴ ( Azad Shahr IslamicDepartment of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran Azad University )

Submited date : 2024-06-12 Accepted date : 2024-08-12

Keywords: Kermanshah Province, : Social capital, development of rural areas,

Abstract :

The present study is a study and investigation of the development of rural areas with an emphasis on social capital in the villages of Kermanshah province. The research method is quantitative in nature, applied in purpose, and descriptive survey in terms of data collection. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, which includes seven main components and 44 items from the background study, with the reliability calculated from Cronbach's alpha (0.84), and its content validity was confirmed by experts. The statistical population of this research includes the entire population (forty-seven thousand people) of the villagers of Kermanshah province, which Kochran's method was used to obtain the sample size. Using multi-stage cluster sampling, 85 villages were selected and based on the per capita population of each village (questionnaire developed by the researcher for measuring the social capital of the rural areas of Kermanshah) to complete it. To analyze the data, simple linear regression and structural equations were used through SPSS version 26 statistical software and structural equation modeling software (PLS-Smart). Among the indicators of social capital (agricultural knowledge management, social trust, social cohesion and communication, social participation), social participation index with beta coefficient (0.674) had the greatest impact on the dependent variable (development of rural areas). Agricultural knowledge management index had the least impact on the dependent variable (development of rural areas). In order to determine the ability of the independent variable of social capital in predicting the development variable of rural areas, a multivariate regression test was used. The results of the multivariate regression coefficient showed that according to the significance level (0.95) among the social capital indicators (agricultural knowledge management, social trust, social cohesion and communication, social participation), the social participation index with a beta coefficient (0.674) ) has had the greatest impact on the dependent variable (development of rural areas).
Keywords: social trust, population, per capita, social participation