The Nexus of Rural Ecotourism Entrepreneurship and Social Factors: Where Is the Missing Link of its Development?
Subject Areas : Geography and tourism planning, geography and urban planning, urban planning, architecture, geography and rural planning, political geography
Soofia Abbasi
1
,
Seyed Mehdi Mirdamadi
2
,
Maryam Omidi Najafabadi
3
,
Seyed Jamal Farajollah Hosseini
4
1 - aDepartment of Economics, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Economics, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Economics, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Ecotourism, Rural tourism, Social factors,
Abstract :
This research has been conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of social factors on the development of rural ecotourism entrepreneurship in Dezful tourism villages. This research is a descriptive-correlation type that was conducted using a survey method. Residents of tourism villages of Dezful constitute the statistical population of this research, based on the Cochrane formula and the use of stratified random sampling, 381 households were selected as the research sample.The main tool of this research is a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were tested and confirmed. In order to analyze data and test research hypotheses, structural equation modeling with partial least squares approach and PLS Smart software have been used. The findings showed that networking in the village, social participation, education and information, social capital and tourism capacities explain a total of 62.5% of the changes related to the rural ecotourism entrepreneurship. From this research, it can be concluded that social factors are always effective in the growth or retardation of rural ecotourism entrepreneurship according to their collective and cultural potential, and along with economic, historical, cultural and political factors, they can help the development of rural ecotourism entrepreneurship
