درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose - Agro-tourism and the development of farm-based tourism businesses have emerged as a creative and innovative approach to rural tourism, which exploits the potentials and capabilities of agricultural activities as unique opportunities for employment and development and poverty alleviation. The purpose of this study is to identify opportunities and areas for Agro-tourism development in rural areas of Tehran Province. Design/methodology/approach - This is an applied research that adopts a descriptive-analytical approach. The statistical population of the study consisted of the rural areas of Tehran Province, of which 8 towns and three villages from each town were selected as the sample. Data collection was conducted using both library and field survey methods; however, the main focus of the research was on field studies, which involved a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. The questionnaires were prepared for three groups of villagers, tourists, and officials separately. The sample size for villagers was determined using Cochran formula (n=261). Also, since the exact number of tourists and officials was not known, the sample size of these two groups was selected using purposive method (n=31 and n=20, respectively). Data were analyzed using descriptive (mean and frequency) and inferential statistical methods (Chi-square test, one-sample t-test and Mann-Whitney test). Findings- The results suggest that government support and infrastructure improvement, the organization of local festivals related to farm products, the participation of tourists in harvesting, the direct presence of tourists in farming, job creation, and promotion of rural income levels are the most factors that influence Agro-tourism development in rural areas of Tehran Province. According to the results, showed all respondents agreed on the positive impact of the studied measures on Agro-tourism development.

Purpose- The irrigated wheat farms of Doroudzan District in Marvdasht County, Fars Province face agricultural water deficit challenges due to mis-management of water resources. This research aims at investigating water conflict strategies among the irrigated wheat farms of Doroudzan Dam Network. Design/methodology/approach- The study was descriptive regarding its nature and used survey research procedure. The statistical population included 803 wheat farmer households residing in Ramjerd 2 and Abarj Dehestans in Doroudzan District. According to Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) sample size table, the samples were 260wheat farmers selected based on simple random sampling technique. Systematic questionnaires were used to collect data by means of face-to-face interviews. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts, and a pilot study was also done to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. The estimated Cronbach's alpha coefficients were between the accepted range (i.e. 0.50 - 0.75) for the different measures used in this study. Findings- Results revealed that the most prevalent conflicts were intra-group conflicts among the counterparts. Verbal conflicts were the current form of water conflicts regarding the conflict intensity in the region. Physical attacks and third party (police) controls were placed in the second and third position. The results of cluster analysis indicated three clusters of farmers; “educated aggressors”, “low-literate aggressors” and “peace-oriented farmers”. All the clusters were statistically different regarding their demographic characteristics (age and education level), farming-system portfolio (area under cultivation, annual income and cost) and water conflict in response to water shortages. According to the contingency table, collaboration strategy was the prominent conflict management strategy among the three groups followed by compromising strategy. Research limitations / implications- The lack of institutional support to get information on conflict attacks among the rural residents and the time-consuming nature of the survey study are the most important challenges in this study. Practical implications-According to the findings, it is of prominent importance to provide the context of problem solving with counterparts. As a result, it needs more attempts to share all the stakeholders’ interests to reach a common decision. It seems that reaching a satisfactory solution needs drawing out different parties’ expectations to help them get organized through collaboration. Originality/value- Numerous studies have been carried out on water deficiencies. However, this study is the first in the context of rural settlement and valued based on the analysis of the conflict management strategies among famer groups that has not been addressed in previous studies.

Purpose- To identify and prioritize factors influencing the creation of rural entrepreneurship opportunities in Iran Design/methodology/approach- A deductive approach was adopted. In this applied research, a mixed method was employed, which consisted of a descriptive-analytical method and a survey. The main data gathering tool was questionnaire. The research population comprised of university professors specialized in the field of rural entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurs, rural managers and rural experts (n=30). In the first step, based on a review of literature, indicators influencing the creation of entrepreneurial opportunities were identified, and then the ANP-DEMATEL was used for evaluation and prioritization of the indicators. Findings- Based on cause-effect chart, the economic and infrastructural factors were assigned to the category of causes and individual, socio-cultural and political factors to the category of effects. On the other hand, the economic and political factors had the highest and lowest interaction with other factors, respectively. The results of the integrated analytical network process (ANP) and DEMATEL method showed that the economic factor had the greatest effect followed by infrastructural, sociocultural and individual components (with slight weight difference). The political component with the value of 0.1253 not only had the lowest importance, but was significantly different from other factors in terms of weight values. Research limitations/implications- Measuring the effects of factors influencing the creation of entrepreneurial opportunities along with their interrelation and mutual impact using a system approach or ISM technique. Practical implications- Given the myriad of problems affecting rural areas, such as unemployment, migration of rural labor to urban areas and diminished sense of belonging, among other things, it is essential to pay greater attention to entrepreneurship and its implementation to achieve sustainable rural development. Besides, by identifying the root causes and factors influencing rural entrepreneurship, it is possible to offer solutions for organizing entrepreneurship. If policy makers, planners, and rural managers adopt these strategies, sustainable rural development could be reinforced. Originality/value- Providing the most important indicators influencing the creation of rural entrepreneurship opportunities, prioritizing and measuring the impact of those factors on each other using ANP-DEMATEL method. In particular, the results of this research can benefit managers and decision makers in the field of rural entrepreneurship. The results can also be beneficial to universities, higher education institutions and students.

Purpose - In a good governance pattern with a broad participation of people, increasing self-reliance, pluralism, cooperation between actors, and the transfer of power to local levels can be key to solving the problem of rural development, increasing the quality of settlements and the quality of life of villagers; hence creating sustainable villages. Accordingly, the main purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of good governance on the increase of the physical quality of rural settlements. Design/methodology/approach- The present study is descriptive-analytic. Questionnaires were used to collect data. After applying the Cochran formula, 192 questionnaires were prepared. The population of this study is 13 villages with local managers in Neyshbur. In order to measure the purpose and analyze data, one-sample T-test, Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling using smart PLS software were used. Finding- The results of the research showed that, based on the T-test, there was not a favorable situation in both good rural governance and physical quality of rural settlements. Based on Pearson's test, it was found that in the seven villages of Khanlogh, Sarachah, Bashnij, Mobarakeh, Bahrodi, Hoseinabad and Mirabad the relationship between good governance and physical quality of rural settlements was significant. The results of the PLS model also indicated that a good rural governance of 62% affects the improvement of the physical quality of rural settlements. Practical implications- Proposals that can be effective in improving good governance practice in order to improve the physical quality of rural settlements include: informing and educating people about the principle of construction in villages, effort-making of local managers to attract the cooperation of relevant organizations to improve the physical quality of rural settlements, creating a suitable field for attracting people's conscious participation in improving their physical condition, creating coordination and interaction between local managers to solve physical problems in the village. Originality/value - This study was innovative because it focused on the impact of good rural governance on the increase of the physical quality of rural settlements. In fact, in this research for each of these two variables, separate indices have been considered and the relationship between them has been evaluated.