مطالب

Purpose- This study aims to examine the delivery and quality of rural tourism services from the perspective of managers of eco-lodges in Guilan Province, Iran. It also seeks to identify the key reasons behind the lack of adoption of service quality standards by these managers. The significance of the topic lies in its contribution to sustainable tourism development, enhancement of rural residents’ quality of life, and improvement of tourist satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach- This applied research employed a descriptive-analytical approach. Data were collected through both library and field methods. The statistical population included all licensed eco-lodges in Guilan Province (126 units), which were studied using a census method. Data collection was carried out using the standard SERVQUAL questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 through descriptive statistics, one-sample t-tests, factor analysis, and the Friedman test. Findings- The results revealed a significant gap between the current quality of services and the desired standards in the eco-lodges of Guilan. Most managers perceived the official service quality standards as inefficient or impractical. The primary reasons cited included inadequate infrastructure, insufficient training, and weak supervisory systems. Research limitations/implications- The study is limited to a single province and reflects solely the managers’ viewpoints. Future research is recommended to include the perspectives of tourists and regulatory authorities. Additionally, developing and localizing service quality assessment models tailored to the characteristics of rural accommodations is suggested. Practical implications- To enhance service quality, the study recommends providing training programs for managers, improving tourism infrastructure, revising service quality indicators, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems. Showcasing successful models from other regions can also help increase the efficiency of eco-lodges. Originality/ value- By focusing on the perspectives of service providers as key stakeholders, this study offers a novel contribution and can serve as a reference for policymakers, tourism practitioners, and investors aiming to improve rural tourism service quality.

The present study sought to investigate the prevalence of plagiarism in graduate theses submitted by Iranian students. To this end, a corpus comprising 43 Master's theses in Trans-lation Studies and 46 Master's theses in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) was analyzed utilizing the iThenticate plagiarism detection software. The content of the the-ses was scrutinized to identify instances of plagiarism, defined as the verbatim reproduction or paraphrasing of passages from published sources without proper citation. The findings revealed several cases where students had paraphrased entire excerpts from books or journal articles without providing adequate citations. Furthermore, the data showed a higher inci-dence of plagiarism in Translation Studies theses relative to TEFL theses, with Chapter 2 exhibiting the most pronounced discrepancies. Although the degree of overlap between source texts and student work was substantially greater in TEFL theses, the extent of plagia-rism, as defined by the verbatim reproduction of copyrighted material, was more prevalent in Translation Studies theses. A chi-square test corroborated the presence of a statistically significant difference between the frequencies of plagiarism in the two disciplines under examination.