The Relationship between Different Dimensions of Social Capital and Rural Development from the Perspective of Villagers  (Case study: villages in Ilam Township)

Ghanbari, Nozar; Heidarkhani, Habil; Rostami, Moslem

The Relationship between Different Dimensions of Social Capital and Rural Development from the Perspective of Villagers (Case study: villages in Ilam Township)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Nozar Ghanbari

Habil Heidarkhani

Moslem Rostami

Abstract

Rural development ,on one hand, is based on the participation of local residents, through dialogue, consultation and cooperation and on the other hand, identifies the comparative advantage of each area to take into consideration the development strategies.
Considering the importance of the issue, the researchers used field study technique, questionnaires, SPSS, and AMOS, and also based their study on Putnam's theory, Giddens, Rogers and Paxton to examine the relationship between different dimensions of social capital and rural development. The study sample consisted of people over 18 years old living in villages in Ilam township and 368 of them as the sample size has been studied.
The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between social trust (P=0.35), social cohesion (P=0.31), community involvement (P=0.42), social awareness (P=0.23) and social interaction (P=0.18) with rural development and direct views of the villagers. Regression analysis shows that the 0.33 of changing attitudes to rural development from the perspective of the villagers depend on the five dimensions of social capital. The results of AMOS structural equation model also shows that social capital has a moderate to high impact on attitudes to rural development (0.49).

Keywords

Social Capital

Rural Development

Social trust

Social cohesion

community involvement

Social awareness