The Effect of Social Capital Aspects on Entrepreneurial Behavior of the Members of Rural Women Cooperatives in Mazandaran Province

Journal of Research and Rural Planning

مقاله 4، دوره 8، شماره 3 - شماره پیاپی 26، آبان 2019، صفحه 45-58   

نوع مقاله: Scientific Articles

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.22067/jrrp.v8i3.74844

نویسندگان

Amir Ahmadpour^{* 1}؛ Fatemeh Arab¹؛ Mohammad Reza Shahraki²

¹Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University

²Gorgan University

چکیده

Purpose- Women play a significant and growing role in business development and their entrepreneurship has attracted so much attention throughout the world. Since women entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior are influenced by several factors, the present study aims to explore the impact of social capital and its components on entrepreneurial behavior of rural women who were members of cooperatives across Mazandaran province, Iran.
Design/methodology/approach- The statistical population was composed of 1396 members of 11 rural women cooperatives out of which 320 individuals were taken as the research sample using proportionately allocated stratified technique based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. Data were collected with a self-designed questionnaire composed of two sections for social capital in five aspects and entrepreneurial behavior in six aspects. The validity of the research instrument was checked by a panel of experts and its reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha to be 0.921 for social capital section and 0.905 for entrepreneurial behavior section. Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential sections using SPSS and LISREL software packages.
Findings- The social participation aspect of social capital and the resource supply aspect of entrepreneurial behavior were ranked the first. The qualitative assessment of social capital and entrepreneurial behavior showed that they were at a satisfactory level among the members of rural women cooperatives. According to the path coefficient calculated in the structural equations (0.9), social capital plays a significant role in entrepreneurial behavior among the members of rural women cooperatives. Also, the results of structural equations revealed that intra-group social participation was the most important aspect of social capital in terms of the influence on the entrepreneurial behavior of rural women.
Research limitations/implications- The dispersion of rural women cooperatives across the province and difficult access to their members to fill the questionnaire were the main constraints of the study.
Practical implications- Entrepreneurial behavior can be strengthened and developed by improving social capital through communication of cooperatives with other agencies and institutions involved in rural affairs such as other successful cooperatives, regular meetings to clarify the activities of cooperatives, and the enhancement of women’s awareness of opportunity recognition and decision-making through holding training workshops and courses of practical entrepreneurship.
Originality/value - The results can be used by relevant organizations to develop and accomplish pre-determined goals for rural women cooperatives through strengthening the issue of entrepreneurship.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Social capital؛ Social participation؛ Entrepreneurial Behavior؛ Rural Women's Cooperatives

مراجع

1. Adam, F., & Roncevic, B. (2003). Social capital: Recent debates and research trends. Social Science Information, 42, 155-183.

2. Adler, P.S. (2002). Social capital prospect for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 17-40.

3. Ado, A., Su, Z., & Wanjiru, R. (2016). Learning and knowledge transfer in Africa-China JVs: Interplay between informalities, culture, and social capital. Journal of International Management, 11, Available online.

4. Ahmadi, F., Shafeie, F., & Mafakherinia, F. (2012). The effect of personal and environmental factors on entrepreneurship behavior among the students in Kordestan University. Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 5(1), 145-163. [In Persian].

5. Alvani, M., Nategh, T., & Farahi, M. (2007). The role of social capital in knowledge management development. Journal of Iranian Management Science, 2(5), 35-70. [In Persian].

6. Anvari, S. (2012). Rural women’s empowerment to manage agricultural and domestic waste to produce vermicompost. Monthly Magazine of Barzgar (Farmer), 32(107), 32-35. [In Persian].

7. Azkia, M., & Firuzabadi, S. (2008). A study on social capital in different land use systems and factors influencing the conversion of peasant system to cooperative. Journal of Social Science Letter, 16(1), 77-98. [In Persian].

8. Bauernschuster, S., Falck, O., & Heblich, S. (2010). Social capital access and entrepreneurship. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 76(3), 21-33.

9. Baumgartner, H., & Homburg, C. (1995). Applications of structural equation modeling in marketing research: A review. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13, 139–161.

10. Bruynis, C., Goldsmith, P.D., Hahn, D.E., & Taylor, W.J. (2001). Critical success factors for emerging agricultural marketing cooperative. Journal of Cooperatives, 16, 14-24.

11. Christoforou, A. (2005). On the determinants of social capital in Greece compared to countries of the European Union. Fondazione Enrico Mattei, Milano FEEM Working paper, No. 68.05.

12. Coleman. J.S. (1998). Absorptive capacity, a new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 128-152.

13. Cramb, R. (2006). Participation in community land care groups: A social capital perspective. Philippine-Australia, land care project, Working Paper No. 6.

14. Ebrahimi, S. (2005). The role of rural women cooperatives in development. Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources Engineering System, 8, 5-9. [In Persian].

15. Echtner, W.Z., Brent-Ritchie, J.R., & Charlotte, M. (2011). Social capital and tourism entrepreneurship. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1570-1593.

16. Gelderman, C.J., Semeijn, J., & Mertschuweit, P.P. (2016). The impact of social capital and technological uncertainty on strategic performance: The supplier perspective. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(3), 225-234.

17. Gulumser, A., Levent, T., Nijkamp, P., & Poot, J. (2012). The role of local and newcomer entrepreneurs in rural development: A comparative meta-analytic study. Retrieved from http://dspace.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/handle/1871/33181/2012-1.pdf

18. Janghorbanian, Z., Kamkar, M., & Samavatian, H. (2010). Entrepreneurship behavior prediction by perceived organization support and emotional intelligence. Journal of Industry and Entrepreneurship, 48, 53-56. [In Persian].

19. Karami, S., & Alibaygi, A. (2015). An analysis of the effect of shared vision on enhancing social capital in agricultural entrepreneurship development. Quarterly Journal of Co-operation and Agriculture, 4(14), 175-201. [In Persian].

20. Kwon, S.W., Heflin, C., & Ruef, M. (2013). Community social capital and entrepreneurship. 78(6): http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs

21. Lin, S., & Huang, Y. (2005). The role of social capital in the relationship between human capital and career mobility. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 6(2), 191-205.

22. Maden, C. (2015). A gendered lens on entrepreneurship: Women entrepreneurship in Turkey. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 30(4),312-331.

23. Madriz, C., Leiva, J.C., & Henn, R. (2018). Human and social capital as drivers of entrepreneurship. Small Business International Review, 2(1), 29-42.

24. Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2006). Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight. Journal of World Business, 41, 36-44.

25. Mohammadi Elyasi, G., Rokni, N., & Tayebi, S. (2011). The role of social networks in identifying entrepreneurial opportunities. Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 4(1), 4-26. [In Persian].

26. Nasrolahi, L., & Jalilvand, M. (2014). Examining the influence of social capital on rural women entrepreneurship: an empirical study in Iran. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 10(3),209-227.

27. Neghabi, S., Zafarian, R., Yousefi, M., & Rezvani, M. (2012). A discussion of the role of networking behavior relationship with entrepreneurship behavior (A case study: Firms in science and technology parks). Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 5(1), 25-43. [In Persian].

28. Onyx, J., & Bullen, P. (2005). Measuring social capital in five communities. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 36(1), 23-42.

29. Poon, J.P.H., Thai, D.T., & Naybor, D. (2011). Social capital and female entrepreneurship in rural regions: Evidence from Vietnam. Applied Geography, 35(1-2), 308-315.

30. Rabiee, A., & Sadeghzadeh, K. (2011). A study of social capital's effect on entrepreneurship. Social Welfare Quarterly, 11(41), 191-222. [In Persian].

31. Rabiei, A., & Sarabi, S. (2013). A study on the impact of social capital and its dimensions on women entrepreneurship (A case of Association of Iranian Women Entrepreneurs). Quarterly Journal of Socio-Cultural Development Studies, 1(4), 33-68. [In Persian].

32. Rahimi, S. (2008). A look at the role of cooperatives in the viability of entrepreneurs. Specific Journal of Cooperative and Entrepreneur Conference, 196. [In Persian].

33. Shahosseini, M. (2012). A study on the effect of social capital on the performance of women flowing credit associations in Tehran (Unpublished master’s Thesis). Tehran, Iran: Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University. [In Persian].

34. Shakiba, H., Hejazi, S., & Hosseini, S. (2016). The relationship between social capital and entrepreneurship intention among agriculture students of Tehran University. Agricultural Education Administration Research, 8(38), 78-89. [In Persian].

35. Shiri, S., & Ajili, A. (2010). The role of female entrepreneurs in rural women cooperatives. Journal of Dehati, 80, 3-38. [In Persian].

36. Shook, C.L., Ketchen, D.J., Hult, G.T.M., & Kacmar, K.M. (2004). An assessment of the use of structural equation models in strategic management research. Strategic Management Journal, 25(4), 397–404.

37. Talebi, K., & Zahedi Anbardan, Y. (2016). Competitiveness model of manufacturer cooperatives with relying on entrepreneurial strategy. Quarterly Journal of Co-operation and Agriculture, 5(17), 75-99. [In Persian].

38. Thompson, J.L. (1999). A strategic perspective of entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 5(6),279-296.

39. Yohanes, F., Zainul, A., & Kholid, M.M. (2017). The influence of social capital and entrepreneurship orientation on business strategy and performance of micro, small and medium enterprises: A study in Timor Tengah Utara. RJOAS, 12(72), 93-99.

40. Yoon, H., Yun, S., Lee, J., & Phillips, F. (2015). Entrepreneurship in East Asian regional innovation systems: Role of social capital. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 100, 83-95.

41. Zare, S., Namiranian, M., Shabanali Fami, H., & Ghasemi, J. (2011). [The role of social capital on citizen's participation in the management of forest parks (Case study: Tehran city)]. Iranian Journal of Forest, 2(4), 273-285. [In Persian].