Identifying the Factors Affecting the Participation of Agricultural Cooperatives' Members

Abstract

Problem statement: 40-year history of agricultural production cooperatives in the country shows that this type of exploitation system has faced many ups and downs during this period. First, despite the help and support by the government, the cooperative sector has not been able to play a major role in the development of the country and its share has not exceeded 3% of development program. The main aim of this study is identifying the factors affecting the participation of Shirvan-Chardavol township’s agricultural cooperatives’ members. Approach: This casual comparative applied research which uses survey method for data accumulation, is of Quasi-experimental research type because of  impossibility of controlling the research variables. A researcher-made questionnair was used as the main tool for gathering data. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by a group of university professors and cooperative experts; also the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed through calculating the Kronbach alfa coefficient (a = 0.80). Results: The statistical society of the research included 751 active members of Shirvan-Chardavol township’s agricultural cooperatives, among which 260 people were selected for the study using classified proportional random sampling method and with the aid of Morgan sample-volume table. Data processing was performed using SPSS estatistial software, as well as descriptive estatistics (central and inferential indexes) and analytical estatistics (correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression analysis). Conclusion: The correlation coefficient results show that there is significant relationship between the variables like age, background history of membership in cooperatives, the members’ agricultural land areas, annual income of the members, socio-cultural features, economical features, educational-extensional features, managerial factors, psychological features, political factors and communicational-informational factors from the one hand and the dependent variable of agricultural cooperatives’ members’ level of participation from the other. The multiple regression analysis results showed that variables like political, economic, managerial and social factors have positive effect on the dependent variable of agricultural cooperatives’ members’ participation, describing 65% of the changes of the mentioned dependent variable.