Factors Affecting the Creation and Maintenance of Social Capital among the Members of Agricultural Cooperatives in Zanjan County

In the recent years, agricultural cooperatives have played an important role in rural development through the development of agriculture. The main purpose of this study is to measure social capital and identify effective factors in the creation and maintenance of social capital among members of agricultural cooperatives in Zanjan. The research method was survey. The statistical population of this study consisted members of agricultural cooperatives in Zanjan (N= 180), 123 of whom were selected by random sampling method (Krejcie and Morgan’s table). The data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. In this study, data analysis was done using SSPS22 software. The face validity of instrument was determined by investigating views of faculty members atZanjanUniversity and experts of Office of Cooperatives. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using pilot test and Cronbach's coefficient alpha. The results showed that tax breaks, the position and social standing of individuals, and training courses before the establishment of the cooperative had the highest priority. The factor analysis classified the creation and maintenance of social capital variables into 9 factors: supportive and social, discipline, job, organizational and management, media-social, flexible rules, elimination of bureaucracy, accountability and information technologies. In total, nine factors could explain 69.6 percent of the total variance of creating and maintaining social capital in agricultural cooperatives. Therefore, removing the administrative bureaucracy and cumbersome rules can increase the process of in-group and out-group transactions. Also, attention to discipline and employment components played a key role in the creation and maintenance process of social capital by training. According to results, some recommendations have been presented at the end of the article.