فهرست مطالب لیلا صفا

Considering the importance of greenhouse crops on the one hand and the need to improve the level of technical knowledge and skills of greenhouse owners in order to increase their production performance on the other hand, this survey research was conducted with the main purpose of identifying and analyzing the training needs of greenhouse owner in Zanjan province. The statistical population of the research was made up of 147 active greenhouse owners with operation licenses in Zanjan province in 2022 of which 120 were selected through the stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The research instrument for data collection was a questionnaire, the content validity of which was established by the faculty members of University of Zanjan and the experts of Jihad Agriculture Organization of Zanjan Province. In order to check the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was also conducted, and the value of Cronbach's alpha calculated for the main scale of the questionnaire named training needs of greenhouse owners. The results of reliability analysis through Cronbach's alpha demonstrated an acceptable (i.e., 0.89) level of reliability for the research instrument. The collected data were analyzed using SPSSWin26 software. The results showed that the greenhouse owners' training needs in Zanjan Province can be loaded on six components including “factors related to technical issues before planting and after harvesting”, “technical issues related to crop planting”, “greenhouse management and harvesting and packaging”, “methods of marketing, advertising and value enhancement of the crop”, “location and technical issues related to the design of the greenhouse”, and “pests and diseases and their management”. Moreover, the results indicated that the intensity of training needs among the surveyed greenhouse owners, especially cucumber producers, was high, indicating the necessity of compiling and implementing related courses to cover the greenhouse owners' training needs.

Unemployment of agricultural and natural resources graduates is one of the challenges that can be solved to some extent by forming agricultural cooperatives. In the various fields of production, distribution of inputs, conversion and processing, and marketing of agricultural products agricultural cooperatives are of the necessary potential to create employment for agricultural graduates. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the behavioral intention of agricultural students towards the formation of agricultural cooperatives using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The statistical population is all undergraduate students of Lorestan University in the academic year 1400. Using Cochran's formula, 363 cases were determined as the sample size. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed by content validity analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficients, respectively. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS and PLS software. The results showed that the behavioral intention of students to form agricultural cooperatives is influenced by the variables of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, and these three variables are also affected by the three variables of behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and controlled beliefs, respectively. According to the results, the effects of students' behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and controlled beliefs on their attitude, subjective beliefs, and perceived behavioral control towards the formation of agricultural cooperatives were significant. Also, the three variables of attitude, subjective beliefs, and perceived behavioral control have significant effects on students' behavioral intention towards forming agricultural cooperatives. These three variables explained 62.7% of the variance of students' intention. The implications of this research can be a guide for cooperative planners and those in charge of the employment of students in the field of agriculture and natural resources.

The health of humans is some way related to the quality of food consumed by them; therefore, at present, the production of organic agricultural products is a necessity of the agricultural sector. In this regard, the behavior of farmers in the use of organic farming is very important. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of greenhouse owners in organic cultivation of strawberries and the analyze determinants of cleaner production in strawberry greenhouses. Statistical population of the study were strawberry growers in Alborz province (N=159). Sample size determined via Krejcie and Morgan’s table(n=114). Sampling method was Stratified random sampling. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by a panel of experts. Also, To determine the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot test was conducted and then Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated (between 0.71 - 0.9). The results of the regression analysis showed that three variables of financial and skill, attitude and intellectual / knowledge power in about 47 percent of the changes related to organic agricultural behavior were explained in the form of planned behavior model. Also, according to the Extended Model of Planned Behavior, four variables of social factors, financial and skill ability, intellectual ability/knowledge and attitude explained about 70% of the changes related to organic agricultural behavior.

the main objective of this research was to investigate the effects and consequences of sustainable agriculture activity in the framework of the project “modeling local community participation in lake Urmia restoration via establishment of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation”. This research was a descriptive-correlational study in terms of research method. The statistical population of the research consisted of all participants in sustainable agriculture activity in the villages covered by phases 6 and 7 of the project in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan (N = 900). According to the table of Bartlett et al. (2001), 251 persons of the participants were selected using multi-stage random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study was conducted to determine the reliability of the research instrument. The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed that the effects and consequences of sustainable agriculture activity were classified into three factors: environmental, social and economic, respectively, and explained a total of about 59 percent of the variances of project implementation effects. In general, according to the results, it can be concluded that in accordance with the three main dimensions of sustainable development, the implementation of sustainable agriculture activity has been able to improve the livelihoods of local communities through social capacity building and modeling the participation of local communities in parallel with paying attention to environmental considerations.

In recent decades, unsustainable development of agricultural activities in the Lake Urmia (LU) catchment area has led to drying up of a significant part of the lake. In addition to the negative impacts on the quality of life of local communities around the lake, this issue has had a devastating effect on the quality and quantity of agricultural activities in the region. Accordingly, it seems that the development of sustainable agriculture (SA) can be considered as one of the most important steps towards the revitalization of LU. Due to the importance of the subject, the main purpose of this applied research was to identify and analyze the strategies for the development of sustainable agricultural activities in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan in order to revitalize LU. The statistical population of the research was 27 renowned experts and specialists in the Conservation of Iranian’s Wetlands Office, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Department of Environmental Protection, and Agricultural Technical-engineering Firms in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. In this research, first, internal and external factors affecting SA activities were identified using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) technique. Then, the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique was employed to prioritization of acceptable strategies for the development of SA activities. According to the results, in both West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan provinces, the opportunities for SA activities outweighed its threats, and at the same time, the strengths of SA activities outweighed its weaknesses. Also, the results of this research showed that in terms of strategic position, SA activities in both West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan provinces were in a developmental position or maximum-maximum. In this regard, the most important joint strategies at the level of both provinces were included "institutional empowerment and synergy of inter-sectoral capacities in order to use the existing potentials in different governmental and non-governmental sectors in the provinces" and "linking SA activity with environmental protection issues with emphasis on the conservation of LU".

Due to the critical conditions of lake Urmia, the plan of “modeling local community participation in lake Urmia restoration via establishment of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation” began in 2014 in the villages of the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. One of the main objectives of this plan was to identify and extend livelihoods with low water needs, which has been implemented in recent years in the form of the "diversifying the livelihoods of rural households" (DLRH) project. Considering the importance of the project and the various barriers facing its implementation, the main purpose of this applied research was to identify internal and external factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project and formulate diversification strategies for rural households in order to revitalize lake Urmia. The statistical population of the research was 27 relevant experts and specialists in the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project Office, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Departments of Environmental Protection and Agricultural Technical-engineering Firms in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. In this research, first, internal (i.e., strengths and weaknesses) and external (i.e., opportunities and threats) factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project were identified using SWOT technique. Then, the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique was employed to prioritization of acceptable strategies for the development of the DLRH project. The results of the SWOT technique showed that the DLRH project was in a competitive strategic position (maximum-minimum) in West Azerbaijan province, implying that efforts should be made to avoid threats by using strengths; while the strategic position of the project was in a position of change of direction (minimum-maximum) in East Azerbaijan province, and consequently, it is recommended to take advantage of the opportunities to eliminate the weaknesses of the project. Eventually, according to the results of this study, the two main strategies to diversify the livelihoods of rural households in West Azerbaijan province, respectively, were included "professional empowerment and promotion of villagers' cognitive and skill areas" and "emphasis on the use of female facilitators in the structure of administrator firms of the project; these strategies in East Azerbaijan province also were included "development of production clusters in order to integrate and synergy rural small businesses", "more attention to facilitating the marketing of products".

Despite the importance of virtual social networks (VSNs) in improving the quality of learning, students' educational use of these networks is not very desirable. Given the importance of the issue, this descriptive-correlational study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the use of VSNs by agricultural students based on the technology acceptance model. The statistical population of the study was included all agricultural students of University of Zanjan (N = 1227). Based on Krejcie-Morgan table, 296 of the students were selected for the study using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool in this study was a questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its construct validity and composite reliability were obtained by estimating the measurement model. The results showed that "sending homework and classroom activities", "access to the latest information and news about educational issues", and "informing other students in different educational fields" were the main uses of VSNs by the surveyed students. Moreover, four variables of perceived playfulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived anxiety were accounted for 72 percent of the variance of the perceived ease and two variables of perceived usefulness and perceived ease were accounted for 67 percent of the variance of attitude. Similarly, the attitude was explained 45 percent of the variance of students' use of VSNs. According to the findings, the main suggestions of the study were included holding briefings, seminars and workshops to familiarize students with how to use VSNs, supporting and providing appropriate technical services to students, employingprint media to inform students about the facilities and capabilities of different VSNs, applying known VSNs for educational activities, and increasing students' information and media literacy.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the villagers’ food security situation in Zanjan County and to identify its relationship with their demographic characteristics. The statistics population of this research was all heads of households in rural areas of Zanjan County. The population was 25864 cases based on the general census in 2016. According to formula developed by Bartlett and his colleagues in 2001, a sample of 379 household heads was selected using a multistage sampling approach. A questionnaire was employed to collect the data. A panel of experts at University of Zanjan confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. Cronbach alpha coefficients for the main scales of questionnaire were at appropriate level (higher than 0.70). The software of SPSS and AMOS20 were used to analyze the data, and the results were presented in two sections of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of villagers’ food security based on Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) showed that the majority of respondents (67.4 percent) suffering from severe food insecurity. The results of the correlation analysis revealed that there were significant negative relationships between food security and the variables agricultural experience, village distance to the nearest city, and village distance to the nearest market and shopping center. Whereas, there were significant positive relationships between food security and variables irrigated lands, monthly income from non-agricultural activities, and level of social interactions and participation. Findings of the comparison test indicated that there was a significant difference among villagers’ food security in terms of main occupation.

The main objective of this research was modeling the factors affecting rural households’ food security in Zanjan County. The statistical population of the current research was 25864 rural household heads in Zanjan County which based on Bartlett et al. (2001) formula, 353 of them were selected using a two-stage sampling method. A questionnaire was used for data collection. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and as well as the construct validity and the reliability of the questionnaire were obtained after making necessary corrections. The collected data were analyzed using SPSSWin22 and Smart PLS3 software. The descriptive results of the research showed that most of the surveyed respondents (more than two thirds) were in severe food insecurity situation. Moreover, the results of structural equation modeling revealed that each of five factors of economic, policy-regulatory, educational-information, family and geographical had positive and significant effects on rural household heads’ food security level and explained about 57.9 percent of variances in the dependent variable. However, the relationship between social factors and the food security level was not significant.

Water is one of the most essential components of the natural environment and at the same time one of the main inputs of the agricultural sector which its shortage has led to many communities have faced the serious challenges. In this regard, many researchers and experts consider human beings as the pivot of water resources conservation programs and believe that conservation of water resources depends on accurate understanding of the components and constructs affecting stakeholders' conservation intentions and behaviors in different sections especially in the agricultural sector. Considering the importance of the issue, the main purpose of this descriptive-correlative research was to identify of factors affecting farmers' intention to perform water resources conservation measures (WRCMs) based on the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). The statistical population of the study comprised farmers in the central district of Zanjan County among which 330 persons were selected through random sampling method. A questionnaire based on the extended TPB model was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. The empirical results of the study indicated that the main components of the original TPB model including attitude, perceived behavioral control and social norms had statistically significant positive effects on the intention to perform WRCMs and explained about 45% of its variances. Furthermore, after the inclusion of the variable of moral norms in the TPB model, the predictive power of the model was found to increase up to 6%. According the findings, the main suggestions of this study to improve farmers' intention to perform WRCMs are: giving financial facilities and credits and providing technical advice by experts, implementing large-scale social awareness programs, and highlighting the importance of conserving water resources as an important moral norm.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of nutritional awareness and attitude on rural households’ food security level in Zanjan County. The statistical population of the study was 25864 rural household heads of Zanjan County among which 353 persons were selected using a stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts at University of Zanjan confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. Additionally, the construct validity (including convergent, divergent, and nomological validity) and composite reliability of the research instrument were obtained by estimating measurement model and after making necessary corrections. The data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. The descriptive results of the research showed that the level of food security for the majority of respondents was low. Moreover, the results of the structural equation modeling revealed that two variables of nutritional awareness and nutritional attitude and its components including food hygiene, food safety and health, nutritional value and food price and quality had positive and significant effects on rural household heads’ food security level explaining about 68 percent of its variances. Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that improving villagers’ nutritional attitude and awareness, especially by providing them with the necessary educations is one of the basic preconditions for increasing food security among them.

Due to the importance of water as one of the main agricultural inputs and at the same time, the destruction of water resources and the occurrence of water shortage crisis in the agricultural sector in recent years and also considering the farmers' pivotal role in programs and strategies of sustainable water resources management, this study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting water resources conservation behaviors (WRCBs) among farmers. The statistical population of the study comprised all farmers in the rural areas of central district of Zanjan County among which 330 persons were selected through multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. A panel of experts confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire and the construct validity and composite reliability of the research instrument were obtained by estimating measurement model and after making necessary corrections. According to the results obtained, most of the surveyed farmers did not adequately adhere to various WRCBs (including crop-related actions, irrigation-related actions, soil-related actions and actions related to equipment and technology) and they applied these actions on a relatively small level. Also, the results of estimating two structural models using multivariate technique of structural equation modeling revealed that the two main constructs of the protection motivation theory including, threat appraisal and coping appraisal (explaining 55% of variances) as well as its five components including, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, response efficacy, response costs and self-efficacy (explaining 60% of variances) had significant effects on WRCBs. Overall, the findings of this research verified the validity and efficiency of the protection motivation theory in explaining and predicting pro-environmental behaviors such as WRCBs.

Today, environmental problems have created a serious threat to the sustainability of rural communities. Many scholars maintain that a significant part of these problems is primarily caused by human’s environmentally irresponsible Behaviours. Therefore, investigation and recognition of individuals’ environmental Behaviours are a key prerequisite to resolve the environmental problems. Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to study factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County (N= 34308). According to the Bartlett et al. (2001) formula, 380 of them were selected by a multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which its content validity confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study conducted to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at appropriate levels (ranged from 0.689 to 0.867). The results indicated that the surveyed villagers showed pro-environmental Behaviours at a relatively low level. According to results, variables of the awareness of the consequences of non-compliance of pro-environmental Behaviours, the use of information and communication resources in the field of environmental issues, agricultural experience and attitudes towards doing pro-environmental Behaviours were the main factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in terms of the existence/absence of environmental organizations so that the villagers behaved more pro-environmentally in the regions with the organization

The main purpose of this descriptive- survey research was to study of barriers to commercialization of nanotechnology products in the Iran’s Agricultural sector. The statistical population of the study consisted of 275 researchers employed in 22 National Agricultural Research Centers/ Institutions. According to the Krejcie and Morgan table, 160 of the researchers were selected using a random sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in the University of Tehran. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at appropriate level. The results showed that the importance of the all five factors examined in the research conceptual model was verified based on the field data (fit of the model). The factors namely, political- supportive, infrastructural, financial, managerial and knowledge- cognitive were ranked first to fifth in explaining and identifying the barriers to commercialization of nanotechnology products in the Iran’s Agricultural sector by explaining 66.1 percent of total variances, respectively.

The main purpose of this descriptive-correlative research was to develop a theoretical model for the investigation of factors affecting farmers’ intention to use Habrobracon hebetor to control tomato Heliothis spp. based on Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The statistical population of the study was 1666 tomato producers in Tarom County in Zanjan Province among which 330 producers were selected by stratified sampling method. The standard questionnaire was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity (value range of factor loadings was from 0.58 to 0.94 and Average Variance Extracted was from 0.524 to 0.677) and the composite reliability (values range from 0.766 to 0.857) of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were modified after making necessary corrections. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique. The empirical results of the study revealed that the main components of the original TPB model including attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy had statistically significant positive effects on the variable intention to use Habrobracon hebetor and explained about 51% of its variances. Furthermore, after inclusion of the variable moral norms as the additional predictor of intention in the extended TPB model, the predictive power of the model was found to increase up to 7%. The findings not only provide more empirical evidences in the cognitive processing of intention to use biological control methods, but also provide useful information for the extension of the use of green/clean methods for pests control.

Evidence shows that agriculture high school educators' job performance is not at a desirable level, which has increased the necessity to recognize the variables affecting improvement of their job performance. Therefore, the main objective of this descriptive-correlative research was to examine the effect of psychological empowerment dimensions on agricultural high school educators' job performance in the North West provinces. The statistical population consisted of all educators of agricultural high school in the four provinces of Iran, including West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardebil and Zanjan (N=295), of which a sample size of 210 people was selected using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire. The construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. Data were collected and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling Multivariate Technique. The results verified the hypotheses of the research in the way that five dimensions of psychological empowerment including competence, self-determination, impact, meaning and trust had significant effects on the dependent variable of educators' job performance explaining about 40 percent of its variances. Overall, it can conclude that one of the main prerequisites for increasing the educators' job performance is to improve the level of psychological empowerment of educators by paying attention to its main dimensions, in particular, meaning and competence (self-efficacy).

Today, environmental issues have created a serious threat to environmental sustainability of rural communities. In this respect, many experts believe that human behaviors are the most important cause of environmental problems that it is necessary to be examined carefully. Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to study of factors affecting villagers’ pro-environmental behavior based on theory of planned behavior. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Sojasroud district of Khodabandeh County in Zanjan Province (N= 2354). According to the Bartlett et al. (2001) Table, 259 of them were selected by a two-stage sampling method. Data collected using standard questionnaire. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. Construct validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed through examining of model fit in three levels of measurement model, structural model and total model. The descriptive results showed that the most of villagers’ pro-environmental behavior were at medium (58.5 percent) and low (29.3 percent) levels. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control with intention to perform pro-environmental behavior. In addition to this, there was a positive and significant relationship between intention to perform pro-environmental behavior and social norms with villagers’ pro-environmental behavior. According to the results, it is suggested that villagers’ knowledge and awareness on methods and techniques of pro-environmental activities has been increased through the different extension mechanisms particularly holding the extension-education courses, and on the other hand, supportive policies to protect the environment to be made and implemented with emphasis on villagers participation.

Pro-environmental modeling of rural people based on the theory of Value-Belief-Norm was the main objective of this survey study. The statistical population of the research consisted all of the rural household heads of Sojasroud district of Khodabandeh County in Zanjan Province (N= 2354) of which a sample size of 259 individuals was selected by a proportional stratified sampling method. Data was collected using standard questionnaires. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and the construct validity and reliability were confirmed through validity and reliability were confirmed through examining of model fit in three levels of measurement model, structural model and total model. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique (Partial Least Squares) was used to analyze data. So Smart PLS2.0 software was applied. The results indicated that components of values, ecological ideology, awareness of consequences, responsibility and personal norms had positive and significant effects on dependent variable of villagers’ pro-environmental behavior explaining about 68.6 percent of its variances.

Dramatic changes in the market in the last two decades, especially the increasing diversification of customer expectations and intensifying market competition, have led to increasingly consider improving the performance of businesses and identifying its affecting factors. In this regard, scholars have always emphasized marketing capabilities. Given the importance of the issue, the objective of this research was to investigate the effect of marketing capabilities on financial and customer performance of greenhouse businesses. Research method of the study was descriptive- correlative. The population of this research was all of greenhouse keepers in Jiroft County that a sample with an appropriate number was selected using a stratified random-sampling method. Data was collected through structured questionnaires which have been used in the previous studies. Data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique. Results showed that marketing capabilities had a positive and significant effect on financial performance and explained about 50% of its variance. In addition, the results indicated that indirect effect of marketing capabilities on financial performance through the variable of customer performance was significant and customer performance partially mediated relationship between marketing capabilities and financial performance.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediation effect of Healthy Life Style (HLS) in the relationship between Health Literacy (HL) and Rural Women’ s Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL). The statistical population of the study consisted of 13835 rural women aged from 15 to 64 years old in West Islam Abad Township. According to Bartlett, Kotrlik & Higgins’ Table (2001), 250 person of the them were selected using multiple stage sampling method for doing study. Standard questionnaires (after adjusting the questions with the field of research) were employed for data collection. Content validity of the questionnaires confirmed by experts and construct validity and composite reliability of the questionnaires satisfied by estimating the measurement model. Collected data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique and the Bootstrapping method was used for testing mediating effect. The results showed that HL had a positive and significant effect on HRQL (β=0.518, ρ-value=0.001) and explained about 27 percent of its variances. Moreover, the results indicated that sum of indirect effect of HL on HRQL through the variable of HLS was significant (β=0.175, ρ-value=0.001) and HLS partially mediated positive effect of HL on HRQL.

The main purpose of this research was to study the factors affecting on rural women’s intentions of using herbal medicines. The statistical population of the research consisted of women referred to rural health centers in central district of Karaj township. The sample size consisted of 110 subjects selected by using two-stage sampling technique. Standard questionnaires developed by Mohammdi Zeidi et al. (2012) and Luo et al. (2013) helped to collect data. A panel of experts confirmed content validity of the questionnaires. Construct validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed through examining of model fit in three levels of measurement model, structural model and total model. For analyzing data Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique (Partial Least Squares) was used through Smart PLS software. The results showed that two variables of social norms and perceived behavioral control had a positive and significant effect on rural women’s attitude towards the use of herbal medicines. The results also revealed that variables of social norms, perceived behavioral control and attitude had a positive and significant effect on rural women’s intention to use herbal medicines and explained about 61 percent of its variances.

This descriptive survey research was conducted to investigate the effect of customer performance on the relationship between financial performance and entrepreneurial marketing. The population of the study was comprised of all the greenhouse keepers in the county of Jiroft in Kerman Province (N = 1022). According to the table proposed by Bartlett et al. (2001), a sample size of 246 was selected using a stratified random sampling method. The data were collected through standard questionnaires and analyzed with the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique, using AMOS20 software. The bootstrapping method was used for testing the mediating effect. The results showed that entrepreneurial marketing has a positive and significant effect on financial performance (ρ-value = 0.001, β = 0.66); it explained about 44 percent of its variances. In addition, as the results indicated, the sum of the indirect effects of entrepreneurial marketing on financial performance through the variable of customer performance was significant (ρ-value = 0.001, β = 0.214), and customer performance partially mediated the effect of entrepreneurial marketing on financial performance.

Given the importance of performance as the main indicator of the success of businesses, in the recent years, researchers have always been seriously seeking to investigate the factors affecting it. Meanwhile, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial marketing have more attracted as compared with others factors due to the necessity of businesses tendency toward risky activities and innovative actions on the one hand and increasing diversification of customers’ expectations and demands and intensified competition in the market on the other hand. Considering the importance of issue, this descriptive survey research was undertaken to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial marketing in relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. The population of this study was all of greenhouse owners in Jiroft County in Kerman Province (N= 1022). A sample size of 246 was selected using a stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. Data was collected through the standard questionnair and was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique. The Bootstrapping method was used for testing mediating effect. The results showed that entrepreneurial orientation had a positive and significant effect on performance (p-value=0.001, β=0.780) and explained about 61 percent of its variances. In addition to this, the results indicated that sum of indirect effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance through the variable of entrepreneurial marketing was significant (p-value=0.001, β=0.463) and entrepreneurial marketing partially mediated positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance. Based on findings, it can be concluded that it is necessary for maximizing effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance of greenhouse businesses to strengthen entrepreneurial marketing and its components.

The purpose of this research was to study the moderating effect of marital status between Health-Promoting Lifestyle (HPL) and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) . The statistical population of the study consisted of all rural women of Eslamabad-e Gharb county of Iran with ages from 15 to 64 (N= 13835). According to Bartlett table, a sample size of 250 was selected using multiple stage sampling technique in 2015. The standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the concerned experts; also, its construct validity and composite reliability were tested by estimating the measurement model. The results showed that HPL had a positive and significant effect on HRQOL; in addition, the marital status had a moderating effect on the relationship between the two variables ; s o that the relationship was not significant for single respondents, whereas it was positive and significant for the married ones.