دکتر محمد بادسار

Psychological variables in women due to their closer proximity to the environment have a greater role in their cooperation with the environment. Therefore, this study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the role of psychological variables on the rural women empowerment in environmental conservation. In order to accomplish the objectives of this study, data were collected from a sample of 384 rural women in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in Iran. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. Reliability and validity of the survey instrument were further evaluated. Face and content validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by panel of experts and key informant before the pre-test stage. The reliability of instrument was assessed by conducting a pilot study among 30 samples out of the original sample. The reliability of instrument for the all sections based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient value (more than .80) revealed acceptable level of internal consistency. Data analysis was performed by SPSS24 and AMOS22 software. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. The results based on direct structural model showed that there is a positive significant relationship between psychological variables such as autonomy, self-esteem and self-efficacy with the dependent variable of environmental conservation. Also, based on the mediation structural model, it was found that rural women empowerment variable had a mediating role in the relationship between psychological variables and environmental conservation. Therefore, considering the impact of rural women's empowerment on environmental protection, it is suggested that courses and workshops be held to increase the empowerment of rural women by promoting psychological variables.

Medicinal plants have a long history with human beings and are considered as one of the export items of the agricultural sector and one of the main sources of meeting human food and medicine needs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of social capital and professional capabilities in the development of medicinal plants as an innovation in agriculture sector. The present quantitative research in terms of purpose is applied research in which the fieldwork (survey) method was used. The statistical population of the study included all farmers in Zanjan province. A total of 389 people were selected as the statistical sample and data was collected using a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS24 and AMOS24 software. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between the communication, cognitive and structural dimensions of social capital with the development of medicinal plants. Also, the results showed that the total indirect effect of communication and cognitive dimension of social capital on the development of medicinal plants in Zanjan province is positive and significant through the professional capabilities of farmers; while the indirect effect of the structural dimension of social capital was not significant. Among the suggestions of this research is launching courses and holding short-term courses by active educational centers in the province.

In recent years, continuous awareness has increased on the need to empower rural women to achieve sustainable development. Therefore, this study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the role of rural women empowerment in analysis of the social and economic factors and cultural obstacles influencing local communities’ development. The study population was consist of rural women in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province that according to Krejcie and Morgan sample determination table, 384 of them were selected by stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used as research tools. Data analysis was performed by SPSS24 and AMOS22 software. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. The results based on direct structural model showed that there is a positive significant relationship between variables such as social participation, social protection and economic factors with the dependent variable of local communities’ development and there is a negative significant relationship between cultural obstacles with the dependent variable of local communities’ development. Also, based on the mediation structural model specified that rural women’s empowerment variable had a mediation role on the relationship between social and economic factors and cultural obstacles with local communities’ development

Development of new technology not only has been facilitated the rural people access to services but also has been provided the bases for transmission patterns of urban life into the rural communities through the growth of media. Then all communities in recent decades have been changed under the influence of the media on the various aspects of social, psychological, economic and physical. Therefore, this study aims to invetigate the mediating role of economic and family environment in analyzing the effect of media on the lifestyle of the rural people in Zanjan County by applying a survey method. The population of this study consisted of all rural residents in Zanjan county that through using multi-stage cluster sampling 250 respondents were selected. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. Questionnaire in addition to the individual characteristics including the main variables consisted of lifestyle (with components of social, psychological, spiritual and physical health) and environmental factors (including media, family and economic environment), which all were measured using five level Likert scale (1 = very low to 5 = very high). Data analysis was performed using SPSS20 and AMOS20 softwares. The results showed that the direct effect of media on lifestyle was negative and significant. Also the result based on bootstrap method showed that the indirect effect of media on lifestyle via the economic and family environment was significant.

This study had been conducted with the aim to investigate the role of managerial, technical and structural factors on the success and stability of plant clinics from the perspective of farmers in southern county of Tehran province. The population of study was the farmers in south of Tehran province (N = 13222). The sample size of 209 was chosen by Bartlett et al., (2001) that among the collected questionnaire 191 of them were useable. The data analysis was performed using SPSS20 and AMOS20 software’s. The descriptive result indicated that 73.3% and 50.3% of respondents respectively had assessed stability and success of plant clinic at moderate level. The result of investigate the factors influencing the success and stability of plant clinics by using structural model showed that the effect of all three managerial, technical and structural and institutional factors were significant on the level of success and stability of plant clinics. These factors explained 60% of the variance of plant clinics level of success in stability agricultural activities as well as 47% of the variance of plant clinics in their stability level among the respondents.

Nowadays one of the most important criteria for assessing the degree of development of a country is the level of women's employment. Therefore, more attention to women's employment leads to better use of this potential capacity in society. This study has been conducted with the aim of investigation factors influencing rural women's self-employment. The population of this study was including rural women in Zanjan Province that 200 of them were selected by using cluster sampling method (only 188 questionnaires were usable). A questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS20 and AMOS20 software. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling multivariate technique. The results based on direct structural model with Bayesian estimation method showed that economic conditions, social conditions and education and extension courses had a significant direct effect on rural women's self-employment. Also, the result based on the mediation structural model showed that self-esteem and risk taking variables had a partial mediation on the relationship between economic conditions and social conditions with rural women's self-employment, and risk taking variable had a full mediation on the relationship between extension and educational courses with rural women's self-employment. Generally availability of economic and social conditions and conducting appropriate educational and extension programs along with strengthening individual capabilities such as self-esteem and risk-taking can be the basis for self-employment development among rural women.

     Rapid population growth and ever-increasing demand for food lead to increase the exploitation of natural resources compared to the previous period and the continuation of this trend could lead to negative consequences and environmental crises, threatening human security and ecosystems. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the status of natural resources in West of Kurdistan Province and the role of defense actions on natural resources crisis management. The population of this study consisted of the villagers of West of Kurdistan Province (N = 133837). The sample size was calculated to be 220 using Cochran's formula. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by panel of experts and the reliability of instrument was confirmed by conducting a pre-test and calculating a Cronbach's alpha coefficient more than 0.70 for different sections of the questioner. The data analysis was performed using SPSs20 software. The findings showed that from the perspective of 95% of respondents, the degradation of natural resources is evaluated at a high level. The results also showed that the defense actions including passive defense and the level of satisfaction from defense operating actions had a significant negative effect on the degradation of natural resources in the study area. Also, the results showed that 41.7% of the variations of the natural resources degradation was explained by defense activities.

The current study aimed to analyze the role of economic and extension factors affecting the success and continuation of activities of plant clinics in the south of Tehran province. The population of study was the farmers in the south of Tehran province (N = 13222). The sample size of 209 was chosen by Bartlett et al., (2001) among which 191 of them was useable. The data were collected using a questionnaire and the data analysis was performed utilizing SPSs20 and AMOS20 softwares. The descriptive result showed that 73.3 % of respondents evaluated the continuation of activities and 50.3% the success of plant medical clinics in a moderate level. Also the result indicated that the variables of information resources, participation in extension workshops and economic factors had a positive and significant effect on the success and continuation of activities of plat medical clinics in the south of Tehran province. In addition, the result of testing the mediation effect of plant clinics success showed that the indirect effect of information resources, participation in extension workshops and economic factors through the plant medical clinics success on continuation of activities of these clinics was significant.

In this descriptive- correlation study the effects of social capital on organizational entrepreneurship in enterprises of agricultural technical engineering and counseling services in Kerman province had been investigated. The population of the study was included 346 members of agricultural technical engineering and counseling services enterprises in southern townships of southern Kerman province. Based on Bartlett et al. table, 215 members were selected through stratified proportional sampling method based on the number of enterprise's members in each of the cities. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The face and content validity of questionnaires was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and composite reliability was assessed through confirmatory factor analyses (measurement model). To investigate the direct and indirect effects of research variables a Bootstrap method based on multivariate structural equation modeling techniques by using AMOS20 software was applied. The result based on the Bootstrap method showed that total indirect effects of structural dimension of social capital through cognitive and communicative dimensions, and total indirect effects of cognitive dimension through communicative dimension, were significant on the organizational entrepreneurship. The results also revealed that the communicative dimension of social capital had the most direct effect (β=0.291) and structural dimension of social capital had the highest indirect effect (β=0.237) and total effect (β= 0.480) on the organizational entrepreneurship.

This study has been conducted having two main purposes including examining the structural model of leadership stereotype, leadership competency, and achievement motivation in leadership role and investigating the moderating effects of gender on the overall model. Using a sample of 303 extension agents from three Jihad-e-Agriculture Organizations of Tehran, Kermanshah, and Khorasan Razavi provinces in Iran, we conducted a survey using structured questionnaires. The data were collected and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique. The results showed that leadership stereotype and leadership competency significantly influence achievement motivation in leadership role of extension agents while the relationship between leadership stereotype and leadership competency was not significant. The results further demonstrated that the relationships among leadership stereotype with leadership competency and achievement motivation in leadership role have been moderated by gender. In fact, it has been concluded that leadership stereotype favors men in developing leadership competency and achievement motivation in leadership role while it is negative for women. This study, in regard to leadership stereotype, suggests that although the pressures of stereotypical thinking have not gone away but changing them is time consuming and needs constant negotiations, and therefore, presenting the training program on how to correct these stereotypes in a person is a strategy for starting this action.