Assessment the Factors Affecting the Performance of Rural Cooperatives in Savadkooh County, Mazandaran Province, Iran

The agricultural sector is so vast that it is practically impossible to achieve its developmental macro goals without farmer's cooperation as cooperatives. Establishing and developing such enterprises is one of the world's today essentials in current global economy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the performance of rural cooperatives in Savadkooh County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. The current study has used a surveying methodology. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity was verified by a group of experts and the reliability of the questions was tested using the Cronbach's α test for different parts of the questionnaire and the average calculated α value was 0.87 . The statistical population of the study included two groups of cooperative's members (N=10257) and rural cooperative's boards (N=69). The sample size was determined as 376 and 56, respectively for cooperatives’ members and boards by using Krejcie and Morgan Table. Then the samples were selected by a randomized proportional sampling method. In order to analyze data, both correlation coefficients like Spearman and Pearson and stepwise multiple regression were used. According to the results, the variables recognizing the cooperative's tasks and objectives, sympathy between members and boards, supports and contributions of State Cooperative's Administration, relationship between the rural cooperatives and other related organizations, the existence of a strong rural cooperative's union in the region, participation among the members, and legal governmental supports had a positive and significant effect on the performance of rural cooperatives in Savadkooh County.