Analysis of social capital status among women entrepreneurs in rural microcredit funds

Social capital has become increasingly important in recent decades due to its benefits to various companies and organizations. In this regard, the present study was conducted to analyze the situation of social capital among women entrepreneurs, members of rural micro-credit funds in Kermanshah. The statistical population of this study was 626, all rural women entrepreneurs who are the members of micro-credit funds in Kermanshah. The sample size was determined as 201 by using the table of Bartlett et al. (2001) and selected by stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment for the study. For data collection, the standard Nahapit and Ghoshal (1998) questionnaire was used in the form of three dimensions of structural, relational and cognitive. This questionnaire had 21 items that were modified according to the field of study. SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that more than half of rural women members of rural micro-credit funds in Kermanshah were in the good level in all three dimensions of social capital. From this finding, it can be inferred that the situation of social capital in the studied society is at a relatively good level. However, in relation to these three dimensions, the cognitive dimension was in a weaker position compared to the other two dimensions.