Modeling Social Capital Building Factors Before and After the Outbreak of COVID-19 With an Emphasis on Ethnicity in Khuzestan Province

The purpose of this study was to model the social capital building factors before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 with an emphasis on the ethnicity factor in Khuzestan province, Iran. The study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of research method. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire. In order to assess the validity of the questionnaire, the criterion-referenced indicator was used in line with the factor analysis of the research model. A statistical sample of 1536 participants was selected using systematic random sampling method from among the inhabitants of the cities of the province with populations over 150 thousand people. In order to analyze the data, tests such as discriminant analysis, logistic regression, multivariate variance and covariance, and structural equation modeling were carried out using SPSS 24 and SmartPLS 3.  The findings of the study indicated that the four factors of social capital – namely institutional, natural, spontaneous, and external factors – are different based on the dependent variable of “ethnicity” in the periods “before and after COVID outbreak.” That is to say, social capital in general had the highest correlation with “ethnicity” “before and after COVID outbreak,” while social variable had the lowest correlation “before COVID outbreak” in the discriminant index. Moreover, in the structural equation modeling, the institutional factors of social capital had on average the biggest difference with the “ethnicity” factor.