Identifying and Investigating the Factors Affecting theSuccess of Cooperatives (a Case Study onCooperatives in the Province of Qom)

Cooperatives constitute one of the three economic sections of Iran,explicitly mentioned as fundamental in constitutional law. Today, owing to the special attention paid by the authorities to the principle. 44, constitutional law, Cooperatives can be dedicated with a particular position. This article aims toinvestigate and identify the factors affecting the success of cooperatives, and, in order to do that, field and documentary methods were applied. The statistical population of the field study includes the cooperatives of Qom province. The research sample includes 45 cooperatives with 385 members and 100 managers and heads. Findings show that, in general, though the cooperatives of the Province of Qom, like other parts of the country, have developed in quantity, they have not developed in quality - holding educational courses, participation, and employing qualified and specialized managers- alongside with quantitative development. However, the majority of the members stated that, making some adjustments, they approved of the cooperatives. Theoretical framework of the research identified the three factors of Inter- organizational, intra-organizational, and structural factors as affecting the success of cooperative companies, from among which, this study focuses on identifying inter- organizational factors. Results obtained from multi‌variable regression identifies the" capability and professionalism of the managers" as the first inter-organizational factor affecting the success of the cooperatives (1=0.31), "the participation of the members in running cooperatives" as the second factor (1=0.24), "believing in the corporation among the members" as the third factor (1=0.23), and then "member's satisfaction with the function of the management board and the cooperative" (1=0.10), and ultimately, the most important (1=0.09).