Occupational performance serves as one of the most influential components in organizations incorporating an important part of organizational studies. One of the factors that is expected to lead performance in contravention of the organization's goals is the problem of job burnout. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate the job burnout role on occupational performance of experts in Jihad Agriculture Organization of Mazandaran, Iran. The statistical population comprised 255 experts; 155 experts were selected for the study using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire composed of two sections of job burnout section encompassing issues on emotional fatigue, personal accomplishment failure, depersonalization and conflict, and occupational performance section covering areas like ability, role clarity, support, encouragement, assessment, credibility and environment. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts' opinions. Also, based on the average variance extracted (0.554 >AVE CR < 0.944), the questionnaire had a convergent validity and appropriate reliability. SPSS16 and Smart PLS2 software were used to analyze the data. The achieved results of the research showed that job burnout had a significant negative impact on occupational performance of experts in Jihad Agriculture Organization. According to the achieved results of the research, it is recommended to create incentives such as giving responsibility to experts and encouraging and respecting them.
Agricultural production decision-making is becoming more complicated due to the inherent complexity of the interaction between natural and human processes as the heart of agricultural systems. Predicting the behavior of agricultural systems is critically important for sustainability issues. Since agriculture is a human activity that is dependent on its main actors, farmers’ behavior needs to be investigated in terms of the extent to which their activities are consistent with sustainable agriculture initiatives. This study is based on the documentary research method conducted by a systematic literature review. The main goal was to review and analyze pro-environmental behavior theories in terms of their strengths and weaknesses during the time period of 1975-2016. The strengths and weaknesses of each theory were described after the introduction of each theory. On the other hand, a comparison of the theories based on seven indicators is presented too. About 14 theories were reviewed to reach agent-based theories of decision-making, in which feedback is provided on the system. Based on the results, the agent-based integrated theories are diagnosed to be the most suitable and comprehensive for the study and prediction of farmers’ behaviors among the studied theories.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of environmental quality and social capital on economic growth in Iran. So, this study, based on theoretical foundations, in addition to these variables, investigated the effects of various human capital indicators on Iran's economic growth during the period of 1973-92. The variables representing social capital included access to the Internet and telephone communication services. For human capital, literacy rate, enrollment rate in elementary school, as well as the number of students were used. It was also assumed that technology, in addition to workforce, would appear in the form of physical capital. The findings showed that physical capital was the most important factor in the growth of Iran's economy and its yield was 0.3-0.4. But a very small role was played by the variables of human capital and environmental capital. The role of social capital was also relatively acceptable and positive. Keywords: Growth Model, Social Capital, Environmental Capital, Iran JEL Classification: O13, O47, R1
Purpose: Today, export development is as a way of generating a recovery economy. Almost in all of the developing countries; the issue of export development is at the top of the government's priorities and policies, as there is awareness and attention to the nature of the issue of exports in developed countries. Under these circumstances, companies are trying in different ways to sell their goods and services around the world and maximize their profits.Method: The present study has a qualitative-exploratory approach and the method of GT has been used as a research method. The tools of this research are semi-structured interviews. The participants of this research are 18 academic experts, experts in the field of export, managers and experts of the companies that were sampled by snowball sampling in the period of 2019.Findings and Conclusion: By analyzing the data of the interviews in the research, developing resistive export as the axial category; the causal conditions include economic foresight, export supports and the necessity to fulfill the macro-policies of resistive economy; interferer conditions include business diplomacy, conditions of economic sanctions and the role of government; ground factors include technological and up-to-date production, competitive organizational climate, efficient supply chain logistics and dynamic contribution of employees; strategies include designing an export-oriented marketing strategy document, enabling knowledgeable human assets, architecting trade negotiations and business intelligentization; consequences include competitive power, economic resilience, economic growth and production and employment boom.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate urban agricultural education effectiveness based on the Kirkpatrick model in Tehran, Iran. The study participants of this research were included all citizens participated in educational and counselling centers focused on flowers and plants in district two of Tehran municipality during 2016. The study participants consisted of 160 individuals, including 80 in the case group and 80 in the control group. The case group participated in urban agriculture training courses and the control group did not receive any training courses. The result showed a significant difference between the knowledge status of citizens before and after attending educational courses (P < 0.01). Also, more than 86% of the citizens perceived the courses' effectiveness at moderate to high levels. In addition, there was a significant difference between the case and control groups in terms of reaction and behavior levels (P < 0.01). The present study found that the urban agriculture training courses for citizens exhibited considerable effectiveness in the measurement results of the three levels of the Kirkpatrick Model and that overall, the course had received positive evaluations. Therefore, these training courses can be recommended to enhance the knowledge of citizens about urban agriculture.
In this study, we address a broad question that relates foreign development aid to economic growth in 41 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries employing panel data spanning a twenty-five-year period. The panel data was analysed using fixed effect Ordinary Least Square model. We explored the within-country rainfall distribution to identify the impact of foreign development aid per capita (Value of Official Development Assistance)on GDP per capita. Identifying aid with exogenous rainfall shocks will plausibly address the endogeneity bias identified in previous studies. In the first stage, we find that rainfall shocks negatively correlate with amount of aid per capita received suggesting that countries with negative economic shock receive more foreign assistance than countries without. However,in stage two, we find that aid per capita has a statistically weak and negative impact on income per capita in the region.We can identify several practical reasons why aid may fail to translate to growth in this region. For one, because aid is a form of unearned rents, aid meant for public consumption could be privately appropriated by political elites, distort capital accumulation, and could undermine the broader economic development when there is an income shock. While SSA countries receiving aid may not grow faster than countries without, aid might still play an economically useful role at the micro-level. Specifically,aid could be beneficial if local inputs at the micro-level are actively involved in allocation of resources and deployed for the identification of developmental needs.Aid could also be useful at suppressing civil conflict associated with climate vagaries.
The purpose of the present study was to examine an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model within the domain of sustainable entrepreneurship and identified the most important factors impacting on sustainable entrepreneurial intentions in sustainable entrepreneurship. In particular, the study aimed to extend the TPB model to include sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge. Data were collected from 211 Iranian agriculture students. The results of structural equation modelling showed that sustainable entrepreneurial intentions were determined by attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control (PBC) but not subjective norms. The analysis also revealed that sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge influenced sustainable entrepreneurial intentions indirectly through their effects on attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and PBC. As a practical implication, educators who want to stimulate the creation of new sustainable businesses could consider the pivotal role not only of attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and PBC but also of sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge.
Research on the relationship between dual-labor market, food security, and general health in rural areas has been scarce. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dual-labor market increases the income and consequently the food security of rural households and whether it also improves the general health of the heads of these households. To achieve this goal, a descriptive cross-sectional survey with comparative designs was performed to study the relationship between research variables. The statistical population comprised of the heads of rural households living in the rural district of Mahidasht in Kermanshah County, Kermanshah province, Iran. Overall, 283 household heads who were chosen by the systematic sampling method were interviewed. Food security and general health were measured using the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM-18) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The validity of the research instrument was assessed and confirmed by the expert panel at Razi University and its reliability was established using the Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis was performed using SPSS16 and AMOS. The results showed that dual-labor market significantly increases the income of the household heads who work in secondary labor forces, and as a result, they enjoy a higher degree of food security in their households. However, a closer examination showed that the income generated from secondary labor market has a significant inverse correlation with the general health of these household heads, as they are more likely to suffer from severe depression, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction.
Agricultural products marketing has an important role in achievement of goals such as agricultural development, production increase, and farmers’ income in developing countries. Citrus production especially Lemon is one of the most important productions in Larestan county (Fars province in Iran). So, the determinants of Lemon marketing system improvement were prioritized in Larestan in this research. The criteria were the 4ps (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price) in the marketing mix and there were also some alternatives for each of the criteria. The criteria and alternatives were chosen based on other studies and also experts’ views in the region. An Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used and data has been collected through questionnaire fulfillment by experts of this subject in the region. Results showed that product and price criteria had the highest and lowest priorities in improving Lemon marketing system in the Larestan county, respectively. In addition, proper packaging and designing to create competitive advantage with total weight of 0/09 is the most important alternative in improving Lemon marketing system in the region. Also, creation of transformative industries with total weight of 0/086 and using marketing cooperatives with total weight of 0/082 were the next most important alternatives to improve the marketing system of Lemon in Larestan. According to the results, it is suggested to development proper packaging, transformative industries, and marketing cooperatives in the region.
Potato production is considered as one of the strategic objectives of Iran’s agricultural programs.The present study aimed at investigating the production costs and economic benefits of this product in Ardabil city. To do so, 183 potato producers were randomly selected and were asked to present their ideas concerning the production costs and benefits through a questionnaire and an interview. A field study was also taken into consideration to enrich the data. The collected data were analyzed through measures of Chi-square, Wald test, and Translog cost function. The results revealed that the cost function structure was non-hemotetic with respect to the Chi-square statistics (36.8) and results of the constant non-returns and non-homogeneous Wald test to the scale’s F- statistics (17.04) were non-cobb Douglas. Allen cross replacement relationship was positive for the dichotomies such as workforce and machinery, machine and seed, workforce and seed, workforce and water, and finally seed and water. However, it was negative for machinery and land inputs, machinery and water, land and machinery, land and labor force, land and seeds, and land and water. The calculated cost elasticity was -1.5044 which indicated a decrease in the average costs for an output increase as the production cost was found in the downstream part of the cost curve. The economies of scale of 2.504 indicated a 2.5 percent increase in the yield for one-percent increase in the cost.
Agriculture is considered a driving force to reduce poverty and food insecurity. However, the agricultural sector has been unable to meet the growing food need of the rural population and it has been influenced by various risks. Although income diversification strategies supplement farmers’ farm production, the extent of households’ income diversification sources and their associated factors are not yet empirically identified in Agarfa District. Thus, this study aimed to measure income diversification strategies and identify factors responsible for the choice of income diversification strategies among rural households in the district. The study drew a sample of 150 households using the stratified random sampling technique from three kebeles of the district. Quantitative data were collected by interviews while qualitative data were collected by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to characterize households’ income diversification strategies. Results show that agriculture has a leading contribution to the total income of households (88.89%) followed by non-farm (10.12%) and off-farm activities (0.99%). Furthermore, the results reveal that the mean diversity indexes increase from households engaged in housemaid activities (36.67) to households engaged in crop production (38320.00). The study, therefore, concludes that the agricultural sector alone cannot improve households’ income, ensure food security, and alleviate poverty in the study area. Thus, rural development policies and strategies should focus on promoting income-generating activities besides agricultural activities in rural areas to improve the overall wellbeing of the rural communities.
In recent decades, climate change and frequent droughts have had great impacts on farming systems and have led farmers to become accustomed to these conditions, which are causing problems, especially, for smallholder farmers. With the severe weather events and their adverse effects, especially in arid regions, farmers' adaptation to these changes is an indisputable and critical strategy. Thus, farmers need to make complex decisions about mitigating the adverse effects of climate change to take advantage of newer opportunities as possible. The understanding of the process by which farmers decide to stand facing climate changes and probing into the determinants of the process provide research evidence for policymakers to assist farmers to adapt to climate change effects. This article would establish a conceptual framework, inclusive of factors influencing farmers’ decision-making to adapt to climate change, and would clarify causal relations among these factors. According to the results, household characteristics, economic factors, knowledge, motives and goals, perceived outcomes of adaptation, social, personal norms, perception of climate change, perceived risk and obstacles, attitude towards climate change, prospective perception of climate change, the evaluation of climate change, and adaptation initiatives could influence farmers’ decisions to adapt to climate change.
Nowadays, the concept of sustainability assessment in agricultural entrepreneurship is one of the most prominent research subjects among researchers and policymakers. Although there are numerous sustainability assessment frameworks for agricultural enterprises, the selection of sufficient indicators is still a matter of debate. This study aimed to fill this gap with an emphasis on applicability by adopting a descriptive-analytical survey using the Delphi method. To this end, a conceptual framework for the identification of components, criteria, and indicators of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship was first developed. Then, a set of indices capable of signifying the status of sustainability in agricultural entrepreneurship activities in rural areas of the Kurdistan Province, Iran, were extracted using the opinions of a panel of experts, consisting of 30 local entrepreneurs, university instructors, and experts on agriculture. Data collected from the panel was analyzed by fuzzy TOPSIS, as a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results revealed the indicators of the sustainability assessment framework for agricultural enterprises in the study area. The ultimate objective of this study was to discuss and test the proposed framework to broaden its applicability to similar regions.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative advantage of production and measuring the competitiveness of major crops of Urmia County by the policy analysis matrix (PAM) in 2016-2017. The results of the comparative advantage indicators indicated that Urmia has a comparative advantage in the production of irrigated wheat, rain-fed wheat, rain-fed barley, sunflower, tomato, chickpeas, and red beans, but it has no comparative advantage in the production of irrigated barley and sugar beet among the major crops of the region. The three indicators of comparative advantage applied in this study include net social profit (NSP), domestic resource cost (DRC), and social cost-benefit index (SCB). According to the NSP index, tomato production has a higher comparative advantage over other crops, and red beans, peas, sunflowers, buckwheat, buckwheat, and barley are in the next ranks, respectively. According to the cost competitiveness index, all surveyed crops had cost competitiveness. The results of reviewing the protection indicators, including net protection coefficient input (NPCI), revealed that indirect subsidies were paid to tradable inputs for all studied crops. The nominal protection coefficient output (NPCO) index for irrigated wheat, rain-fed wheat, sunflower, rain-fed pea, and red bean indicates an indirect tax on the production of these crops by the government.
This study aimed to investigate potato growers’ attitudes towards and perceptions of the drivers and barriers of precision irrigation technologies (PIT). A survey research method was employed for data collection from a sample of 240 potato growers of Ardabil County. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. It was validated by a panel of experts. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.813, 0.870, and 0.766, implying the high reliability of the instrument for attitudes, drivers, and barriers, respectively. Results showed that the respondents were in middle age with good farming experiences. The majority of them were lowly literate. Their knowledge was low on working with PIT. More than half of them had moderate to high negative attitudes, while the attitudes of the rest were somewhat very positive. Attitudes showed a significant and positive correlation with level of education, income, and knowledge of PIT. However, age, farming experience, and cultivated areas showed a negative correlation with attitudes. Based on regression analysis, the variables of level of education, knowledge of PIT, and information sources accounted for 46.5 percent of the variance in farmers’ attitudes. The sample was divided into two subgroups of 120 farmers, one for responding to the items of drivers and the other for responding to the items of the barriers. Factor analysis extracted three factors with eigenvalues of greater than one, namely water efficiency, easy farming practices, and financial benefit, which accounted for 63.18 percent of the variance in drivers, and the five factors of knowledge, technical, skill, managerial, and logistic barriers accounted for 63.12percent of the variance in barriers.
Students' academic achievement is one of main indicators in evaluating higher agricultural education. One of the most effective strategies in terms of academic achievement is to reinforce self-directness and meta-cognitive skills. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of elf-directness and meta-cognitive skills on the academic achievement of agriculture students in Iran. This research was a descriptive-correlational study using a survey technique. The instrument adopted in this study was a questionnaire which validity was confirmed by a group of curriculum developers and educational planning specialists in the higher agricultural education system. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to determine the reliability of this scale. Cronbach's alpha values for different variables showed the acceptable reliability of this instrument (0.74≤α≤0.96). The statistical population of the study consisted of the agriculture students in Iran (N=236973). The sample size was estimated to be 150 persons by using Cochran statistics and two-stage sampling method (cluster sampling and proportional stratified random sampling). The results showed that the variables self-directness, metacognitive skills, and social conditions had a positive and significant effect on the academic achievement among these students. In total, they could predict a significant percentage (68.1%) of variance for the variables academic achievement.
Experts believe that a solution to avoid the inefficiency of university graduates, especially graduates in Agriculture, is to revise the practical courses, especially internships, and transform and amend them. Taking this point into account, this study aimed to design a model for the internship course in the Iranian Agriculture Higher Education using the Delphi technique. The mental basis of this study was Akker’s ten-phase model. The panel was composed of the university professors supervising agriculture internship courses (N=34) and the employers to whom the students referred for passing the course (N=63). The results from the perspective of employers and the university professors, after three Delphi rounds, determined items for ten components of internship courses, i.e., logic, objectives and goals, content, learning activities, the role of trainer, materials, and resources, classification, location, time, evaluation and appraisal, which were used as the basis for the development of an internship model.
As a major source of income in most countries, the agricultural sector is of a key importance among all economic activities. The improvement in productivity and efficiency is one of the main goals to accomplish economic growth and prosperity. Productivity enhancement has always been a major concern for all economic enterprises that produce commodities and services, and it is imperative to consider all of its aspects when planning for development. The present study aims at analyzing the variations of the productivity of production factors and measuring technical efficiency and productivity of farmers in Khash County, Iran using window data envelopment analysis (WDEA) method. So, the technical efficiency and productivity of the farmers were examined over the 2013-2016 period. The results show that the studied farmers have an average technical efficiency of 0.99, which is relatively high and indicates that the barley farmers are efficient. Indeed, the Malmquist productivity index reveals that the average variation of total productivity in the studied county was 1.95 over the studied period. One of the most effective factors influencing total productivity variations in agriculture is technological change. It is suggested that the new technology of agricultural technology (field integration and use of new irrigation) be used to increase the productivity and productivity of barley crops in the region.
The purpose of this study was to analyze knowledge commercialization in agricultural higher education of Khuzestan province. To end it a survey research method was applied. Faculty members of agricultural colleges of Khuzestan province, Iran including Shahid Chamran University, Ramin Agricultural and Natural Resources University, Islamic Azad University are considered as statistical of population of study (N=417). The main instrument of research was questionnaire which validity was determined by a panel of experts and also Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was used for determining of reliability (α=0.86). Based on regression analysis, effective researchers, effective relationship of university with industry and society, material and spiritual support of knowledge commercialization, government services, rules and regulation and parks and centers of science and technology development may well explain for 61.4 percent variations (R2=0.614) in level of knowledge commercialization in agricultural higher education. The SEM indicated that the predictive positive effect of external factors (EF) and internal factors (IF) to knowledge commercialization (KC). Also government services (GS), economic stimulus (ES), rules and regulation (RR) and Parks and Centers of science and technology development (PC) have a significant impact on EF. The findings indicated effective researchers (ER), effective relationship of university with industry and society (ERU), material and spiritual support of knowledge commercialization in universities (MS), use of specialized consultants in the field of knowledge commercialization (SC) and research quality (RQ) also have a significant impact on IF. The findings showed that these nine construct (GS, ES, RR, PC, ER, ERU, MS, SC and RQ) determinants accounts for 73 percent of the variance in the KC. The results showed that mistrust between industry and university has first priority of barriers to knowledge commercialization in agricultural higher education.
The agricultural sector is the centerpiece of Iran's economic development and is capable of turning the nation into an industrial country. But, this requires agriculture to become knowledge-intensive whose prerequisites are the commercialization of technological achievements. The present study was carried out by a survey design to identify the effective constructs underpinning the commercialization system of the agricultural research achievements in Iran. The statistical population was composed of faculty members and instructors of institutes for agricultural research and education (IAREs) in Iran. The sample size was determined as 190 people that were taken by the proportional random sampling technique. The face validity of the research instrument was confirmed by 10 experts of research commercialization, and its reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha. The results showed the involvement of three constructs in the process of the establishment and development of commercialization: i.e. ‘motivational-behavioral’, ‘structural-organizational’, and ‘contextual-environmental’. Different groups of membership in knowledge-intensive firms, membership in scientific associations, and participation in startups were significantly distinctive based on the participants’ opinions about commercialization. The level of knowledge and skills of those involved in the process of commercializing research achievements was found to be lower than average. Also according to the results, the respondents needed to be more familiar with technology transfer topics, teamwork techniques, national and international networking technology,science and technology growth parks and centers, intellectual property issues, and methods of successful commercialization of research achievements.
