Economic Geography Research

Economic Geography Research

Evaluation and measurement of factors affecting the competitiveness of rural areas (Case study: villages of Sib and Soran rural districts)

Document Type : Research Article

Author
university of isfahan
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of economic, social, institutional-political and infrastructural indicators on the competitiveness of rural areas from the perspective of villagers using a structural equation modeling approach. The present study is an applied research in terms of its purpose and a descriptive-correlational research in terms of its nature. The statistical population of the study consists of 2234 household heads in a selected village in Sib and Soran rural district in Sib and Soran city. Using the Cochran formula, the statistical sample of 193 household heads was determined. This number was selected using a simple random sampling method. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and structural equation modeling (Smart PLS). In this study, observed variables were obtained for four social, economic, institutional-political and infrastructural components. The results show that the measured validity of all four measurement models on the competitiveness of rural areas is acceptable. According to the results, the t-coefficients between the main variables of the research were above 2.58, which means that the relationship is significant and direct; thus, the economic, social, infrastructure, and institutional-political dimensions have a positive and significant effect on the competitiveness of rural areas, which the R2 value shows that 79.7 percent of the competitiveness of rural areas is explained by achieving the four dimensions, and the economic dimension, with a coefficient of 0.89, has a greater effect on the competitiveness of rural areas than other dimensions. It is suggested that in order to improve the level of competitiveness of rural areas, social indicators should be given more attention so that the final outcome of the competitiveness of rural areas can be improved.
Keywords


Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 20 January 2025

  • Receive Date 11 December 2024
  • Revise Date 15 January 2025
  • Accept Date 20 January 2025