نشریه جغرافیا و برنامهریزی (Jun 2021)
Social capital and a sense of investor security in rural areas (case: Rice factories, Some’sara county)
Abstract
Introduction Global goals such as the sustainable development of the United Nations as well as the requirements and commitments of the private sector such as supply chains sustainably manner cause growing demand for sustainable investment opportunities in the food and agriculture sectors. Thus, the expansion of investment in agriculture and related industries in the form of public and private investment can create more job opportunities in rural areas and thus prevent the migration of villagers to cities and increase the growth rate of the agricultural sector. However, in such conditions, due to uncertainty, the ability to assess the real risk (as opposed to perceived risk) and the availability of risk reduction tools are the main elements of investment decisions, regardless of the type of investor or even the provision of financial resources. In this framework, the concept of "investment readiness" has emerged as a tool to guide policies and programs aimed at reducing barriers to investment in small and medium-sized businesses. Based on research, social capital, including social networks and norms, values and attitudes distributed in such networks, have shown a positive effect on economic growth, financial development, joint investments, trade and entrepreneurship. With a reduction in natural resources for local and regional development and the tendency to converge in human capital, social capital has become increasingly important for economic growth. Social capital leads to risky economic decisions by increasing the sense of power in people. In other words, social capital can moderate risk tolerance in people related to local community, since it provides a way to provide individual risks. For example, Bloch et al. (2008) stated that social capital provides an informal insurance mechanism that can increase risk-taking in economic investors. Also, in some studies, scientists have considered social capital as a valuable resource that expands access to various other sources, including financial resources, market information, and customers. Data and Method The present study was applied in terms of method and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature. The data collection method in the present study was a combination of library and survey methods (direct observation and questionnaire). The statistical population of the study included owners of rice-threshing factories located in rural areas of Someh Sara city. There are 55 rice-threshing factories in the study area, and a questionnaire was completed for all the people in the area. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire. For this purpose, 20 questionnaires were completed in the pre-test stage and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.751 was obtained, indicating a good level of reliability of the questionnaire. Results and Discussion The results revealed that the mean score of the observed sense of security is 3.1 with a standard deviation of 0.3, which is significantly different from the standard score (3). From the investors' point of view, the most sense of security was in the area of supportive security with a mean of 3.26, followed by economic, political, geographical and legal security, respectively. The results of Pearson correlation showed a direct and positive relationship between social capital and geographical security, supportive security, political security and social security and a negative relationship between social capital and sense of legal security. In addition, investigating the relationship between investment security and social capital indicators showed a significant direct and positive relationship between investment security and social capital indicators (other than social participation). Moreover, based on the results of regression analysis and the coefficient of determination (0.799), independent variables explained about 80% of sense of investment security in the sample population. Thus, for systematically explaining of the effect of social capital indicators on investors' sense of security and achieve a comprehensive model, the multivariate technique of path analysis was used and the direct and indirect effects of the desired variables were examined in a model. According to the research results, indicators of legal security, political security, geographical security, social security in relation to the variable of investment security as well as indicators of institutional performance and institutional trust and interpersonal and generalized trust and social participation in relation to the social capital variable were among the factors affecting the sense of investment security. In this regard, the direct factors affecting the sense of security of rural investors include legal security, political security, geographical security, social security, institutional performance and trust, respectively. Factors that indirectly affect the sense of security of investors also include social networks (through indicators of economic security and social security), social solidarity (through indicators of supportive security, social security, legal security, political security and geographical security), social participation (through institutional performance indicators and social security), and legal security (through indicators of geographical security, political security, supportive security, social security and institutional performance). Conclusion Although in some cases, business enterprises make risky investments with the hope of achieving high returns, investment is a process that is not compatible with risk. In such conditions, governments can play a major role. In fact, development-oriented governments are obliged to review and reform the rules and regulations, reduce bureaucracies, increase the transparency of licensing, and pave the way for economic activities and investment, especially in vulnerable and deprived rural areas, since institutional performance, institutional trust and social networks were identified as the most effective indicators of social capital in the sense of security of rural investors. As observed, Someh Sara has a great capacity in the area of fish farming (ranked second in terms of fish production in the province) and a great variety of crops (rice, beans, watermelon, peanuts, beans, garlic) and garden products (strawberries, apples, pomegranates, peaches, nectarines and pears). However, it does not have much variety in conversion and complementary industries, and even no investment has been made in some products such as fish processing, peanuts and strawberries. Nothing special has happened. However, if safe conditions are provided for investment by relying on social capital indicators, the special capabilities of the city in the area of sustainable rural and even regional development can be used.
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