Fuzzy cognitive study on post pandemic impact on occupational shift in rural areas

Abstract

The pandemic has created a wide range of impacts on the livelihood of the people especially in their occupation and income generation. The horrific pandemic impacts have caused the populace to switch their occupations for the sake of their livelihood sustainability. This research works aims in determining the impacts of the occupational shifts especially in case of rural populace. The decision-making method of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) is used in combinations with the statistical data collection methods of survey methodology, participatory approach and multi stage purposive sampling. It is observed that a significant percentage of people have shifted from their occupation and the occupational shifts have impacts on the personal, economic, social and health dimensions of the rural populace. The factors under each dimension and their inter associational impacts are also determined using the method of FCM and FCM Expert software. Based on the findings of the research work, it is very evident that the occupational shifts have created a lot of impacts on the livelihood of the rural populace and also each of the person has experienced the impacts more personally. The societal contribution of the research lies in communicating the results and inferences to the concerned administrators so as to facilitate the affected rural populace in getting back to their primary occupation.

Keywords

• fuzzy cognitive maps
• occupational shift
• pandemic impact