Analyzing the Behavioral Intention of Rural Women Members of Local Micro-Credit Funds in Lorestan Province towards Self-Employment

Abstract

Rural women's employment can be one of the ways to generate income, reduce the pressure on resources, and as a result, rural development. Meanwhile, the cooperative sector can play a significant role in the employment of rural women. But a vital issue that is important in this regard is the factors that influence the decision and intention of rural women who are members of local micro funds to start investing and working in cooperatives. In this regard, this research was designed to investigate factors affecting the behavioral intention of rural women members of Lorestan Province Micro Credit Funds towards self-employment in Cooperatives. The statistical population consisted of all rural women members of Lorestan Province Micro Credit Funds (N= 1087) who sampling of multistage quota proportional to the sample size through Krejcie and Morgan sampling table resulted in to select of 307 samples. Data collection in this study was conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire. After preparing the questionnaire and confirming its validity by the experts panel, its reliability was confirmed through a pilot study by calculating Cronbach's alpha values for the variables investigated. Structural equation modeling was used to determine factors influencing rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives through AMOS24. The results revealed that the interests variable has the highest direct impact on rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives and self-efficacy has the highest indirect influence on rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives.

Keywords

• lorestan
• micro-credit funds
• rural women
• self-employment intention
• social cognitive career theory (scct)