The role of Social Capital to Improve the Resilience of Rural Households in Drought Conditions (Case Study: Mashhad Township)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mehri Jahansoozi ¹
• Hossein Farahani ²
• Jamshid Einali ¹
• behroz mohhamadi yeganeh ¹

¹ Department of Geography and Rural planning, Faculty of Humanities Sciences, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.

² Department of Geography and Rural planning, Faculty of Humanities Scinces, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.

10.22067/geoeh.2024.86899.1466

Abstract

At present, rural communities suffer the most from the effects of drought. Given the vulnerability of rural households, social capital can facilitate improved planning for rural development. Therefore, this research was conducted with the general aim of examining the role of social capital in improving the dimensions of resilience in rural households under drought conditions at the level of Mashhad Township. In this regard, a survey research method was used, employing a questionnaire. The statistical population consists of 11,706 rural households in Mashhad Township. Using the Morgan table, a random stratified multistage sampling method was employed to select 372 households with proportional allocation. For data analysis, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), one-sample t-test, and Pearson correlation. The research results indicate that the studied households are in a desirable state in terms of social capital, but they are not in an appropriate state in terms of resilience. The correlation analysis results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between social capital and all dimensions of resilience in rural households. In addition, the results of structural equation modeling in the research show that the dimensions of social capital have a positive effect with a coefficient of 0.82 on the dimensions of resilience in rural households against drought in Mashhad Township. Among the hidden factors, social networks (with a coefficient of 0.93) have played the most significant role in improving the resilience of rural households against drought. Furthermore, the greatest impact of social capital is related to the economic dimension, while the least impact is related to the physical dimension of resilience in rural households.

Keywords

• Social Capital
• Resilience Dimensions
• Climate Change
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
• Mashhad Township

Main Subjects

• Rural environments hazard

---