علی اکبر عنابستانی

Purpose - The study of social capital in the context of location/space is a new approach that is dominated by the science of geography, and is seen as a way of distinguishing it from other sciences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of livelihood capitals on social capital in rural areas of Bojnourd County. Design/methodology/approach - This study was a fundamental research, conducted in a descriptive-analytical method. Documentary methods and field works have been employed to collect the data. The population consisted of 22 villages with more than 20 households in Bojnourd County, selected from various population classes and distances from Bojnourd. Using Cochran formula and random sampling method, 298 households were selected from a total of 4849 households in the rural areas of the study area. Partial least squares technique and Smart PLS software were used to test the conceptual model of the research and the impact of livelihood capitals on social capital. Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) was used to evaluate the model efficiency at Bojnourd County level. Findings - According to the results, the coefficients of T among the main variables of the study were above 2.58, which means the relationship is significant and direct. Thus, local-spatial factors have a significant and positive effect on social capital. Based on total coefficients, human capital with the coefficient of 0.348 and physical capital with the coefficient of 0.136 respectively had the most and the least effect on social capital. The results of spatial analysis using GWR showed that the impact coefficient of livelihood capitals on social capital was highest in the villages of Atrabad Olia and Gharajeh, and in total about 45% of villages in the study area had an impact coefficient of 0.90 to 0.91. Research limitations/implications - As the study of livelihood capitals and analysis of their relationship with social capital is a fundamental challenge in achieving sustainable rural development that is missing in current studies, it is recommended that future studies pay more attention to social capital and the impact of livelihood capitals on its creation and rural development. Practical implications - Rural areas suffer from the lack of social capital, which is one of the most important types of development capital required to achieve sustainable rural development. Thus, enhancing the social capital and informing the villagers about the value and importance of local-spatial factors and the material and non-material capitals available in rural areas should be on the agenda of rural development researchers and planners.

Purpose - In a good governance pattern with a broad participation of people, increasing self-reliance, pluralism, cooperation between actors, and the transfer of power to local levels can be key to solving the problem of rural development, increasing the quality of settlements and the quality of life of villagers; hence creating sustainable villages. Accordingly, the main purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of good governance on the increase of the physical quality of rural settlements. Design/methodology/approach- The present study is descriptive-analytic. Questionnaires were used to collect data. After applying the Cochran formula, 192 questionnaires were prepared. The population of this study is 13 villages with local managers in Neyshbur. In order to measure the purpose and analyze data, one-sample T-test, Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling using smart PLS software were used. Finding- The results of the research showed that, based on the T-test, there was not a favorable situation in both good rural governance and physical quality of rural settlements. Based on Pearson's test, it was found that in the seven villages of Khanlogh, Sarachah, Bashnij, Mobarakeh, Bahrodi, Hoseinabad and Mirabad the relationship between good governance and physical quality of rural settlements was significant. The results of the PLS model also indicated that a good rural governance of 62% affects the improvement of the physical quality of rural settlements. Practical implications- Proposals that can be effective in improving good governance practice in order to improve the physical quality of rural settlements include: informing and educating people about the principle of construction in villages, effort-making of local managers to attract the cooperation of relevant organizations to improve the physical quality of rural settlements, creating a suitable field for attracting people's conscious participation in improving their physical condition, creating coordination and interaction between local managers to solve physical problems in the village. Originality/value - This study was innovative because it focused on the impact of good rural governance on the increase of the physical quality of rural settlements. In fact, in this research for each of these two variables, separate indices have been considered and the relationship between them has been evaluated.