Muhamad Badsar; leila safa; Suheila Fathi
Abstract
Despite increasing trend of unemployment among graduates of agriculture and the importance of working in rural areas as one of the most important agricultural policies in higher education, a large number of agricultural graduates do not have willingness to work in village. Considering the importance ...
Read More
Despite increasing trend of unemployment among graduates of agriculture and the importance of working in rural areas as one of the most important agricultural policies in higher education, a large number of agricultural graduates do not have willingness to work in village. Considering the importance of the issue, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of individual and contextual factors on the willingness of Agricultural Students of Zanjan University towards Employment in Rural Areas. The statistical population of this study was including 390 senior graduate students in the academic year 2014-2015, which based on Krejcie and Morgan Table, 200 of them were selected through simple random sampling method. A questionnaire was utilized in order to collect the data. Validity of the questionnaire was approved based on the guidance of faculty members at Zanjan University. A pilot study was conducted to determine the reliability of the research instrument, and calculated ordinal coefficient thetas were at the appropriate level (ranges between 0.83 to 0.956). The collected data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling and the application of Bayesian estimation method according to the ordinal measured variables. Obtained results based on Bayesian estimation direct structural model showed that there was a positive significant relationship between the contextual variables such as; sex, age, work experience in rural area, family income and years of residence in the village with the dependent variable of employment willingness in rural area. Also, based on the mediation structural model, it was specified that entrepreneurial capability variable had only a partial mediation role on the relationship between family income and employment willingness in rural area whereas other variables did not have a mediation role.
