Abstract



1. Introduction

In today's contemporary world, the need to decentralize the administrative system in order to facilitate efficiency, effectiveness and good governance has become a general rule, and all countries, both developed and developing, are trying to provide services to the people at the grassroots and local levels. Rural communities are no exception to this rule, and like other social systems, they require the establishment of a specific management organization in order to achieve development goals and the principled and efficient management of rural resources and facilities.The rural administration, as the main arm of the government in implementing, monitoring and organizing development programs, plays an important role in achieving a desired level of welfare and improving the quality of rural life. The success of rural administrations in achieving development goals is possible when their performance is carefully evaluated and if this evaluation is carried out by the beneficiaries and recipients of services, namely the people of the villages. Accordingly, the current study evaluated the performance of modern rural administration management in the development of rural areas from the perspective of the residents of the villages of Zarand County.

2. Methodology

This study is a quantitative research in nature and, according to the purpose of the study, an applied research and, in terms of data collection, a descriptive-analytical research that was conducted using the survey technique. The statistical population of the study included household heads in the villages of Zarand County, who were selected as a statistical sample using the Cochran formula, 260 people and were studied using the random sampling method and proportional assignment. The main tool for data collection was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose face and content validity was assessed and confirmed based on the study background and the opinions of experts and scholars in the field of rural development, and its reliability was assessed and confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.98).

3. Findings

The results showed that the mean performance score of rural administration in rural development was 2.57, which is evaluated as weak. The results of the one-sample t-test indicated that the performance of rural administration in the economic (2.04), service-infrastructural (2.69), socio-cultural (2.59), and physical-environmental (2.47) dimensions was weak; however, the behavioral dimension (3.25) demonstrated above-average performance. Spearman's correlation test revealed a direct and significant relationship between the rural administration grade and performance in the socio-cultural (r = 0.188, P = 0.002), physical-environmental (r = 0.173, P = 0.005), service-infrastructural (r = 0.154, P = 0.013), and behavioral (r = 0.124, P = 0.045) dimensions. However, no significant relationship was observed between the rural administration grade and economic performance (P = 0.096). Furthermore, the Friedman test showed that the highest mean rank belonged to the behavioral dimension (4.57) and the lowest to the economic dimension (1.41) (P < 0.001).





4. Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of this study revealed that the performance of rural administrations in four dimensions—economic activities, socio-cultural, physical-environmental, and service-infrastructural—was below the average level, while only the behavioral dimension demonstrated above-average performance. In explaining the reasons for the unsatisfactory performance of rural administrations in the economic, service-infrastructural, socio-cultural, and physical-environmental dimensions (despite relatively favorable performance in the behavioral dimension), the following factors can be cited: (a) structural-institutional causes (mismatch between assigned duties and the rural administrations grade), (b) financial-resource causes (lack of sustainable revenues), (c) managerial-knowledge causes (weakness in the specialized skills of rural administrations directors), and (d) environmental-coordination causes (weak inter-sectoral collaboration).

The results of Spearman's correlation test indicated a direct and significant relationship between the rural administration grade and performance in the socio-cultural (r = 0.188), physical-environmental (r = 0.173), service-infrastructural (r = 0.154), and behavioral (r = 0.124) dimensions. This finding aligns with the theoretical principle that "greater resources lead to better performance" and confirms that an increase in the rural administration grade (resulting from increased population, area, workload, and village revenue) provides a favorable context for improving services.

In light of the research findings and with the aim of improving the performance of rural administrations in Zarand County and similar regions, the following recommendations are proposed: revising the duties of rural administrations based on their grade, establishing an incentive system for rural administrations directors in small villages, diversifying the revenue sources of rural administrations, utilizing the corporate social responsibility capacity of mining and industrial companies in Zarand County, designing and implementing specialized training courses based on needs assessments, and forming a coordination council of executive agencies at the district level with the participation of rural administrations directors.