Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci., Vol(3), No (8), August, 2014. pp.

434-438

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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

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ISSN:
2306-7276

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The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Psychological Empowering

of Rural Women Cooperatives in Shiraz City
Farhad Lashgarara *
Department of Agricultural Extension, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Elaheh Ghanaatpisheh
Department of Agricultural Extension, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Gholamreza Dinpanah
Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
*Corresponding author: f_lashgarara@srbiau.ac.ir

Keywords

Abstract

Entrepreneurship Educations
Psychological Empowerment
Women Cooperative

The current research is aimed to identify the role of entrepreneurship education in psychological
empowering of rural women cooperatives in Shiraz city. The population of this research include the
members of the women cooperatives in Shiraz city (N= 1151). By using proportional stratified sampling 300
people were selected according to Morgan table. The data of the study is collected by a questionnaire. The
findings showed that there is a positive relationship between the psychological empowering and
achievement motivation aspects, venturing, creativeness, self-sufficiency, and internal control in the level of
99 percent. Also the results of regression analysis showed that creativeness has determined 0.46 variance of
psychological empowerment of rural women cooperatives in Shiraz township.

1.

Introduction

In fact, teaching and promoting the process of entrepreneurship is a policy that directly affects the quality and quantity of supply in a
community. This is why in many countries, especially developed countries, in which problems and obstacles are overcome, governments have
focused on unlocking the potential of people. In fact, with the implementation of this policy always can achieve a variety of purposes such as
identifying opportunities and how to exploit them, new scientific - business and management methods(zarnegar,2003).
One of the most effective methods that provide necessary background for personal growth and upgrading of mental and intellectual capabilities
of women, and causing them to have active participation in group activities, is acting in cooperatives. Cooperatives can promote the knowledge
and capacities of women and empower them, and have effectively serve with teaching the principles of participatory development, teaching the
methods of group decision and developing self-confidence (Roosta et al., 2011).
Many experts stressed on the necessity of doing educational and consulting government programs for creating ability among women and lead
them on the path to entrepreneurship. Experience of the performance of cooperatives in the Mazandaran province shows that government
financial support, without a comprehensive program of educational, cultural and social, may not lead to the growth of entrepreneurship among
women, but amplify tends to establish front companies for utilization of public facilities(Karimi, 2005).
Studies have shown that we can expand entrepreneurship or at least teach it to others in order to maintain it alive(Gorman et al., 1997). Solomon
et al. (2002) have thought that entrepreneurship education is totally different from other aspects of education like finding jobs. Vesper(1990) in a
research under the name of " Increasing rate of entrepreneurship activities and the role of education" found that education plays a very important
role in entrepreneurships point of view for each individuals. Also Postigo(2002) in another paper about " entrepreneurship education of
university students in Argentina" prove that innovative and creative courses are the most important course to entrepreneurship education.
Howard(2004) in a research test 450 students and come to the conclution that there is a straight relationship between different skills and the rate
of entrepreneurship of each individual. Hosseini et al.(2009) in a research under the name of " Extension and education factors influencing the
success of entrepreneurship among rural women in Northern Iran " showed that we need to teach rural women in order to improve their
entrepreneurship activities.
According to the report of Irans statistic center, the offical rate of unemployment shifted to 30.3% in 2010 although it was 9.1% in 1995. On the
other hand, according to the Bureau of Statistics, Population Census and Labour Force this rate of unemployment in Fars state was 21.3% in
April 2011, it was the highest rank among all states. Also Shiraz as the capital of the state represents the highest rate of 21.3% among other cities
(Bureau of Statistics, Population Census and Labour Force, 2012 ).
So given that official have had less attention to the issue of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education and training of women than men,
and the situation of rural women, that is far worse than their urban counterparts And also have more difficulties, so in addition to the importance
of entrepreneurship education, and the necessity of increasing of empoerment of women especially in rural communities, this research has
necessity. The goal of this research as mentioned before is representing the role of entrepreneurship education in psychological empowering of
rural women cooperatives in Shiraz city.

2.

Methodology

This is an applied study and non-experimental (descriptive) and is based on the correlation method. The main tool for this study is a
questionnaire that was prepared in four main sections, which its validity is confirmed by a group of experts and in order to assess the reliability
of the questionnaire, 30 questionnaires were obtained through the completion of a preliminary test that is established through calculating

435

The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Psychological Empowering of Rural Women Cooperatives in Shiraz city
International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (8), August, 2014.

Cronbach Alpha coefficient, as estimated among 0.822 and 0.928 which indicates the high reliability of the tool. The population of this research
includes women's cooperative members in Shiraz city. In this city there are 4 women's cooperatives, their members have a total of 1151 cases.
By using proportional stratified sampling 300 people were selected according to Morgan table, and samples were selected by stratified
proportional random. The dependent variable in this study is the psychological empowerment of rural women's cooperative members and the
independent variables are: achievement motivation aspects, venturing, creativeness, self-sufficiency, and internal control.

3.

Findings

Based on the information gathered revealed that the mean age of members of womens cooperatives is 34.97. 71.3% of the members were
married; 86% of the members were dependents; the majority of rural women (3/48%) had lower secondary school degree. The results show the
average of 9 years for the membership record. The minimum record of membership among the members is 1 year and the maximum record of 20
years is mentioned. Between the classes were held in cooperatives, sewing classes, has the largest number of participants (N = 130) and crafts
classes,has the minimum number of participants (53 cases).
To assess the psychological empowerment of rural women, the nine items were used. According to Table 1, the findings of the study indicate
that in the dimension of psychological empowerment, more than half of respondents (57.6 percent) have evaluated their empowering as high.

Dimensions
empowerment

of

Table 1. Distribution of psychological empowerment of rural women

Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent

psychological
empowerment

Very low
Low
medium
High
Very high
Total
Not answer
Mode: high Median: high

3
13
75
170
34
295
5

1
4.3
25
56.7
11.3
98.3
1.7

1
4.4
25.4
57.6
11.5
100

Cumulative
percent
1
5.4
30.8
88.5
100

The results of prioritizing psychological empowerment of rural women show that in the dimension of psychological empowerment, " feel
successful in life and have a high potential", is the first priority item, and " feel satisfied " is in the last priority.
For assessment of entrepreneurship education, five dimensions of achievement motivation aspects, venturing, creativeness, self-sufficiency, and
internal control were used.
According to Table 2, the findings of the study indicate that more than half of the respondents (51.5 percent) have evaluated the impact of
achievement motivation on their empowering as high.

Achievement
Motivation

Table 2. Distribution of Achievement Motivation impact on the psychological empowerment of rural women
Dimensions of
Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
entrepreneurship
percent
education
Very low
3
1
1
1
Low
39
13
13.2
14.2
medium
101
33.7
34.2
48.5
High
152
50.7
51.5
100
Total
295
98.3
100
Not answer
5
1.7
Mode: high Median: high
According to Table 3, the findings of the study indicate that half of the respondents (50 percent) have evaluated the impact of self-sufficiency on
their empowering as high.
Table 3. Distribution of Self-Sufficiency impact on the economic empowerment of rural women
Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
percent

Self-Sufficiency

Dimensions of
entrepreneurship
education

Very low
Low
medium
High
Very high
Total
Not answer

3
30
98
149
18
298
2

1
10
32.7
49.7
6
99.3
0.7

1
10.1
32.9
50
6
100

1
11.1
44
94
100

Mode: high Median: high

According to Table 4, the findings of the study indicate that more than half of the respondents (53.9 percent) have evaluated the impact of
internal control on their empowering as high.

Farhad Lashgarara *, Gholamreza Dinpanah, Elaheh Ghanaatpisheh

436

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (8), August, 2014.

Internal Control

Dimensions
of
entrepreneurship
education

Table 4. Distribution of internal control impact on the psychological empowerment of rural women
Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
percent

Very low
Low
medium
High
Total
Not answer
Mode: high Median: high

3
25
109
160
297
3

1
8.3
36.3
53.3
99
1

1
8.4
36.7
53.9
100

1
9.4
46.1
100

According to Table 5, the findings of the study indicate that more than half of the respondents (58.5 percent) have evaluated the impact of
creativeness on their empowering as high.

Creativeness

Table 5. Distribution of creativeness impact on the psychological empowerment of rural women

Dimensions of
Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
entrepreneurship
percent
education
Very low
2
0.7
0.7
0.7
Low
15
5
5
5.7
medium
81
27
27.1
32.8
High
175
58.3
58.5
91.3
Very high
26
8.7
8.7
100
Total
299
99.7
100
Not answer
1
0.3
Mode: high Median: high
According to Table 6, the findings of the study indicate that more than half of the respondents (53.4 percent) have evaluated the impact of
venturing on their empowering as high.

Venturing

Table 6. Distribution of venturing impact on the psychological empowerment of rural women

Dimensions of
Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
entrepreneurship
percent
education
Very low
11
3.7
3.7
3.7
Low
36
12
12.1
15.8
medium
62
20.7
20.8
36.6
High
159
53
53.4
89.9
Very high
30
10
10.1
100
Total
298
99.3
100
Not answer
2
0.7
Mode: high Median: high
Overall findings indicate that more than half of the respondents (60.1 percent) believe that entrepreneurship education has a great role in the
empowerment (Table 7).

Entrepreneurship
Education

Table 7. Distribution of the entrepreneurship education in psychological empowerment of rural women

Dimensions
of Empowerment
Frequency
percent
valid Percent
Cumulative
entrepreneurship
percent
education
Very low
1
0.3
0.3
0.3
Low
30
10
10.4
10.8
medium
83
27.7
28.8
39.6
High
173
57.7
60.1
99.7
Very high
1
0.3
0.3
100
Total
288
96
100
Not answer
12
4
Mode: high Median: high
In continue for prioritizing the importance of entrepreneurship education dimension in the empowerment of rural women, mean statistic were
used.
Findings shows that among the five dimensions of entrepreneurial education in priority order, creativeness, venturing, achievement motivation,
internal control and self-sufficiency fall into.
In the inferential statistics part to determine the relationship between variables the Pearson correlation coefficient were used. And in order to
investigate the mass effect of independent variables on the dependent variable, multivariate regression were used.

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The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Psychological Empowering of Rural Women Cooperatives in Shiraz city
International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (8), August, 2014.

The findings in Table 8 indicate that in the psychological empowerment dimension with any aspect of entrepreneurship education there is a
relation as follows:
- Between creativeness, venturing, achievement motivation, internal control and self-sufficiency and psychological empowerment, there is a
significant and positive relationship in the level of 99 percent.
As shown in Table (8) the dimension of creativeness, achievement motivation, internal control and venturing in the first to fourth steps are
entered sequent.
This means that creativeness variable have the most influence on the dependent variable (psychological empowerment) and this variable have
determined about 49.8% of psychological empowerment variance.
Table 8. Regression analysis of psychological empowerment
Steps
R
1
0.707 a
2
0.744 b
3
0.758 c
4
0.769 d
a: creativeness
b: creativeness, achievement motivation
c: creativeness, achievement motivation, internal control
d: creativeness, achievement motivation, internal control, venturing

R Square
0.500
0.553
0.575
0.592

Adjusted R Square
0.498
0.550
0.570
0.586

Std Error
4.178
3.958
3.868
3.797

Entered variables into the regression equation are obtained in Table (9). Significant of regression were calculated by F that the dimensions of
creativeness, achievement motivation, internal control and venturing are significant at the level of 99% (sig=0.000).
Table 9, Standardized coefficients are not standardized and psychological empowerment
Variables
Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
B
Std.Error
Beta
Intercept
6.799
1.398
creativeness
achievement motivation
internal control

0.323
0.212

0.378
venturing
0.187
Dependent variable: psychological empowerment

Sig

4.863

0.000

0.076
0.069

0.284
0.180

4.264
3.096

0.000
0.002

0.109
0.055

0.210
0.204

3.458
3.417

0.001
0.001

Based on the value of in Table (9) The regression equation can be written as follows:
Y = 0.284X1 + 0.180X2 + 0.210X3 + 0.204X4
X1= creativeness
X2= achievement motivation
X3= internal control
X4= venturing

4.

Conclusion

Stepwise regression results show that in relation to the impact of entrepreneurship education on psychological empowerment, creativeness
dimension with determining factor of R2 =0.498 is the most important influencing variable on the psychological empowerment of rural women
cooperatives in Shiraz city so this variable have determined about 49.8% of psychological empowerment variance. Overall dimensions of
creativeness, achievement motivation, internal control and venturing, in total are explained about 58.6% of the dependent variables
(psychological empowerment).
Sharma & Kanta Varma(2008), Ekpoh & Edet (2011), Nawaz(2010), Upadhye & Madan(2012), Nachimuthu & Gunatharan(2012), Sidhu &
Kaur(2006), Lashgarara et al.(2011), Ataei & Zamani Miandashti(2011), Zamani Myandashti et al.(2011), Kiani (2010), Golrad (2006), Farahani
et al. (2012), Jaafari Mehtash (2007), Mirzaei et al. (2011), Hosseini (2009), Beyginiya et al. (2011), Kimiyaei (2012), Tabatabai Yahya Abadi
and Hosseiniyan (2006) and Mashayekh (2008) have found similar results in their study. Therefore, as for the results of other research and the
results obtained from this research and In order to further empowering of rural women cooperatives in Shiraz township, the following
suggestions are offered:
- By more involving them in making decisions, emphasize to their views, participate them in collective and group activities, holding courses in
order to modify their beliefs and opinions and also increase their level of job skills, in order to raise their confidence to take steps to deal with
different situations by creating positive views of things and actions, tried to strengthen sense of self-satisfaction.
- Holding courses in order to enhance women's understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in order to enhance realism and logic in their
pursuit of peace.
- Conducting courses on raising the confidence of women and the elimination of fatigue, anxiety and lack of their concentration in performing
tasks simultaneously.
- Holding courses to help people to identify their goals in life, and corroborate their thought about regarding perseverance to achieve these goals
and necessary skills to do better things. Also holding the courses and training regarding how to plan for pursuit and continuity of works to
achieve the eligible and desired result and more and better use of time to do works.
- Conducting courses to enhance their motivation to do better things with their own discretion and also increase their desire for leadership and
business leadership skills. Also provides a good platform to enable rural women to take leadership groups and cooperatives and their role in this
bold feel.

Farhad Lashgarara *, Gholamreza Dinpanah, Elaheh Ghanaatpisheh

438

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (8), August, 2014.

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