Analysis of Factors Influencing Motivation of Villagers' Participation in Activities of Social Forestry (The Case Study of West Mazandaran)

The main purpose of this study was to analyze factors influencing motivation of villagers' participation in activities of social forestry. The statistical population includes all villagers living in villages, which locate in the west Mazandaran of Iran and had been covered by local forestry cooperative. A sample of 110 villagers were selected by the use of proportional random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect data. For determining the validity of the questionnaire, the content validity was used. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure reliability of index measuring level of motivation of villagers' participation in activities of social forestry that its extent was 0.84 and showed that mentioned variable had high reliability. The data were analyzed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics such as extent of mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The findings revealed that level of literacy, using level of mass communication media, level of participation in extension-education courses, social interaction and attitude toward participatory activities positively and significantly (p<0.01) correlated with the level of motivation of villagers' participation in activities of social forestry. The result of multiple regression showed that variables consisting: attitude toward participatory activities, using level of mass communication media, level of literacy and social interaction could explain 39.7% of the variation in the level of motivation of villagers' participation in activities of social forestry.