SPACE ECONOMY & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

other عوامل تعیین‌کننده سفر و رفتار گردشگران کشاورزی در مناطق روستایی استان مازندران Determinants of Behavioral Intentions of Agritourists in Rural Areas of Mazandaran Province تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research <div style="text-align: justify;">گردشگری کشاورزی ابزاری جهت تنوع‌بخشی اقتصادی، حفاظت از منابع زمین، مناظر کشاورزی و دارایی‌های فرهنگی مقصد شناخته می‌شود که می‌تواند به‌عنوان یکی از راهبردهای توسعه پایدار در جوامع روستایی موردتوجه قرار گیرد. بااین‌حال موفقیت در این زمینه مستلزم توجه به مسئله برنامه‌ریزی و مدیریت تقاضا برای جذب و ترغیب گردشگران علاقه‌مند است و این امر نیز با درک چرایی و چگونگی الگوی فرآیندهای رفتاری و تصمیم‌گیری سفر آن‌ها آغاز می‌شود. لذا هدف از این مطالعه درک عوامل مؤثر برنیات رفتاری گردشگران نسبت به گردشگری کشاورزی در مناطق روستایی استان مازندران می‌باشد و به‌منظور درک و تبیین صریح فرآیند اتخاذ تصمیمات، در پژوهش حاضر از مدل رفتار برنامه‌ریزی‌شده استفاده شده است. این پژوهش ازنظر هدف، از نوع تبیینی، و بر اساس ماهیت از نوع کمّی مبتنی بر مدل‌سازی معادلات ساختاری می‌باشد. جامعه‌ی آماری این پژوهش، گردشگرانی هستند که تجربه سفر به استان مازندران را داشته‌اند. روش نمونه‌گیری غیر احتمالی در دسترس بوده و داده‌های پژوهش نیز از طریق پرسشنامه مجازی جمع‌آوری شد. طبقه‌بندی و تحلیل داده‌ها نیز با استفاده از نرم‌افزارهای  SPSS25و SmartPLSS 3.3.3 انجام شد. در آزمون فرضیات مشخص شد که سه عامل تعیین‌کننده نیات رفتاری در مدل رفتار برنامه‌ریزی‌شده (نگرش نسبت به گردشگری کشاورزی، هنجارهای ذهنی و کنترل رفتاری ادراک‌شده) تأثیر مثبت و مستقیمی برنیات رفتاریِ گردشگران کشاورزی دارند. همچنین نقش تعدیل‌گر تجربه گذشته در رابطه بین این سه عامل با نیات رفتاری تائید نشد. یافته‌های پژوهش نشان داد که اغلب گردشگران این مقصد گردشگرانی هستند که تمایل به فعالیت‌های تفریحی و تفرجی دارند و گردشگر تخصصی حوزه گردشگری کشاورزی نیستند؛ لذا ایجاد برند و تصویر مقصد جدیدی از مناطق روستایی استان به‌عنوان مقصد گردشگری کشاورزی توسط برنامه‌ریزان و بازاریابان مقصد توصیه می‌شود.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction Agritourism, regarded as a sustainable development strategy for rural communities, is a tool for economic diversification and conserving land resources, agricultural landscapes and cultural assets. The rural areas of Mazandaran Province are a significant agricultural hub of the country due to their abundant capabilities such as soil fertility, vast plains, good climate and sufficient water resources. This province is also known as one of the most visited tourist destinations with mass tourism form in the country. These capabilities are compatible with developing niche tourism, such as agritourism. Therefore, it is necessary for the tourism governance of Mazandaran to combine the activities of the two sectors of agriculture and tourism to encourage and promote agritourism to preserve the region's agricultural lands and agricultural heritage and traditions in order to prevent unsustainable development. However, success in agritourism requires attention to the issue of planning and demand management to attract interested tourists and also understanding why and how the behavioral processes pattern and their travel decisions. Therefore, this study aims to understand the factors affecting the behavioral intentions of tourists towards agritourism in rural areas of Mazandaran Province. In order to understand and explain the decision-making process, the Planned Behavior model was used to examine the attitudes of tourists towards agricultural activities, their subjective norms and perceived behavioral control as determinants of tourists' behavioral intentions. This model provides suitable conditions for obtaining the necessary information and awareness about tourists' specific behaviors and inclinations towards agritourism.  Methodology  This descriptive and quantitative study is based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The study's statistical population is the tourist who has experience travelling to rural areas of Mazandaran. The number of statistical samples was estimated at 220 people. Data were collected through a web-based questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: demographic and specialized questions. Specialized questions included two items for measuring behavioral intention variable (BI), two items for attitude towards agritourism (ATT), three items for subjective norms (SN), three items for perceived behavioral control variable (PBC) and one item for past experience (PE). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed using content, construct, convergent, divergent and diagnostic validity. Also, its reliability was confirmed by composite reliability and pre-test of 30 questionnaires based on Cronbach's alpha test. Data classification and analysis were performed through SPSS25 and SmartPLS3.3.3. Discussion and conclusion Finally, the results showed that the factors of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control had affected the behavioral intentions of tourists to visit agricultural farms and rural areas in Mazandaran Province. It was also found that tourists with a positive belief and attitude towards agritourism activities are more inclined to visit agricultural and rural environments. Compared to other factors determining behavioral intentions, subjective norms have the greatest impact on the intention to the agricultural and rural environment. In other words, the intention to visit increases when people (such as family, relatives, friends or colleagues) and influential persons in virtual spaces recommend travelling to agricultural destinations in rural areas of Mazandaran Province. According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions (national culture), Iran is ranked as one of the collectivist countries and cultures (41), and therefore the people of our society are more affected by social norms. Furthermore, this study found that perceived behavioral control has a positive effect on the behavioral intentions of tourists to visit the agricultural environment of rural areas in Mazandaran Province. Tourists believe that their confidence in their ability to make such trips, as well as enough money and time for vacations, influences their behavioral intentions to visit the agricultural and rural areas of this destination. Although past experience is effective in the relationship between attitude and behavioral intentions, the past experience of tourists had a moderate effect. In this province, because most of the lands are engaged in agricultural activities, little attention has been paid to agritourism activities. In other words, agritourism is a new sector in this traditional destination. Therefore, the previous experiences of tourists do not include in-depth and participatory experiences in agritourism activities and include items such as entertainment and shopping. It should be noted that tourists in this study had a strong tendency to participate in recreational and entertainment activities and did not want to participate in agritourism activities because most of the tourists in this destination are leisure tourists and are not specialized tourists agritourism. Therefore, creating a brand and a new image of rural areas of Mazandaran as an agritourism destination is recommended.  </div> گردشگری کشاورزی, مناطق روستایی, نیات رفتاری, مازندران. Agricultural tourism, rural areas, behavioral intentions, Mazandaran. 253 277 http://serd.khu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2-381&slc_lang=other&sid=1 Akbar Pourfaraj اکبر پورفرج 10031947532846006462 10031947532846006462 No Associate Professor, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allame Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. دانشیار، دانشکده مدیریت و حسابداری، دانشگاه علامه طباطبائی، تهران، ایران. Maryam Naghavi مریم نقوی naghavi.mm@gmail.com 10031947532846006463 10031947532846006463 Yes PhD. Candidate in Tourism, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allame Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. دانشجوی دکتری مدیریت گردشگری، دانشکده مدیریت و حسابداری، دانشگاه علامه طباطبائی، تهران، ایران.