Individual and Psychological Characteristics Influencing Villagers' Participation in Watershed Management Initiatives in Iran: A Case Study of MeshginShahr County

The present study is aimed to investigate the personal and psychological characteristics influencing villagers' participation in watershed management initiatives in Meshkinshahr County. The research is a descriptive and causal relational study performed in the field. The study population consisted of 1850 villagers living in Meshkinshahr County whose villages underwent watershed management initiatives during 2006-2011 of which 180 individuals were sampled using the Cochran formula based on the stratified random proportional sampling method. For data collection, previous studies obtained from the library and internet was used to obtain literature background while the questionnaire was used to elicit data from the field. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and scholars in the field of rural participation and development. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire using the SPSS statistical software package. The results indicated that except for the family size variable, there are significant relationships between all variables (main occupation, education, attitudes toward participation in watershed management initiatives, community involvement, age, social incentives, economic incentives and type of ownership) and the participation of villagers in watershed management initiatives.