an analysis of the rural community evaluation of village administrations' performance using structural equation modeling

the present study attempts to analyze the evaluation of the central district of ravansar township rural community from the performance of village administrations (dehyari) by using of structural equation modeling (sem). in order to collect needed data, a questionnaire was designed and completed via interviewing the sample population. the observed variables for economical, socio-cultural, services and managerial components of the performance evaluation were obtained by thematic categorization and processing of the questionnaire contents. primary description of variables showed the lower average of all of the variables from the mid-point of the scale (3), which indicates the weakness of the village administrations from the rural communities’ point of view. four sub-scales were then prepared and validated for the components of the performance evaluation by using the first order confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) measurement models in amos graphics. the impacts of the observed variables and respective sub-scales on the evaluation of village administrations, as the main latent dependent variable, was consequently analyzed by using and validating of a second order cfa structural model. by eliminating the measurements errors in sem approach, the results of total effects of path coefficients revealed the impressibility precedence of rural communities’ evaluation from the services, managerial, socio-cultural and economical sub-scales respectively. this result is something different from the raw data description. internal validity of sub-scales compared with the final results indicates that indirect effects of observed variables on the latent variable are more due to their role and nature than the validity of measurement models.