Analyzing socio-economic performance of rural municipality of Fahlian, Mamasani County, from the perspective of villagers

Introduction In Iran, management system of rural areas was kind of non-governmental before the Constitutional Revolution. In such a system, Khans and masters; the village chief and elders were responsible for the village and its affairs. In 1354, by the progress of land reform programs and the elimination of feudal serf system from social communication system, the village chief was removed from the Rural Management System and rural councils were replaced by. After Islamic Revolution, important measures done in the field of construction, especially, rural management. Some examples of such measures are; the amendment of Islamic Councils, the foundation of the House of companion, and the construction of rural development office. Rural Islamic councils play important roles in the process of people's participation in promoting rural developments. Rural councils and municipalities, as cooperative and public institutions, are considered to be communication bonding between people and institutions with administration staff of the government. So, they carry a key role in the process of rural development. Thus, people's satisfaction with the performance of rural municipalities plays a decisive role in the success of such institutions and achieving their goals. The more satisfied villages are with the performance of rural municipalities, the more confident they will do their citizen responsibilities in the process of implementation and monitoring of civil public programs. In this research, the socio-economic performance of Fahlian rural municipality, of the central part of Mamasani County, has been analyzed based on surveys of villagers through questionnaires. The present research aims at appraising villagers' satisfaction with the performance of Fahlian rural municipality applying Kano model to make three categories of the villagers' basic needs come true. The intended needs are; economic, functional and emotional ones. We are going to use the results from the research to obtain an accurate picture of the satisfaction of rural population with the performance of rural municipalities to help us improve rural services and enhance villagers' satisfaction. Methodology This study is a combination of analytical survey method based on questionnaires, in which the most important areas associated with villagers' satisfaction of the village municipality in Fahlian is being tested. Considering the goals of the research, it is an applied one. The statistical society of the research includes all the rural residents in Fahlian. In order to determine the sample size, we have first used Cochran-Sharp methods. Using this formula, the sample size was calculated140 people from the entire 2177 inhabitants of the village. Then, questionnaires were completed using simple random sampling method. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated 0.809 for the whole questionnaire. Totally, the validity and reliability of the statements and questionnaire have been in a good level. They have also reported to be reliable for research fields and obtaining the views of the sample. For preparing questionnaires like those in the Kano model, two questions are needed to design for each feature. The questionnaires are classified in two categories. The first category questionnaires are functional and the second ones are non-functional ones. To design this section a five-point Likert- type scale was used. Although there are different models for evaluating the quality of services, it is hard to compromise on the ways to identify factors affecting this. Some of these models involve hysteresis, Kano, Seroquel, QFC, and etc. In this study, Kano model was used as a measuring tool of people satisfaction. Discussion and conclusion In Iran, contemporary rural management was affected by major changes. Each of these changes have had a significant impact on the fate and success of Iran Rural Development. Creation of rural municipalities in villages is the last link in the chain. Of course, it does not include all the villages, yet. Objectives and responsibilities outlined in the by-law of rural municipalities, whose most prominent characteristic is their mediating role among local communities and state institutions, seems to be greater than their power and human, financial and material capacities available to them. According to the data collected from Surveys of Fahlian residents to know if they are satisfied with socio-economic performance of their rural municipality using Kano model, it was realized that based on villagers perspectives asphalt and table investment streets are among their most prominent needs while Fahlian rural municipality was doing its best for waste collection and disposal. Also, they were largely making efforts to pave the way for the formation of cooperatives of production and consumption. Thus, the maximum level of villagers' satisfaction and their dissatisfaction with the performance of the rural municipality was reported to be 0.413 and -0.747, respectively. Results from the questionnaires and their analysis using Kano model indicate that villagers' emotional needs have been better provided than their other needs. The coefficient for their emotional needs was 0.611 which is more than the coefficient obtained for the two other needs of basic and functional ones by the coefficient of 0.425 and 0.523, respectively. Consequently, the village staff and authorities, especially those in rural municipality, must largely focus on providing villagers with their basic and functional needs. In this way, they are needed to improve and mobilize transporting system as well as the improvement of communicating systems like telephone and internet to help them attract more tourists and investors. For functional needs, they have partly acted successfully in making security measures for the attraction of tourists and investors. Studies demonstrate that rural municipalities will be able to eliminate a great part of villagers' dissatisfaction and make them satisfied if they apply the results from this study in making decisions for rural development and improvement.