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INFORMATION PROCESSING IN AGRICULTURE 8 (2021) 105– 133

journal homepage: [Link]/locate/inpa

Rural E-marketing in Iran; Modeling villagers’

intention and clustering rural regions

Seyed Jaber Alavion, Ahmad Taghdisi *

Faculty of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The rural population of Iran has a serious need for ICT application to launch e-marketing in
Received 22 June 2019 order to increase employment. The important point is that most villagers are small holders,
Received in revised form and an e-marketing model should be proposed which is adopted and can be operational-
24 February 2020 ized. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was modeling villagers’ intention to adopt
Accepted 27 February 2020 e-marketing and performing rural provincial clustering. Data were collected from approx-
Available online 29 February 2020 imately 1000 villages with ICT offices in all provinces. The research model was designed in a
way that the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was developed, and Rural Economy Geogra-
Keywords: phy was added as background. Therefore, the Geographic Model of Planned Behavior
Structural equation modelling (GeoTPB) was proposed. The innovation of the current research is in using a combined
K-means clustering model (behavioral and geographical) to adopt rural technology, which has presented a bet-
Rural e-marketing ter understanding of adoption. Additionally, a two-stage structural equation modeling
Intention to adopt approach was used, which means that since the model was large and complicated, in
Rural ICT offices the first stage, the non-significant paths were removed, and in the second stage, the model
Iran was simplified and proposed with the significant paths. This model predicted 76% of vil-
lagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing. Also, the K-means clustering showed that based
on economic and behavioral factors, the rural districts of Iran constituted 6 clusters. The
interesting point was that the southern and southeastern provinces of Iran, which have
been reported by the statistics center to be the less developed areas, were found to be
the superior cluster in e-marketing adoption in the results of the current research. There-
fore, the villages of Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan provinces will be suitable as
pilot provinces for e-marketing implementation. Considering the results of the GeoTPB
model, priority would better be given to villages with appropriate access and a population
with the potential to use technology. Additionally, regarding the government’s aim to
develop rural businesses, it is suggested that the Transaction Services Model be launched
as the national business and the related facilities be provided.
Ó 2020 China Agricultural University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of
KeAi. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ([Link]
org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
* Corresponding author: Faculty of Geographical Sciences and
Planning, University of Isfahan, Postal code 8174673441, Isfahan, For nearly three decades, ICT applications in different rural
Iran. areas have been instrumental in providing information for,
E-mail address: [Link]@[Link] (A. Taghdisi).
and management of, employment and rural businesses. In
Peer review under responsibility of China Agricultural University.
[Link]
2214-3173 Ó 2020 China Agricultural University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ([Link]
106 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

North America, sales websites for agricultural products began expansion of mobile use in the rural areas of Africa, it has
to work in the 1990s. Its old examples are the Online Farmers become possible to provide newer services. The ability to acti-
Market1 (offering a variety of crops, gardens, livestock and vate multiple mobile phone numbers on a family-owned SIM
aquaculture with rental booths to sellers and the potential card was provided by ‘‘Movritu Inc” in Tanzania and Madagas-
to send orders to anywhere in the US or Canada) and the car [10] and an animal information service named ‘‘ICOW” in
Maryland Livestock Online Market2 (with the possibility of Kenya, which provides services including the nutrition, repro-
registering the villagers on the site for online sales of their duction and medical care of livestock [11] are examples of the
livestock) [1]. With the expansion of rural businesses, web- technology of rural communities.
sites3 with social goals arose. In California, for example, a In the Middle East, Iran, with the establishment of rural
‘‘California Fresh Works” website was launched to provide ICT offices in 2004, is one of the leading areas in rural devel-
healthy food and services to low-income rural communities opment. These offices provide banking, postal and telecom-
[2]. With the aim of ICT expansion in the geographical munication services [12]. At the moment, the access of
domain, regional projects related to rural digital technology Iranian villages to infrastructure and IT facilities is improving.
were defined at a given time interval. Examples include The number of villages with a high-speed Internet connection
‘‘EORN” in Canada, which expanded the access of rural areas has reached 24,205 (out of 61,000 villages), which includes 40
to ICT services. The result of the first phase of the project in percent of all the country’s villages. The expansion of rural
2014 was the financing obtained from diverse sources, social ICT offices, a 50 percent availability of personal computers
media participation, and skills training and marketing [3]. In to rural households, and a penetration rate of 70 percent for
the EU, a ten-year Rural Digital Agenda (2005–2015) was mobile phones are other examples of this progress [13]. How-
implemented in rural areas, covering different socio- ever, the important point is that the progress in communica-
economic objectives in villages [4]. Also, in Europe, the topic tion has not increased the rural population over the last two
of rural tourism is especially taken into consideration. In this decades. The main reason is that information technology
context, a project called ‘‘Dante” (Digital Agenda for New has failed to promote entrepreneurship, employment, and
Tourism Approach in European Rural and Mountain Areas) the growth of income effectively. One solution is the use of
4
was implemented. For example, in Spain, the ‘‘Toprural” information technology to develop rural business and e-
website5 is widely used for rural tourism [5]. In Moldova, there marketing provides this opportunity. The purpose of rural e-
is a comprehensive website6 called ‘‘moldova-tourism”, marketing is to give villagers the opportunity to offer agricul-
related to the National Association of Rural, Ecological and tural products, handicrafts and tourism services using an
Cultural Tourism [6]. electronic system in the network of rural ICT offices [14].
Looking at other places in the world, in South Asia there Therefore, in the present research, two main purposes are
exists one of the largest micro rural communities. In Bangla- investigated. First, rural region clustering is carried out based
desh, the Rural Advancement Committee established a pro- on behavioral and economic factors related to e-marketing
ject called ‘‘Gonokendra” - meaning the people’s center with the targets being the rural districts of the country which
library - in rural areas that aims at villagers’ education [7]. have better conditions for adoption of rural e-marketing. Sec-
In the first decade of 2000, in India, the marketing informa- ond, the villagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing is evaluated
tion network (Agmarknet) was established. It was a network by the Geographical Model of Planned Behavior with struc-
that provided market information at a national level and tural equation analysis.
facilitated the sale of products and the licensing of marketing
to entrepreneurs to promote the potential of the villagers. 2. Literature review
Using this network, a project called ‘‘e-Choupal” was formed
which was an information and communication system for 2.1. Technology adoption in rural and agricultural
agricultural products in nine Indian states with 6500 Internet communities
kiosks covering about 4 million villagers [8].
Africa, supported by global organizations, has also bene- In North America, one of the first studies conducted in the
fited from rural ICT services. In 2005, with FAO support, an west of the United States in the past two decades (1999) in
information and communication system called ‘‘Esoko” was relation to the adoption of new information technologies in
designed which covered the agricultural markets of fifteen small rural businesses showed that a company with relative
African countries and provided a link between the villagers advantages (communications, cost management and proper
and the market and improved villagers’ marketing know- arbitration), appropriate size and support has a higher adop-
how. For example, the results of a study on this system which tion rate. External pressure (suppliers and customers) and
was conducted in Ghana shows that villagers use technology competitive pressure (marketing competition) were among
to predict weather conditions, receive agricultural production the variables that influenced the rate of adoption. When
advice and get information about current prices [9]. With the external pressure is on, the company must take advantage
of new technology to communicate with suppliers and cus-
1 tomers [15]. In a study that was conducted about a decade
[Link].
2
[Link]. later, entitled ‘‘The adoption of the Internet in rural America
3
[Link]. (Kentucky),” the study of social adoption was targeted. Before
4
[Link]. villagers get information about the benefits of broadband
5
[Link]. Internet, they must learn to use and assume a positive atti-
6
[Link].
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 107

tude towards it. The variables that had a direct impact on the and the access of rural society to rural ICT, the digital divide
adoption of the Internet included Internet experience, self- has decreased. Consideration is also given to the human fac-
efficacy, expected outcomes and inactive learning [16]. tor and behavioral variables in the adoption of rural
Research conducted in Canada in connection with the farm- technology.
er’s decision to adopt agricultural technology showed that Various studies have been conducted in Iran on adoption-
ease of use where technology is concerned has a positive rela- related behavior and the use of technology in different rural
tionship with adoption. In addition, farmers’ tendencies regions. The first rural ICT centers were established in north-
towards technology, the ability to use technology and the ern Iran. This region of Iran has a temperate climate and the
level of education have been influential on adoption [17]. villages are near the cities. Khalili et al [24] studied the factors
Moreover, the results of one of the most recent European affecting ICT adoption and found that the behavioral charac-
studies on the willingness of German farmers’ to accept e- teristics of villagers affected the adoption. A few years later,
commerce reports that farmers will be able to join other Alavion and Alahyari [25] reported that, in addition to behav-
online retailers and be successful by lowering prices. Farmers’ ioral characteristics, rural economy also has an effect on
risk attitudes, prior online shopping experiences and educa- adoption. The results of a study by Masouleh et al [26] indi-
tion were among the effective factors for an online business cated that in the agricultural organization, the human (moti-
in rural society [18]. vation and skill) and educational (educational classes and
In the Far East, researchers investigated the adoption and practical use of technology) factors are among the most
use of mobile phones in rural China to determine the impact important factors which transfer ICT knowledge to villagers.
of behavioral and psychological factors on mobile adoption. Studies in northern Iran have indicated that ICT adoption is
The psychological factors included perceived characteristics, in good status. In western Iran (areas with mountainous cli-
perceived popularity and perceived need. Behavioral factors mates), a study by Lashgarara et al [27] showed that socio-
included adoption of technology, interpersonal communica- cultural factors affected the adoption and use of ICT. How-
tion and mass media use. The results showed that behavioral ever, the authors suggested that the use of ICT centers was
factors played a more important role in adoption than psy- low and this issue was not inclusive. Alibaygi et al [28]
chological factors, which had less prediction power. This find- obtained similar results in these geographical areas and sta-
ing showed that the impact of psychological factors on ted that no relationship was observed between rural economy
technology adoption is very limited in a rural society. Since and ICT centers. A few years later, Arayesh [29] suggested that
the villagers had lower incomes and lower living standards more attention should be paid to ICT management and
than urban residents, they were less influenced by imagina- infrastructure in order to boost E-commerce and implement
tion and feelings in adopting and using new technology [19]. E-marketing in western Iran. In general, the status of ICT
Two years later, Chinese researchers raised a question: adoption in western Iran has not been satisfactory. The regio-
‘‘How does socio-economic structure influence rural users’ nal agricultural index is higher in northwestern Iran than it is
acceptance of mobile entertainment?” This research was in other parts of the country. However, the attitude towards
aimed at examining the adoption of mobile technology by vil- ICT is not as high. Bakhshizadeh et al [30] mentioned that
lagers in northern and eastern China and explaining its social some villagers in the study were not optimistic about the
and economic roots. The findings showed that social influ- effect of ICT on rural development. Thus, rural ICT can have
ences in the villages of northern China and self-efficacy in a positive effect on the village level if it is accompanied with
those of eastern China were among the most important fac- local participation and investment. In relation to agricultural
tors. Researchers saw the difference in the traditional interde- E-commerce, Mahmoudi et al [31] stated that this model is
pendent society of northern China and the more independent adopted when government support enhances the marketing
society of eastern China [20]. But over time, the results dif- mix. In addition, recent studies on this geographical area
fered somewhat in the adoption of technology, indicating a have showed that the female members of rural cooperatives
reduction in the digital divide. The results of government lacked the desirable attitude towards ICT. In general, it can
mobile adoption in rural China showed that perceived ease be said that the agricultural economy in the region had no
of use, usefulness, and social influence had a positive impact positive effect on ICT adoption. The distance from the villages
on technology adoption [21]. to the cities in the east and south-east of Iran with arid and
These results were also confirmed in another Asian coun- semi- arid climates and the establishment of ICT centers
try. Adoption of green fertilizer technology amongst Malay- has been vital for the development of these regions. Kord
sian paddy farmers was such that attitude, subjective norm et al [32] considered the creation of growth centers as effec-
and perceived behavioral control had a positive and signifi- tive in relation to rural entrepreneurship. Salari and Maroosi
cant effect on adoption [22]. In India, adoption of e- [33] stated that saffron farmers had high ICT adoption and
commerce among Indian farmers showed that the adoption that behavioral and economic variables were effective in this
of a technology model is complete when variables such as regard. Dehghani and Shahdadi [34] emphasized the effec-
infrastructure, perception and user trust, the security of tech- tiveness of household economy and behavioral variables on
nology, and information in the agricultural sector are taken the use of technology. As a result, the possibility of develop-
into consideration [23]. ment using modern technology is considerable despite the
In short, it can be said that the differences in technology relatively weak agricultural economy in southeast Iran.
adoption by villagers in the western and eastern hemispheres Finally, Alavion and Taghdisi [35] examined the effects of geo-
in the past two decades is evident. But with the development graphical economics on adoption in several regions of Iran.
of information technology and increase in rural awareness The obtained results showed that the rural regions in the
108 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

northern and southern coasts of Iran had a higher capacity seen in researches such as ‘‘Adoption of Soil Conservation
for the adoption of E-marketing. Furthermore, the effect of Practices by Belgium Farmers” [45], ‘‘Ethiopia’s Farmers’ Atti-
rural economy on technology adoption was confirmed. The tudes toward Sustainable Agricultural Practices” [46] and
authors stated that the rural residents of the studied areas ‘‘Farmers’ Intention to Adopt Improved Natural Grassland in
were well familiar with ICT and considered the context of E- Brazil” [43].
commerce as being appropriate. One of the studies conducted involving the extension of
the Planned Behavior Theory towards a new perspective
2.2. Technology acceptance model (Extending the Theory of was presented by German researchers who initiated a differ-
Planned Behavior) ent approach to the explanation of human behavior by intro-
ducing the Geographical Theory of Planned Behavior
One of the theories that provide a model for predicting tech- (GeoTPB). The results showed that geographic structure
nology adoption behavior is the Theory of Planned Behavior. explains a large part of the variance of behavioral beliefs
Based on this theory, a person’s behavior is guided by three and control beliefs [47]. In another study (in Australia), a
factors, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control model called the ‘‘Geographic Access Model” was introduced
beliefs. The behavioral beliefs factor includes ‘‘belief” (posi- and compared with the main Planned Behavior model. The
tive or negative feelings) and ‘‘evaluation of the outcomes” report suggests that the latter showed more appropriate
(conclusion of emotions). The normative beliefs factor results in relation to behavior connected to the use of green
includes ‘‘motivation” and ‘‘specific referents” (friends, co- space [48]. Moreover, in studying the effective factors on vil-
workers, family, and other groups). Finally, in the control lagers’ behavior with the aim of educational services using
beliefs factor, ‘‘self-efficacy” (inner ability of the individual) the Geographic Model of Planned Behavior in the north of
and ‘‘facilitating conditions” (external facilities) are examined Iran, different results were obtained through Wang’s Study.
[36] (Fig. 1a). The authors stated that the planned behavior model could
An interesting point about this theory is its citations; over predict villagers’ behavior with up to 45% accuracy. However,
the past few decades, several thousand articles have cited it. by adding the geographic control factor, behavior is influ-
More significantly, it has been the basis of much research in enced by geographical distance and spatial pattern, and the
agriculture and the rural sciences. The work of European prediction percentage increases to 60 [49].
researchers in recent years, especially in the field of animal In another study conducted in a rural community, it was
sciences, can be mentioned as examples [37,38,39]. There concluded that in the development of the Theory of Planned
have also been significant studies, remarkable in adopting Behavior (TPB) Model which was carried out using geograph-
the applications of new energies in rural areas, in eastern ical variables (geographical variables were considered as the
Asia and in Australia [40,41,42]. In other areas such as South background), the behavioral beliefs and control beliefs would
America, studies have been carried out in the field of natural have to affect the normative beliefs so that, overall, the
resources [43] and agriculture [44]. Finally, in the Middle East, effects in the model could be significant [35] (Fig. 1b).
a study in the adoption of e-marketing [14] has been done
using this theory. 2.3. Online village
But can this theory alone accurately predict the behavior
of technology adoption by villagers? The origin of this theory The use of modern technologies in villages started in the
relates to the psychological sciences, and psychological mod- opening years of 2000. Over time, and with increase in high-
els are human-centered. If we intend to expand it, we need to speed Internet connections, smart phones, mobile apps and
do so with more variables. For example, using expanded mod- social media, further access to information and services for
els of planned behavior in the agricultural and rural fields is rural residents has become possible [50]. In this regard, online

Fig. 1 – TPB model (a) – GeoTPB model (b).

 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 109

villages or rural areas connected to the Internet are expand- has promoted satisfaction and the growth of electronic com-
ing such that villagers are increasingly being included in the merce. Furthermore, WeChat is the most popular social
digital system. media in China used as a means of communication by Taobao
In the US, ‘‘rural economic development innovation” users [53]. Taobao has had better performance than Amazon
(REDI) is a new project developed for regional planning. This in the area of rural services. For example, Amazon Prime
program is aimed at supporting rural communities with a Now Service (delivery in 1–2 h) is only provided for residents
population under 5000 people. Financial resources are sup- of urban regions in Europe and the US, but these services
plied by the Ministry of Agriculture and the programs are are unavailable in rural areas. However, in Taobao, the collab-
operated by four institutes. One of the goals is to provide oration between the local governments and Alibaba website
high-speed internet access that has been prioritized as e- has led to the creation of hundreds of small e-business enter-
connectivity for rural America in rural development pro- prises in rural areas of China [54].
grams. Specifically, among the 47 rural areas, high-speed In Iran, online villages exist in two types: the first type
internet access and e-connectivity are provided in 4 areas in includes the villages in which the residents are provided with
the states of Arizona, Colombia, Florida, and Washington. internet access; the second type includes the villages where
Furthermore, allocation of loans for the development of fiber there is both internet access and rural ICT offices. The first vil-
optic-based broadband infrastructures has been considered lage of Iran (Shahkooh in Golestan province) was provided
as a plan to support agricultural companies. For example, in with internet access in 2000. After 4 years, in 2004, the first
the villages of Lovington, the Okaw Farmers Coop with 300 ICT office was established by the innovation of a university
farmers working in the area of cereal and grain cultivation professor and support of the Ministry of Communication in
was able to connect to the Chicago Metropolitan Market using Gharnabad village in Golestan province (in the north of Iran).
modern communication tools [51]. For this purpose, a two-floor building was equipped with an
In Europe, rural digital hubs have been established since ATM device and electronic banking was established. Several
the early 2000s. They have been considered as centers provid- rooms were allocated to the experts of telecommunication,
ing digital services as well as other services relevant to rural agriculture, rural cooperative organizations, and post depart-
jobs and communities. The Cheviot digital hub located in ments to take charge of implementing the administrative
the north of England is one of the first European centers affairs of the villagers of the area and the surrounding
established by support of the private sector (Glendale Gate- regions. As a result of the success of this office, the govern-
way Trust) in 2001; its activity has been in social and rural ment decided to promote these offices all over the country
business areas. For instance, this center has a website named [12]. They were established to provide the villagers with
Visitwooler which provides online services to connect unem- postal, telecommunication, and bank services. The villages
ployed locals to training centers. In 2005, the Cocotte Numér- targeted for the establishment of ICT offices were selected
ique digital hub was established in the south of France by out of those villages that had economic diversity and could
support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); support the surrounding villages. Currently, these villages
it can be accessed on [Link]. One of the main have a good capacity of operating e-commerce related devel-
services provided by this center is supporting businesses. opment programs.
Also, it has established Fab Lab as a focal point for businesses
and local entrepreneurs. In 2013, the Bronderslev digital hub 2.4. Transaction services model in Iran’s online villages
was established in the north of Denmark by support of the
ERDF and the local municipality, and aimed at empowering Most villagers own small areas of land or possess little capital.
the villagers and attracting the entrepreneurs. In this center, Therefore, the important issue is to design an online sale
there are 12 departments and other facilities for holding model to help with the e-marketing of products and services.
meetings, video conferences, and internet access. In 2016, A research study was conducted in the north of Iran to inves-
the Skibbereen digital hub was established in the southwest tigate the model of rural e-marketing preferred by the vil-
of Ireland by support of a private institute; it can be accessed lagers as online sale persons. In this regard, the Transaction
on [Link]. In addition to social meetings and providing Services Model was introduced [55]. In this model, there is a
digital training courses, this center has helped the flourishing national website. On this website, each rural ICT office has a
of local businesses. Meanwhile, eStreet is an electronic- user profile and transactions are done via the offices as medi-
commerce portal in Ireland through which retailers can sup- ator. Therefore, the villager has no direct relationship with
ply their products [52]. the website. It should be noted that rural ICT offices offer
In China, the Alibaba business group established a (C2C) banking and postal services. In the Transaction Services
retailing website named Taobao in 2003. It changed most of Model, in order to sell products, villagers will open an account
the Chinese villages into an online village called Taobao vil- in the rural Post Bank, and the crops or handicraft data is reg-
lage. Rural families can sell their products at low costs on this istered by paying a fee. After the customer visits the website
platform. As most villagers use mobile phones, two applica- and chooses the product, online payment is done and the
tions were provided for retailers (the Qianqiu App) and online money is deposited into the villager’s account with a short
shops (the Taobao Mobile App). There are many express deliv- message being sent to the villager to deliver the product to
ery companies in every village of Taobao. The employees of the office. Finally, the rural office sends the product by post
these shops deliver the goods even in the evenings. So, elec- to the customer (Fig. 2a). In the Transaction Services Model,
tronic retailers send their products on the same day as they in order to rent rural houses, the village residents open an
receive the customers’ order. This efficient delivery system account in the rural Post Bank upon obtaining a tourism
110 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Fig. 2 – Transaction services model in rural e-marketing.

license, and after paying a fee, request to register the infor- increased [4]. Regional studies on information technology
mation of the house available for rent. On the other hand, and rural economic geography have indicated that the expan-
after visiting the website and choosing the desired house, sion of information technology has transformed the geo-
the tourist pays the rent online and the money is deposited graphic space of rural areas in the UK from static to
into the villager’s account at the Post Bank and a short mes- dynamic [57]. In other words, when Internet technology is
sage is sent to the villager for them to prepare the house for used in the agricultural and natural resource sectors, it has
the tourist’s accommodation (Fig. 2b). The assessment of this a significant effect on rural economy. The results of some
online sales model in the west of Iran [29] also showed posi- studies in Germany have indicated that the changes caused
tive results. by the Internet in spatial characteristics have affected the
inhabitants’ behavior in rural areas. For example, they have
2.5. Rural economic geography model enhanced increase in communication and income growth as
well as inciting the return of immigrants [58]. In China, elec-
The Rural Economic Geography Models typically focus on the tronic commerce has become a catalyst for changing the rural
rural population and agriculture, while forestry and mines economic geography and turned into a platform for a boom in
can also be added to them. However, employment in these rural economic activities such as agriculture, tourism, and
two latter variables is declining. Conversely, variables such handcrafts. Government support and rural elites have signif-
as tourism which require facilities such as rural access are icantly helped this modernization process [59]. In Iran, Ala-
increasing. Unlike the past decades when regional research- vion and Taghdisi [35] proposed a rural economic geography
ers were not highly interested in rural areas [56], the expan- model based on electronic marketing (e-marketing) including
sion of electronic commerce has had a significant effect on five variables of agriculture, rural tourism, rural handicrafts,
rural economy and rural economic geography throughout rural access and rural population (Fig. 3). In this model, rural
the world in recent years. In addition, relevant studies have access referred to the access of villagers to ICT offices and the

Fig. 3 – Rural Economic Geography Model in the adoption of rural e-marketing.

 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 111

Fig. 4 – Conceptual model of research for villagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing.

appropriateness of the roads connecting the village to the based on the study conducted by Alavion and Taghdisi [35].
city. Rural tourism was defined as the tourist attractions of For rural economic geography, the 5 variables of agriculture,
the region and the online renting of rural houses. Agriculture rural tourism, rural handicrafts, rural access, and rural popu-
focused on the income earned from agricultural products, lation were considered.
diversity of agricultural products, and online sales. Rural As seen in Fig. 4, in GeoTPB model, two types of relation-
handicrafts evaluated the income earned from handicrafts, ship between the variables were considered: first, a direct
the attraction of regional handicrafts, and online handicraft relationship between eight independent variables and the
sales. Finally, rural population included the population of dependent variable; and second, an indirect relationship,
the bank, post, and telecommunications clients. The primary adjusted in a way to determine the variables of the Model of
model involved the direct effect of five variables on the deci- Rural Economic Geography as the primary effectives and the
sion of villagers to accept e-marketing (Fig. 3a). The com- behavior variables as the final effectives. In other words, in
pleted model, the model fit of which was approved, the GeoTPB, rural economic geography was considered as a
included indirect relationships. The routes were designed in background factor.
such a way that first, rural access affected the four variables In the following section, the variables and the assump-
of rural population, rural handicrafts, rural tourism, and agri- tions related to each variable are listed;
culture. Second, rural tourism affected agriculture and hand-
icrafts and third, tourism, handicrafts, and agriculture 3.1. Behavioral beliefs
affected the rural population (Fig. 3b).
Behavioral beliefs include ‘‘belief” and ‘‘evaluation of the out-
3. Model and research hypotheses comes” [36]. Several studies have emphasized that there is a
positive correlation between behavioral beliefs and the adop-
The model of the present study, the Geographic Model of tion of technology in the rural community [22,14,46,61–65]. In
Planned Behavior (Geo TPB), is a combination of two models rural e-marketing, ‘‘belief” means the person’s attitude
(Model of Planned Behavior and Rural Economic Geography). towards the effects of e-marketing on income, employment,
The Model of Planned Behavior includes three variables, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, ‘‘evaluation” refers to
which are behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control the good or bad evaluations of the villager. How do they eval-
beliefs [36]. In the behavioral approach related to rural stud- uate the effect of e-marketing on the online sale of products
ies, it is required that TPB be developed [60]. In the current and the online house rental scheme? Do they think e-
research, TPB was developed using geographical variables commerce would be suitable for their village? How will they
112 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

engage with adoption? [14,35]. Considering the above men- senting postal and banking services to villagers due to this
tioned issues, the following hypothesis is proposed: access [35]. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 1. Behavioral beliefs affect villagers’ intention to Hypothesis 4. Rural access affects villagers’ intention to adopt
adopt e-marketing. e-marketing.

3.2. Normative beliefs 3.5. Rural tourism

Normative beliefs include ‘‘motivation” and ‘‘specific refer- Tourism plays an important role in many rural economies
ents” [36]. Research studies indicate that there is a significant throughout Europe. The European Commission suggests that
relationship between normative beliefs and adoption of tech- tourist companies engage in digital tourism. This indicates
nology in the rural community [22,44,46,61–65]. Motivation in digital support for the tourist from the beginning to the end
e-marketing signifies the extent to which villagers are moti- of the journey. Engaging in digital tourism is realized when
vated to sell their products, or rent their houses online. The an Internet connection and the skill to use it exist. A research
term ‘‘specific referents” refers to the organizations that conducted in northern Scotland showed that broadband con-
affect the behavior of the villager. If the local residents in a nectivity is essential for tourism e-marketing in remote geo-
village carry out online trading, what will the effect on the graphical areas [71]. On the other hand, the village residents
individual be? Or, how will the governmental policy in digital should be considered. This was studied in the Rural Tour Mar-
villages affect the villagers’ adoption? [14,35]. Therefore, the keting Project related to Central Eastern Europe. For example,
following hypothesis is proposed in this regard: in a region of Istria, an investigation of residents’ attitude
Hypothesis 2. Normative beliefs affect villagers’ intention to toward rural tourism showed that villagers should have local
adopt e-marketing. cooperation in tourism planning so that tourism marketing
can reach the appropriate economic goals [72]. In Asia, the
3.3. Control beliefs results of the study conducted on China’s regional tourism
efficiency show that trade openness, climate change, and
Control beliefs include ‘‘self-efficacy” and ‘‘facilitating condi- the intensity of market competition have caused increase in
tions” [36]. Several papers indicate that there is a significant tourism efficiency. Additionally, at the regional level, average
relationship between control beliefs and the adoption of tech- tourism efficiency in the east of China has been higher than
nology in a rural environment [22,44,61–65]. Self-efficacy in the center and the west [73]. In a study conducted on Chi-
refers to the villagers’ skill in using technology, as well as their na’s rural tourism, it was confirmed that the rural regions of
experience in online trading. Facilitating conditions in e- eastern China had better conditions. Rural tourism is a kind
marketing refers to the practicalities of the facilities devel- of market driven industry in China and its prosperity is
oped by the government in villages (banking and telecommu- mainly dependent on the availability of a rural tourism mar-
nications) [14,35]. In this regard, the following hypothesis is ket. What has attracted the attention of researchers is that
presented: besides the role of tourists and developers, the role of local
Hypothesis 3. Control beliefs affect villagers’ intention to adopt farmers (as the cultural symbol) should also be considered
e-marketing. in tourism development [74]. Rural tourism is developing in
Iran and is highly appreciated. There are also websites and
3.4. Rural access startups in this regard. The results have shown that the rural
regions along the sea coast have better conditions for rural
The results of studies in rural areas show that improved road tourism. Since landowners are entering the online tourism
access causes an increase in efficiency and affects the adop- market, the amount villagers earn from tourism and the
tion of rural technology. Researchers in England state that extent to which they are willing to rent homes online should
rural access is one of the most important factors affecting be considered. Understanding this will help us determine
rural economy, and that there is a positive relationship adoption [35]. So the following hypothesis can be proposed:
between efficiency and road infrastructure. The interesting Hypothesis 5. Rural tourism affects villagers’ intention to adopt
point is that in spite of the development of ICT and virtual e-marketing.
communications, market adjacency is still of paramount
importance [66]. In Asia, it has been shown that proper access 3.6. Agriculture
to the marketplace has led to the adoption of agricultural
technology by villagers in India [67] and China [68]. These The rural household economy in smallholder communities is
results are also seen in Africa. In East Africa, rural access financed by agriculture. Results from several studies con-
has led to much increase in technology adoption [69]. Addi- ducted in India have shown that the rural household econ-
tionally, the results of a research in Nigeria, which investi- omy affects adoption. For example, a research study was
gated rural internet service centers, indicate that most rural conducted on farmers who were users of e-Choupal. Findings
residents need to pass long distances to access telephone showed that the economy of this group of farmers strongly
and Internet services, and adjacency to service centers per- affected their attitude generally and on technology adoption
suades the residents to use ICT services [70]. Over the past specifically. The authors stated that the information and
few decades, Iran’s rural roads have been developed and there knowledge presentation through ICT can improve the deci-
is evidence of proper access for villagers to city and local mar- sion making process in the agricultural community [75]. In
kets. Additionally, rural ICT centers have been capable of pre- another study, researchers report that the economic power
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 113

of Indian farmers is associated with energy-related technol- its online presentation will be of paramount importance in
ogy adoption [76]. This result was also approved in Nigeria, enhancing local economy. Accordingly, this hypothesis is
indicating that there is a positive relationship between the presented:
enhancement of rural household economy and technology Hypothesis 7. Rural handicrafts affect villagers’ intention to
adoption. Technology adoption has also helped with poverty adopt e-marketing.
reduction [77]. In Bangladesh, evidence indicates that the eco-
nomic power and ownership of farmers who are users of ICT 3.8. Rural population
affects their decisions in marketing. The farmers of the area
under study (Jamalpur District) used mobile phone technol- The rural population that uses technology is on the rise all
ogy in their marketing affairs [78]. The share of agricultural over the world. Among the technologies is the mobile phone
business in Iran is more than 30% of the country’s businesses. which is of particular importance for villagers and farmers.
The new approach of the Ministry of Agriculture is moving Most of the next one billion mobile subscribers will likely be
from agriculture towards agribusiness. Business development people who live in rural and poor areas [82]. A growing body
was initiated a few years ago with participation of the public- of evidence shows that the digital gap between city and vil-
private sector. By providing banking facilities, the government lage is being reduced in terms of the technology user popula-
supplies a part of the cost and the remaining costs are sup- tion. For example, in China, the computer is one of the six
plied by the villagers. The villagers propose their plans; then, widely used electrical appliances whose penetration in rural
these plans are studied by authorities specializing in the field household will be the same as it is in the urban household
and after being approved, they are referred to the bank. Statis- by 2050 [83]. In India, the number of villagers who have access
tics show that 40 thousand local agriculture-related job cre- to online services is on the rise and is expected to equal that
ation plans have been approved. On the other hand, the of townspeople by 2021 [84]. Iran’s mobile penetration rate
private sector independently establishes agriculture startups. stands at 94%. This rate of internet penetration paves the
For example, ‘‘Keshmoon” is one of these startups purchasing way for e-commerce development. Online purchase centers
saffron cultivated by the smallholder farmers in the east of have close cooperation with Iran’s National Post Company
Iran. So far, about 40 agriculture startups have started their which is trying to increase its activities using new technolo-
activity. The success of startups that work in local areas in gies. In a service called «track consignments», the sender
different geographical regions helps the development of and receiver can track consignments and receive updates of
online trading, and startup activity will affect villagers’ deci- the latest state of the transfer [85]. This postal service is used
sions for adoption [35]. To show the relationship between in Iranian villages also. In addition to using postal services,
Iran’s agriculture and e-marketing, this hypothesis is villagers of all ages have been using e-banking services over
proposed: the past two decades. Most villagers use mobile phones as
Hypothesis 6. Agriculture affects villagers’ intention to adopt e- their communication tool, and of course, also have access
marketing. to email and social networks women [35]. Therefore, villages
are now more prepared to join online trading. Accordingly
3.7. Rural handicrafts the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 8. Rural Population affects villagers’ intention to
The researchers’ studies in the rural handicrafts sector indi- adopt e-marketing.
cate that in the digital era, handicrafts have been an empow-
ering source, especially for rural women. This issue has been 4. Material and methods
confirmed in two major Asian countries (China and India),
which have large rural communities. For example, in 2005, a 4.1. Measurement
website was launched in the state of Tamil Nadu for the sale
of handicrafts made by rural women; also, SMIL (Savitri Mar- A questionnaire using the 5-point Likert scale with four parts
keting Institute for Ladies Empowerment) institute was was utilized (see Appendix A). In the first part, socio-cultural
founded in Pune city, which helps with marketing and the characteristics and diversity of economic activities in the vil-
sale of the handicrafts made by women [79]. In China, one lage were discussed. The second part included twenty ques-
of the largest online sale websites (Taobao) has paved the tions, based on the Model of Planned Behavior, of which
way for the presence of women in e-commerce. The growth eight questions were associated with behavioral beliefs, six
of female Taobao store owners and operators in rural China questions with normative beliefs and six questions with con-
is an indicator of the presence of women in Chinese e- trol beliefs [14,22,36]. In the third part, rural economic geogra-
commerce [80]. A study conducted in the Sabah state of phy was evaluated on the basis of seventeen questions, three
Malaysia, which pioneers handicraft production, showed that of which were associated with rural access, three with rural
female entrepreneurs in handicrafts have proper manage- tourism, three with agriculture, three with rural handicrafts
ment power in planning women’s empowerment-related and five with the rural population. Finally, in the fourth part,
affairs. These results were obtained due to the implementa- four questions related to villagers’ intentions were asked
tion of a government project called GESPs (government entre- [14,18,35,48,81].
preneurial support programs) [81]. About 80% of the rural With regard to the investigation of the content validity of
handicrafts in Iran is related to carpets and rugs, which are the questionnaire, the content validity ratio (CVR = 0.87) and
often woven by rural women [35]. This industry is an impor- content validity index (CVI = 0.87) were determined by con-
tant factor in the rural entrepreneurship of the country, and ducting a survey among experienced professors. Additionally,
114 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

in some provinces, a preliminary examination was done with Hypothesis 5. Rural tourism affects villagers’ intention to adopt
the aim of determining reliability, and the obtained results e-marketing.
were acceptable. This stage lasted 2 months (October and
November 2017). According to Table 3, the Cronbach’s Alpha 4.2.6. Agriculture
(CA) coefficients for all the variables are greater than 0.7, Agriculture contained three questions, including the earned
which indicates the reliability of the measures. Moreover, income from agricultural products (AG1), the diversity of agri-
the average variance extracted (AVE) and the composite relia- cultural products (AG2), and the potential for online sales of
bility (CR) for all the variables are more than 0.5 and 0.8, agricultural products (AG3) [18,35].
respectively, ensuring the convergent validity of the variables
[86]. 4.2.7. Rural handicrafts
Rural handicrafts contained three questions, including the
4.2. Questionnaire items earned income from rural handicrafts (RH1), the attraction
of regional handicrafts (RH2) and the potential of online sales
4.2.1. Behavioral beliefs of handicrafts (RH3) [35,81].
Behavioral beliefs were measured with 8 questions. Four
questions were related to belief including the belief in the 4.2.8. Rural population
impact of e-marketing on income (B1), the belief in the impact Rural population contained five questions considering the
of e-marketing on prevention of immigration (B2), the belief young population of ICT users (RP1), the population of middle
in the impact of e-marketing on youth and female employ- aged and elderly people (RP2), the population of banking users
ment (B3), and the belief in the impact of e-marketing on rural (RP3), the population of postal users (RP4), and the population
economy (B4). The other four questions were related to eval- of telecommunications users (RP5) [35].
uation, which included evaluating the impact of online rental
of village houses on income (E1), evaluating the impact of 4.2.9. Intention
online sales of agricultural products on income (E2), evaluat- Intention was measured as the dependent variable, with four
ing the impact of online sales of handicrafts on income (E3) questions: the intention to continue work in ICT offices (I1),
and evaluating the impact of establishing a local marketing the intention to carry out online shopping in the e-
company on income (E4) [14,36]. marketing system (I2), the intention to sell online individually
(I3), and the intention to sell online in a corporative manner
4.2.2. Normative beliefs (I4) [35].
Normative beliefs were measured with six questions. Three
questions were related to motivation and three to specific ref- 4.3. Study area and sampling procedure
erents. The questions concerning motivation include: motiva-
tion in online sales of handicrafts (M1), motivation in online Iran is located in the Middle East on the continent of Asia. By
sales of agricultural products (M2), and motivation in online the end of 2016, the number of villages with rural ICT centers
renting of rural houses (M3). The questions concerning speci- (online villages) in the country was about 8100 [13]. Sample
fic referents include: the willingness of colleagues in the size estimation of the villagers working in ICT offices was
application of e-marketing (SR1), the willingness of the gov- based on the study of 10% (800) of the villagers. The sampling
ernment in setting up e-marketing (SR2), and the willingness method was stratified sampling and each province was con-
of villagers in the application of e-marketing (SR3) [14,22,36]. sidered to be a stratum (the whole country consisted of 31
strata) (Fig. 5), and the share percentage of the questionnaires
4.2.3. Control beliefs of each province was determined according to the number
Control beliefs were measured with six questions, two of which ICT offices across the country. Sample selection in each area
were related to self-efficiency, and four to facilitating mea- was carried out in proportion to the activity of the ICT offices,
sures. Questions of self-efficiency include mastering the com- the size and the population of the villages. From October 2017
puter and the Internet (SE1) and familiarity with online rural to September 2018, over 1000 questionnaires were distributed
shopping sites (SE2). Questions of facilitating measures include in target villages with the cooperation of Iran Post Company.
the speed of rural Internet (FC1), cell phone reception (FC2), After completion, 988 questionnaires were collected.
post bank support (FC3) and post office support (FC4) [14,36].
4.4. Analytical method
4.2.4. Rural access
Rural access contained 3 questions, including the access of Amos24 software was used for modeling. The difference in
villagers to ICT offices (RA1), the suitability of the distance the testing method of this research and that of other Struc-
between village and city (RA2) and the suitability of the road tural Equation Modeling (SEM) tests was that it was done
between the two (RA3) [35,48]. with a two-step approach. Thus, at first, a complete model
was drawn and the model fit was approved. In the second
4.2.5. Rural tourism step, by eliminating paths that were not significant, the
Rural tourism contained three questions, including the model was simplified. The Bootstrap method was used for
earned income from rural tourism (RT1), tourist attractions mediation test. By using this method, the direct, indirect,
of the region (RT2), and the possibility of renting rural houses and total effects can be recorded for the variables. Using this
online (RT3) [35,74]. method is common in reporting mediation analyses [87]. This
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 115

Fig. 5 – Research area under study.

method has also been used in studies related to adoption [88– short message. Moreover, 28% used social networks, and
90]. In this method, mediation effects are divided into partial 23% used telephone, short message, email, and social net-
and full mediation effects. Partial mediation refers to the sit- works simultaneously (Table 1).
uation in which direct and indirect effects are significant.
However, full mediation refers to the situation in which the 5.2. Economic diversity of the studied villages
indirect effect is significant but the direct effect is not [91].
For the purpose of doing the test in Amos software, in The results of the diversity of agricultural products and eco-
View/Analysis Properties, under the Output tab, the box for nomic activities in Iranian online villages (the villages studied
Indirect, direct & total effects was checked and the model in this research) are presented in Table 2. In terms of agricul-
was run. Subsequently, the Estimates/Matrices option was tural products, the main products include: Horticultural crops
double-clicked. Next, Indirect/ direct /total effects were (40%), cereals crops (30%), and grains crops (12%). The rural
selected [92]. handicrafts include the following: loom weaving (80%) and
Also, the k-means clustering was used in order to separate other types of weaving (20%). Tourism attractions include
the rural areas, and the data was displayed on a scatter plot. A the following: natural attractions (51%), cultural attractions
scatter plot is a kind of diagram showing the relationship (29%), and food attractions (20%).
between two series of data in the Cartesian coordinate system
at several points; there are two numerical axes in this system. 5.3. Variables analysis results
In this kind of plot, the points are characterized by two values:
the first is the value of the horizontal axis, and the second The behavioral and economic variables in the villages with
shows the value of the vertical axis. ICT offices indicate that the overall status is satisfactory
(Table 3). Villagers have a good understanding of e-
5. Results marketing, and the economy of the target villages is ready
to include online businesses.
5.1. Social characteristics of respondents In the case of the behavioral beliefs variable, the average
villager’s belief in the impact of rural e-marketing on prevent-
70% of the rural respondents were men, and 30%, women. ing migration, improving youth employment and rural econ-
Also, the highest frequency was in the 31–40 years old age omy was between moderate to good. Moreover, respondents
group, which included 51%. 41% of the villagers working at had similar evaluations about the impact of online sales of
rural ICT offices had a diploma and 59% a university degree. rural products and services on income.
20% of the people had work experiences of 5 years, 32% up In the case of the normative beliefs variable, the motiva-
to 10 years, 25% up to 15 years, 17% up to 20 years and 5.5% tion for online sales of agricultural products (3.26 out of 5),
had had occupational activities for over 20 years. In associa- the motivation for online sales of handicrafts (3.16) and the
tion with the Transaction Services Model, 30% of villagers motivation for online tourism services (3.1%), indicated that
selected the Transaction Services Model in Tourism, 60% respondents are motivated in these respects. In the case of
selected the Transaction Services Model in Selling Rural Prod- specific referents that influenced the attitudes of villagers,
ucts, and 10% selected both models. The communication tool the results showed that the use of technology by friends
used by about 49% of villagers was telephone contact and and family had the biggest influence (3.09 out of 5).
116 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Table 1 – Social characteristics of respondents.

Characteristics Classifications Percent

Gender Female 30
Male 70
Age (years) 20–30 19.2
31–40 51.2
41–50 25.3
51–60 3.9
61–70 0.4
Communication tool Tel & sms 49
Social networks 28
Tel, sms & social networks 23
Education level High school diploma 41.3
University degree 58.7
Experience (years) 1–5 20.5
6–10 32
11–15 25
16–20 17
21–25 5.5
Transaction services model model in tourism 30
model in selling products 60
Both models 10

Table 2 – The main rural products and services in the studied rural areas.
Rural products and services Diversity of rural activities Major products Percent

Agriculture Horticultural crops Dried fruits and dates 40

Cereals crops Wheat, barley, and rice 30
Grains crops Bean, lentil, pea 12
Spice crops Saffron and barberry 10
Animal products Honey, sheep wool, egg 8
Handicrafts Loom weaving Carpet weaving and kilim weaving 80
Other types of weaving Crochet, needlework, mat weaving 20
Tourism Natural tourism Rivers, mountains and hills, gardens and plains 51
Cultural tourism Historical and ancient places and pilgrimage sites 29
Food tourism Dairy products, soups, bread, and cookies 20

In the instance of the control beliefs variable, computer the two models of planned behavior and rural economic geog-
and Internet mastery had a good score (3.84), but familiarity raphy. First, each model was separately evaluated. The results
with online rural shopping sites was lower than average showed that the TPB model could predict 61% (Fig. 6), and the
(2.78). The villagers had 3G and 4G Internet with good speed. rural economic geography model could predict 54% of the vil-
Regarding the organizational support of ICT offices, the post lagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing (Fig. 7). As seen in
office, post bank and telecommunications, performance was Fig. 8, in the Geo TPB mode (initial state), the covariance
evaluated as being good. between the error terms was tested until the appropriate
In the instance of the rural economic geography variable, model fit was confirmed (CMIN/DF  3, GFI  0.95,
the findings showed that in the studied villages, the average CFI  0.95, NFI  0.95, TLI  0.95, RMSEA  0.05) [93]. The
income from agriculture was from moderate to good, but results of the model fit are reported in Table 4. Also, the
the average income from handicrafts and tourism was lower squared multiple correlation was recorded up to 82%. Stan-
than moderate. Also, villages had suitable access to the city, dardized total effects for all variables had a significance of
and the villagers (from young to old) welcomed postal, bank- less than 0.05 (Table 5).
ing and telecommunications services. Moreover, the decision So far, it has been shown that all eight variables affect the
to operate (buy or sell) in the rural e-marketing system was dependent variable and all eight hypotheses have been con-
from average to high, which is satisfactory. Finally, the factor firmed. However, of the eight independent variables, only
loading score also had acceptable weight (all scores were two had a direct impact on intention, and six had an indirect
higher than 0.5). relationship in the form of full mediation. This means that in
the case of the six variables, a direct effect was not signifi-
5.4. Model evaluation cant, but an indirect effect was. So, the model has non-
significant paths.
As mentioned in Section 3, the research model entitled ‘‘Geo- To simplify the model, the paths that were not significant
graphic Model of Planned Behavior” (GeoTPB) is composed of would have to be omitted. Thus, the p-value was checked
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 117

Table 3 – Variable analysis results.

Variables Items Mean SD Variance Factor loadings CA CR AVE

Variables of Planned Behavior Behavioral beliefs B1 3.19 1.14 1.30 0.78

B2 3.07 1.21 1.47 0.74
B3 3.04 1.13 1.29 0.80
B4 3.21 1.12 1.27 0.83 0.91 0.94 0.82
E1 2.80 1.20 1.46 0.73
E2 3.02 1.13 1.29 0.80
E3 3.12 1.14 1.30 0.78
E4 3.23 1.17 1.38 0.80
Normative beliefs M1 3.16 1.15 1.32 0.84
M2 3.26 1.13 1.28 0.85
M3 3.10 1.24 1.62 0.81 0.88 0.91 0.76
SR1 2.78 1.19 1.41 0.69
SR2 3.02 1.21 1.46 0.70
SR3 3.09 1.21 1.48 0.68
Control beliefs SE1 3.84 0.90 0.82 0.59
SE2 2.78 1.09 1.19 0.57
FC1 3.63 1.07 1.16 0.69
FC2 3.59 1.14 1.30 0.69 0.89 0.92 0.73
FC3 3.46 1.03 1.07 0.57
FC4 3.97 0.93 0.87 0.55

Variables of Rural Rural Access RA1 3.85 0.95 0.91 0.72

Economic Geography RA2 3.56 0.87 0.76 0.71 0.81 0.87 0.71
RA3 3.63 1 1 0.58
Rural tourism RT1 2.27 1.46 2.15 0.53
RT2 3.01 1.16 1.35 0.68 0.83 0.85 0.68
RT3 2.62 1.18 1.41 0.82
Agriculture AG1 3.45 1.10 1.21 0.58
AG2 3.01 1.13 1.29 0.71 0.81 0.86 0.71
AG3 3.08 1.12 1.26 0.76
Rural handicrafts RH1 2.38 1.07 1.15 0.85
RH2 2.60 1.06 1.14 0.88 0.89 0.93 0.76
RH3 2.72 1.18 1.41 0.76
Rural population RP1 3.35 0.99 0.98 0.75
RP2 3.53 1.02 1.05 0.63
RP3 3.35 1.14 1.13 0.63 0.82 0.84 0.62
RP4 3.33 1.02 1.04 0.78
RP5 3.53 1.12 1.26 0.65
Dependent Variable Intention I1 3.84 1.07 1.16 0.57
I2 3.21 1.12 1.26 0.57 0.94 0.96 0.59
I3 3.38 1.15 1.32 0.73
I4 3.29 1.23 1.15 0.69

with Standardized Regression Weights. According to Table 6, 5.5. Results of k-means clustering
twelve relationships were significant and Twenty-two rela-
tionships were eliminated. In this section, Iran’s rural areas were clustered based on
Finally, the model was simplified (Fig. 9) and again it was behavioral and economic factors. The behavioral factor incor-
implemented in software; new coefficients were determined porated behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control
and the causal order was drawn. The variables of Rural Eco- beliefs; rural access, rural tourism, agriculture, rural handi-
nomic Geography are on the left side, and the Planned Behav- crafts and rural population constituted the economic factors.
ior model is on the right. The variables of the Rural Economic The k-means clustering was used in order to answer the
Geography model (other than the population) have only indi- research purpose. After several tests and drawing different
rect influence on intention. In other words, they influence scatter plots, we came to the conclusion that six clusters indi-
behavioral variables first. In the subsequent stage, behavioral cate the best provincial division of Iran’s villages in relation to
variables influenced the intention; so, the model does not e-marketing (Fig. 10). In the anova table, the sig value indi-
have partial mediation and the mediator explains part of cates that all factors were significant (Table 8).
the relationship. But there is full mediation, and the behav- The result of clustering was that Sistan & Baluchestan,
ioral factor explains the whole relationship indicating its Hormoagan and Khouzestan provinces in cluster 1 were the
importance. Despite the removal of half of the model paths, leading regions in e-marketing adoption. Guilan, Mazan-
squared multiple correlation was recorded up to 76% (Table 7). daran, Golestan, Alborz, South Khorasan, West Azerbaijan,
118 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Fig. 6 – Planned Behavior Model for villagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing.

Hamedan and Ilam provinces fell in cluster 2. Ardabil, East 6. Discussion

Azerbaijan, Zanjan and Qazvin provinces fell in cluster 3. Teh-
ran, Qom, Markazi, Semnan, Yazd, Isfahan, Fars, Kerman, 6.1. Hypothesis discussion
Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan provinces fell in cluster
4. Kermanshah province fell in cluster 5. Kordestan, Lorestan,
Hypothesis 1.. Behavioral beliefs had an indirect effect on
Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari and
villagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing with a medium effect
Bushehr provinces fell in cluster 6 (Table 9).
size (Total Effects = 0.439). Although in the Main Model of
The scatter plot showed that an increased economic factor
Planned Behavior, behavioral beliefs have a direct effect on
leads to an increase in the behavioral factor; however, this
adoption, in the present study a direct effect was not
correlation was not present in all clusters. Given the regres-
observed, but rather, behavioral beliefs indirectly affected
sion line, it is observed that the points around the line are
intention by influencing normative beliefs. This means that
not exactly centralized; therefore, this decentralization miti-
the positive attitude of villagers towards e-marketing boosts
gates the severity of the relationship between the two factors.
motivation and the motivated person will adopt technology.
For instance, in cluster 3 (Ardebil, East Azerbaijan, Zanjan,
The indirect effect of behavioral beliefs on adoption has also
and Qazvin provinces), the behavioral factor decreased with
been confirmed in studies such as the intention of Brazilian
increase in the economic factor. Again, although cluster 5
farmers in diversifying their agricultural products [44,61], and
(Kermanshah province) had a similar economic level to clus-
the adoption of green fertilizer technology amongst Malay-
ter 6 and similar behavioral levels were expected for both
sian paddy farmers [22].
clusters, as observed, despite the low economic factor, cluster
5 had a higher behavioral factor. R2 indicates that the eco-
nomic factor clarifies 64% of the behavioral factor. Moreover,
Hypothesis 2.. Normative beliefs had a direct effect on villagers’
this coefficient also means that there is a relatively high cor-
intention to adopt e-marketing with a large effect size (Total
relation between the economic and behavioral factors
Effects = 0.676). This variable had the biggest effect among
(Fig. 11).
all variables on villagers’ intentions. The adoption of e-
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 119

Fig. 7 – Rural Economic Geography Model for villagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing.

marketing by farmers in northern Iran [14] also confirmed beliefs did not affect the adoption of soil conservation prac-
this result as did the adoption of innovation by farmers in tices by Belgium farmers [45] and the effect of behavioral con-
northwestern Iran [94]. In addition, the influence of norma- trol on the attitudes of Ethiopian farmers toward sustainable
tive beliefs on farmers’ intention to adopt improved natural agricultural practices was not confirmed [46].
grasslands in Brazil is also consistent with the results of the
study [43]. In the villages of Iran, the impact of behavioral
variables as a full mediation factor in the adoption of technol- Hypothesis 4.. Rural access had an indirect effect on villagers’
ogy is very important. Accordingly, it can be said that the intention to adopt e-marketing with a large effect size (Total
studied villages are equipped with ICT offices and have a Effects = 0.541). In the present study, rural access is the starting
much smaller digital gap compared to the city. But Chinese point in reaching the adoption of technology. The importance
researchers stated that the effect of behavioral variables in of rural access is that it affects villagers’ intention and influ-
the adoption of technology was low, due to the traditional ences all variables of the model (direct or indirect). Since one-
structure of the villages studied at that time [19]. third of the Iranian population lives in villages, it is of great
importance to pay attention to roads and rural access. Cur-
rently, there are about 200,000 km of rural roads which is four
Hypothesis 3.. Control beliefs had an indirect effect on villagers’ times that of three decades ago. The reports of the Statistical
intention to adopt e-marketing with a medium effect size (Total Center of Iran indicate that economic growth rate has
Effects = 0.217). The control beliefs of villagers affected their increased in villages with roads [97]. Regional studies on vil-
motivation. This means that the more skilled the villager, lages in different areas (desert, forest, or metropolitan mar-
the greater the support they receive from the government gins) confirm that the rural road is one of the factors of
for ICT, and consequently, the higher the motivation they urban-rural reciprocal interaction and has helped the improve-
have for technology adoption. The positive impact of govern- ment of employment and income [89,98,99]. Thus, the con-
ment support for ICT centers has also been confirmed by ducted studies confirm the research model for the effect of
other studies performed in Iran [95,96]. In China also, a study rural access on economy (agriculture and tourism). In relation
was conducted that shows the indirect effect of government to the effect of rural access on adoption, a study was conducted
support on behavioral and social variables is effective in tech- in northern Iran reporting that rural access has had an impor-
nology adoption [21]. But there are some studies that are not tant role in the adoption of technology by villagers, which is
consistent with the results of this study. For example, control consistent with the research model [49]. One of the important
120 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Fig. 8 – GeoTPB Model (initial version).

Table 4 – Model fit summary.

Model CMIN/DF GFI RMSEA Baseline Comparisons

NFI TLI CFI

Model of Planned Behavior 2.872 0.971 0.041 0.959 0.947 0.972

Model of Rural Economic Geography 2.881 0.947 0.053 0.947 0.956 0.961
Geographic Model of Planned Behavior 2.982 0.953 0.048 0.952 0.963 0.955

reasons for the positive impact of road construction on adop- the region, and consequently, lead to rural intention by affect-
tion was that the telecommunications network was strength- ing the behavioral variables. The direct effect of tourism on
ened and rural ICT centers were established due to the ease the economy of villages [100] and its indirect effect on the
of transport between city and village. These centers strength- behavior of Iranian villagers have been shown [35]. In Ger-
ened the attitude of the local residents towards E-marketing many also, it was found that the spatial features of new vil-
by enabling Internet and E- banking services. lages helped the increase of tourism and income and
affected the villagers’ behavior [58]. The tourist attractions
of the studied villages include 51 percent natural attractions
Hypothesis 5.. Rural tourism had an indirect effect on villagers’ (rivers, mountains, hills, gardens, and plains), 29 percent site
intention to adopt e-marketing with a medium effect size (Total attractions (historical, ancient, and pilgrimage sites), and 20
Effects = 0.289). Thus, if rural tourism in Iran flourishes, it will percent food tourism. On a national level, about 1000 tourist
have a positive effect on the agriculture and handicrafts of villages have been registered in recent years, and hundreds
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 121

of ecotourist guest houses have been created for accommoda-

Conclusion

Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
tion of tourists [97]. These guest houses have the capacity for
cultural, natural and food tourism. On the other hand, the vil-
lagers’ own homes are also suitable for hosting the tourists.
As stated in the results, in the research model, tourism has
had a direct effect on agriculture and handicrafts. Concerning
the relation between tourism and agriculture, agritourism can
Full Mediation

Full Mediation
Full Mediation
Full Mediation
Full Mediation
Full Mediation
be mentioned. Regional studies have shown that in recent
Relationship

Direct Effect

Direct Effect
years, agritourism has attracted the attention of tourists in
rural regions of Iran. In this type of tourism, tourists cooper-
ate with the villagers in agricultural activities while residing
in the villages, and become familiarized with the farms. Stud-
ies on this type of tourism have been carried out in the east
[101] and in the south Alborz regions [102]. The relation of
tourism and agriculture motivates villagers to enhance their
(significance)
Total effects

agricultural activities. Also, signs of the relation between

tourism and handicrafts suggest that tourism in rural regions
0.003
0.002
0.010
0.002
0.006
0.011
0.049
0.024

(especially in the central and southeast areas) has helped the

development of the latter. Finally, the villagers’ familiarity
with the e-commerce websites has facilitated the effect of
rural tourism on adoption. By presenting the images of, and
giving information about, available houses and proposing
Indirect effects
(significance)

the rents, these websites enable people to do tourism market-

ing easily all over the country.
0.002

0.006
0.003
0.032
0.009
0.006
0.951
–

Hypothesis 6.. Agriculture had an indirect effect on villagers’

intention to adopt e-marketing with a medium effect size (Total
Effects = 0.424). Consistent with the results of the present
Direct effects
(significance)

study, this proposition has also been reported for Saffron

farmers in eastern Iran [33], flower and ornamental plant
growers in the southern Alborz region of Iran [103], and wheat
0.388
0.002
0.120
0.947
0.710
0.303
0.586
0.024

farmers in western Iran [104]. The impact of agriculture and

horticulture on the adoption of e-marketing by Belgian vil-
Table 5 – Results of geographic model of planned behavior (initial state).*

lagers has been confirmed [105]. Also, a study conducted in

the United States showed that the agricultural potential and
H2: Normative beliefs ? Intention
H1: Behavioral beliefs ? Intention

Rural handicrafts ? Intention

Rural population ? Intention

spatial factors of the village were effective on farmers’ inten-

H3: Control beliefs ? Intention

Rural tourism ? Intention

tion [106]. Over 70% of the agricultural production of the stud-

Rural access ? Intention

Agriculture ? Intention

ied villages in this research includes horticultural and grain

crops; 40% of the horticultural crops includes dry fruits and
nuts and date palms, 30% grains (wheat, rice and buds) and
12% beans (beans, lentils and peas). This means that villages
are better prepared for online sales of this group of products.
The government should make macro investments on a
Hypotheses

national level for development of agribusiness. Since online

trading in agriculture is so different from handicrafts and
tourism, most consumers of agricultural products prefer to
H4:
H5:
H6:
H7:
H8:

make purchases in person so as to make sure of product qual-

ity beforehand. Obviously, quality checks are not possible in
*squared multiple correlation: 0.82.

online trading. The solution to gaining customer trust and

Model of Planned Behavior

monitoring various issues such as packing, quality standards,

Model of Rural Economic

storage, and education can be resolved by government poli-

Geographic model of

cies and the intervention of certain ministries. In summary,

planned behavior

if we hope to increase the share of agriculture in gross domes-

tic production in the upcoming decades and provide the pos-
sibility of a favorable income for villagers, online trading in
Geography

agriculture should be considered as a priority in government

plans. If all goes well, Iranian farmers and villagers will prop-
erly adopt this new kind of business.
122 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Table 6 – Standardized regression weights.

Path Estimate p-value

Rural access ? Intention 0.010 0.903

Rural access ? Rural population 0.447 ***
Rural access ? Agricultural 0.396 ***
Rural access ? Rural tourism 0.203 ***
Rural access ? Rural handicrafts 0.017 0.717
Rural access ? Behavioral beliefs 0.015 0.667
Rural access ? Normative beliefs 0.057 0.787
Rural access ? Control beliefs 0.037 0.321
Agricultural ? Intention 0.149 0.366
Agricultural ? Rural population 0.139 0.392
Agricultural ? Normative beliefs 0.054 0.657
Agricultural ? Behavioral beliefs 0.696 ***
Agricultural ? Control beliefs 0.821 ***
Rural population ? Intention 0.212 0.006
Rural population ? Normative beliefs 0.057 0.294
Rural population ? Behavioral beliefs 0.082 0.192
Rural population ? Control beliefs 0.082 0.192
Rural tourism ? Intention 0.059 0.651
Rural tourism ? Agricultural 0.695 ***
Rural tourism ? Rural handicrafts 0.733 ***
Rural tourism ? Normative beliefs 0.077 0.474
Rural tourism ? Behavioral beliefs 0.112 0.360
Rural tourism ? Control beliefs 0.482 0.125
Rural tourism ? Rural population 0.244 0.110
Rural handicrafts ? Intention 0.041 0.546
Rural handicrafts ? Rural population 0.081 0.297
Rural handicrafts ? Normative beliefs 0.094 0.132
Rural handicrafts ? Behavioral beliefs 0.151 0.027
Rural handicrafts ? Control beliefs 0.191 0.240
Normative beliefs ? Intention 0.392 ***
Behavioral beliefs ? Normative beliefs 0.592 ***
Behavioral beliefs ? Intention 0.091 0.291
Control beliefs ? Intention 0.221 0.426
Control beliefs ? Normative beliefs 0.354 ***

Fig. 9 – GeoTPB Model (modified version).

Hypothesis 7.. Rural handicrafts had an indirect effect on vil- carpets are known nationally and internationally. The
lagers’ intention to adopt e-marketing but with a small effect size research findings showed that nearly 60% of the handicrafts
(Total Effects = 0.055). Among all the variables, this had the of the studied villages were carpets and rugs. The research
smallest effect. However, Iranian village handicrafts such as model indicated that rural handicrafts are greatly influenced
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 123

by rural tourism (b = 0.74). However, they have remained in

Conclusion

Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
the traditional trading environment and, given the small
effect they have on villagers’ intention, do not have the
appropriate condition for online sales. The research done on
handicrafts in India showed that they need much manipula-
Relationship tion to gain acceptable results in the competitive market
[107]. Four hundred and fifty thousand Iranian people, of
which 75% are females, are formally active in the field of Ira-
Indirect

Indirect
Indirect
Indirect
Indirect
Indirect
nian handicrafts. Over the last few years, the condition of
Direct

Direct
handicrafts has improved somewhat in terms of organization,
and expanding e-commerce has been aimed at. In the past,
there were a limited number of handicraft e-commerce web-
Effect size

sites, but nowadays, e-sales of handicrafts fares better, and

Medium

Medium

Medium
Medium

Medium
almost 200 websites and online businesses are selling handi-
Small
Large

Large

crafts online [97].

standardized total effects

Hypothesis 8.. Rural population had a direct effect on villagers’

intention to adopt e-marketing with a medium effect size (Total
Effects = 0.355). As stated, the rural population means the
population of ICT users. Interestingly, the population of rural
ICT users did not affect the behavioral variables. Reports indi-
cate that the rural populations residing in ICT centers in Iran
are technology users and well familiar with the Internet and
0.439
0.676
0.217
0.541
0.289
0.424
0.055
0.355

smart phones, and population variables can facilitate online

business adoption without affecting behavioral variables
[35]. This is contrary to the findings obtained from certain vil-
significance

lages in China, which state that rural populations are effec-

tive on individual behavioral variables and thereby affect
the adoption of mobile phone technology [19]. To discuss this
0.003
0.004
0.004
0.003
0.002
0.004
0.018
0.003

issue more clearly, in our research, rural population refers to

the potential of a population for the use of technology; thus, if
there is a village in Iran where most residents deal with ICT
Normative beliefs ? Intention
Behavioral beliefs ? Intention

Rural handicrafts ? Intention

Rural population ? Intention
Table 7 – Results of geographic model of planned behavior (modified state)*.

(Internet banking, smart phone services, online postal sys-

Control beliefs ? Intention

Rural tourism ? Intention

tems), it is a good sign of the residents’ readiness to adopt

Rural access ? Intention

Agriculture ? Intention

e-marketing, and it is not crucial to investigate the behavioral

variables (behavioral beliefs and control beliefs) to determine
the feasibility of e-marketing. However, this claim is not true
about the other variables of rural economic geography (tour-
ism, agriculture, and handicrafts); in other words, if a village
in Iran has a good economy, its effect on behavioral variables
Hypotheses

should be tested.
H1:
H2:
H3:
H4:
H5:
H6:
H7:
H8:

6.2. Clustering discussion

Geographic Model of Planned Behavior

The results showed that the geographical factor affected the

Model of Rural Economic Geography

behavioral factor. To explain this issue, we can refer to

Zhang’s finding, indicating that the geographical space of vil-
*squared multiple correlation: 0.76.

lages in the e-commerce era has become a catalyst changing

Model of Planned Behavior

the economic behavior of its inhabitants [59]. Other results

show that provinces with similar climates have similar statis-
tics (Fig. 12). In cluster analysis in USA in relation to ICT uti-
lization, it was shown that geography had been effective on
utilization of technology [108]. Interestingly, in our study,
the highest average of e-marketing adoption was in provinces
that are registered as less-developed villages in official statis-
tics reports and this showed that technological development
has been effective on the digital literacy of the residents. 31
instances of clustering for provincial regions in China in rela-
124 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

Fig. 10 – Map of provincial clustering of villages.

Table 8 – Anova results.

Factor Cluster Error F Sig
Mean Square df Mean Square df

Economic Factor 111.801 15 0.145 25 150.621 0.0000

Behavioral Factor 107.378 15 0.612 25 175.590 0.0000

Table 9 – Provincial clustering of villages.

Cluster Cluster centers Province
Behavioral factor Economic factor

1 70.67 56.03 Sistan & Baluchestan (SAB), Hormozagan (HZN), Khouzestan (KHN)
2 65.17 53.47 Guilan (GIN), Mazandaran (MZN), Golestan (GON), Alborz (ALZ),
South Khorasan (SKH), West Azerbaijan (WAZ), Hamedan (HMN), Ilam (ILM)
3 56.49 52.43 Ardabil (ADL), East Azerbaijan (EAZ), Zanjan (ZJN), Qazvin (QZN)
4 60.66 51.51 Tehran (THN), Qom, Markazi (MKI), Semnan (SMN), Yazd (YZD), Isfahan (ISN),
Fars (FAS), Kerman (KMN), North Khorasan (NKH), Razavi Khorasan (RKH)
5 62.73 49.21 Kermanshah (KMH)
6 58.09 49.54 Kordestan (KDN), Lorestan (LON), Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari (CAB),
Kohgiluyeh & BoyerAhmad (KAB), Boushehr (BUR)

tion to rural inequality verify our results as regards the effect this improved the views and behavior of residents in relation
of human resource training in rural districts [109]. Our results to technology adoption. Studies done on technology adoption
showed that the most susceptible provinces in executing e- in this region [63,110,111] verify the results of our research. In
marketing designs were rural districts with ICT offices in the cluster 2, the rural districts were in the northern parts (Gui-
southern parts (Khouzesran, Hormozgan and Sistan & lan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces), the rural areas of
Baluchestan provinces). Equipping the villages of these south Alborz (Alborz provinc), the eastern parts of the country
regions with ICT offices caused economic improvement and (South Khorasan provinc), the northwest (West Azerbaijan
 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3 125

west of Iran. In cluster 4 that covers much of the country’s

rural districts and is situated in desert and semiarid climates,
the conditions were similar and at an average level; proper
readiness for the adoption of e-marketing was not observed.
The weakest economic and behavioral conditions in relation
to rural e-marketing (clusters 5 & 6) were seen in the adjacent
provinces of Zagros (Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad,
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kordestan and Kermanshah pro-
vinces). Clustering studies of 47 provinces of Japan on ICT uti-
lization [114] showed that topographic barriers lead to a
digital divide that is in line with the results of this research.

7. Conclusion

The innovation of the current research is in using a combined

model (behavioral and geographical) to adopt rural technol-
ogy, which has presented a better understanding of adoption.
Additionally, a two-stage structural equation modeling
approach was used, which means that since the model was
Fig. 11 – Scatter plot. large and complicated, in the first stage, the non-significant
paths were removed, and in the second stage, the model
provinc), and the west (Ilam and Hamedan provinces). Studies was simplified and proposed with the significant paths.
that were done in the north [25,112] and west of Iran [29] ver- The initiator of villagers’ intention in the model is rural
ify technology adoption in these regions. However, in this access that influences the rural population (b = 0.73) which
study, there was a notable point in cluster 3. Although it in turn has a direct effect on intention (b = 0.35). Also, rural
had a behavioral factor higher than the behavioral factors of access promotes agriculture (b = 0.44) and tourist visits to vil-
clusters 4, 5 and 6, it had a low behavioral factor; in other lages (b = 0.34). Tourism will help in selling agricultural prod-
words, no correlation was observed between economic and ucts (b = 0.59) and handicrafts (b = 0.74). Although income
behavioral factors in cluster 3. The analysis of ICT utilization from handicrafts has a very small effect on the behavioral
in Central European enterprises [113] showed that there was a beliefs of the villagers (b = 0.13), agriculture in contrast, has
correlation between economic condition and geographical an appropriate effect on behavioral beliefs (b = 0.69) and con-
region which is in contrast to the results related to the north- trol beliefs (b = 0.57). Ultimately, behavioral and control beliefs

Fig. 12 – Rural climatic separation based on behavioral-economic factors.

126 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

affect normative beliefs which result in intention with con- Index are investigated, the result will be the placement of
siderable effect (b = 0.68). southern provinces such as Sistan and Hormozgan as the
Generally, rural economic variables had a direct effect most deprived areas, while in the current research, conducted
(64%) on behavioral variables, and subsequently, behavioral based on behavioral geography, these two provinces appeared
variables (as full mediation) influenced adoption. In other foremost. It is suggested that researchers and government
words, the behavioral factor had a more important role. This planners consider models of behavioral geography.
model predicted 76% of villagers’ intention on e-marketing
adoption and the remaining 24% is related to variables that 8.2. Pilot provinces in implementation of rural e-
were not considered in the research, variables which should marketing
necessarily be considered in future research. Also, it should
be noted that the highest average of e-marketing adoption Considering that, according to the five-year development
was in provinces that are registered in official statistics plan, the government is going to provide employment pro-
reports as less developed villages. This showed that technol- grams in thousands of the country’s villages to strengthen
ogy development has been effective on the digital literacy of the rural economy, if the decision is made to operationalize
these regions. The placement of less-developed provinces in rural e-marketing, it is suggested that the pilot provinces in
a superior cluster confirmed that research on behavioral order of priority are in Sistan and Hormozgan. Results showed
geography is very important in programming for rural e- that villages with active ICT offices in these provinces have
marketing. the best conditions for implementation of such projects.
In the final conclusion of the research and in connection Additionally, priority had better be given to villages with
with Rural ICT in the world (especially in developing coun- proper access and a population of technology users.
tries), it is noteworthy that in the new age, and the so-
called Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital technologies are 8.3. Rural Transaction Services Model as the basis of a
creating new opportunities [50] and national policies play an national business
important role in the digital development of countries. Seem-
ingly in today’s world, different political systems with various Considering the government’s objective in rural business
geographic dispersions have been able to achieve success in development of providing occupational opportunity in vil-
the area of ICT. For example, reports suggest that, considering lages, it is suggested that the Transaction Services Model
the surplus value index of ICT services, the top 10 economies which has been welcomed by villagers be used as the basis
from the western hemisphere (the United States and the of a national business and its related facilities be provided.
European Union) to the eastern hemisphere (India and China)
[115] have achieved good results by employing ICT in different Funding
economic sectors (including the agricultural and rural sec-
tors). Online villages are one of these achievements. Online This paper was supported by the ‘‘Iran National Science Foun-
villages have been locally established with different systems dation” (INSF) Grant No. 96001269.
depending on the needs of the geographic area. Taobao in
China, E-Choupal in India and rural digital hubs in Europe, Declaration of Competing Interest
are examples of the online villages that were launched
natively, according to the needs of each geographic region, The author declare that there is no conflict of interest.
and provided e-commerce. Given the high risk of rural e-
commerce, it is perhaps better if the government takes con-
Acknowledgements
trol of the implementation of national projects in this sector.
However, if the government does not have sufficient financial
This paper is part of a PhD thesis. The authors declare their
resources, then it is necessary to use the private sector’s
gratitude to Iran Post Company and the villagers who helped
capacity and the government is responsible in terms of a reg-
us in the distribution and completion of the survey. We are
ulatory role.
also very thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their crit-
ical and constructive comments, which greatly improved the
8. Suggestions quality of the paper.

8.1. The necessity to pay attention to behavioral economic

Appendix A
studies in academic research and government planning
GeoTPB questionnaire
If the economic results of the Statistical Yearbook of Iran are
reviewed, or the research studies conducted to classify rural
regions based on the Employment and Human Development
Part 1 – Socio-cultural characteristics and diversity of economic activities

Province? . . .. . .. . .. . .. Age? . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. Education level? High school diploma h University degree h

Gender? . . .. . .. . .. . .. Work experience in year? . . .. . .. . .. . . Communication tool? Tel & SMS h Social networks h Tel &
SMS & Social networks
Out of the two rural marketing models, which one do you think is suitable for your village?
Transaction Services Model to sell products hIn the transaction services model, Transaction Services Model to rent rural houses hIn
in order to sell products, villagers open an account in the rural the Transaction Services Model, in order to rent rural houses,
post-bank branch, and then the data for crops or handicrafts is registered by the village residents open an account in the rural post-bank branch
paying a fee. After the customer visits the website and chooses the upon obtaining a tourism license, and after paying a fee, they request

Information Processing in Agriculture

product, online payment is done and the money is deposited to the villager’s to register the information of the house to be let. On the other hand, after
account and a short message is sent to the villager to deliver the visiting the website and choosing the desired house, the tourist will pay
product to the rural ICT office. Finally, the office sends the product by post to the customer. the rent online and the money is deposited to the villager’s account at
the Post Bank and a short message is sent to the villager to prepare the
house for tourist accommodation.

8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3
Please name the agricultural production of the village (crops and dry fruits).
Please name the villagers’ main handicrafts.
Please name the tourism attractions of the village.

127
 128
Part 2 – Model of planned behavior

Belief None (Not at all) Low Moderate High Very high (Certainly)

Behavioral Beliefs B1: How much do you believe in the positive impact of h h h h h
e-marketing on villagers’ income?
B2: How much do you believe in the positive impact of h h h h h
e-marketing on prevention of immigration?
B3: How much do you believe in the positive impact of h h h h h
e-marketing on youth and female employment?
B4: How much do you believe in the positive impact of h h h h h
e-marketing on rural economy?
Evaluation

Information Processing in Agriculture

E1: What is your evaluation of the impact of online rental h h h h h
of village houses on villagers’ income?
E2: What is your evaluation of the impact of online sales of h h h h h
agricultural products on villagers’ income?
E3: What is your evaluation of the impact of online sales of h h h h h
handicrafts on villagers’ income?
E4: What is your evaluation of the impact of establishing a h h h h h
local marketing company on villagers’ income?
Normative Beliefs Motivation
M1: How much motivation do you have for online sales of h h h h h
the village’s handicrafts?
M2: How much motivation do you have for online sales of h h h h h
agricultural products?
M3: How much motivation do you have for online renting h h h h h
of rural houses?
Specific referents
SR1: How willing are your colleagues to use e-marketing? h h h h h

8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3
SR2: How willing is the government to set up e-marketing? h h h h h
SR3: How willing are the villagers to use e-marketing? h h h h h
Control Beliefs Self-efficacy
SE1: How capable are you at Internet and computer skills? h h h h h
SE2: How familiar are you with online rural shopping h h h h h
websites?
Facilitating conditions
FC1: How fast are Internet connections in your village? h h h h h
FC2: How good is cell phone reception in your village? h h h h h
FC3: How much support does the ICT office get from the h h h h h
post bank?
FC4: How much support does the ICT office get from the h h h h h
post?
Part 3 – Model of rural economic geography

None (Not at all) Low Moderate High Very high (Certainly)

Rural Access RA1: How suitable is the villagers’ access to the rural ICT office? h h h h h
RA2: How suitable is the distance between the village and the city? h h h h h
RA3: How suitable is the road between the village and the city? h h h h h
Rural Tourism RT1: How much is the income earned from rural tourism? h h h h h
RT2: How high is the level of the region’s tourist attractions? h h h h h
RT3: What is the potential of your village for renting out rural houses online? h h h h h
Agriculture AG1: How much is the income earned from agricultural products? h h h h h
AG2: How diverse are the village agricultural products? h h h h h
AG3: What is the potential of your village for online sales of agricultural products? h h h h h

Information Processing in Agriculture

Rural Handicrafts RH1: How much is the income earned from rural handicrafts? h h h h h
RH2: How high is the attraction level of regional handicrafts? h h h h h
RH3: What is the potential of your village for online sales of handicrafts? h h h h h
Rural Population RP1: How young is the rural ICT users’ population? h h h h h
RP2: How middle aged and old is the rural ICT users’ population? h h h h h
RP3: How many banking users are there in your village? h h h h h
RP4: How many postal users are there in your village? h h h h h
RP5: How many telecommunications users are there in your village? h h h h h

Part 4 – Dependent Variable

Intention I1: How strong is your intention to continue work in ICT offices? h h h h h
I2: How strong is your intention to do online shopping in an e-marketing system? h h h h h
I3: How strong is your intention to sell online in an e-marketing system individually? h h h h h
I4: How strong is your intention to sell online in an e-marketing system in a corporative manner? h h h h h

8 ( 2 0 2 1 ) 1 0 5 –1 3 3
129
130 Information Processing in Agriculture 8 (2 0 2 1) 1 0 5–13 3

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