Factors affecting members' evaluation of agri-business ventures' effectiveness

This paper presents work to identify factors affecting effectiveness of agri-business ventures (A-BVs) on the side of providers as perceived by their members. A survey was conducted among 95 members of A-BVs in Zanjan province, Iran. To collect data, a questionnaire was designed. Two distinct groups of A-BVs with low (group 1) and high (group 2) perceived (evaluated) levels of effectiveness were revealed. The study showed that there were significant differences between the two groups on important characteristics of A-BVs and their members. The study also found that there were statistically significant relationships between A-BVs' governance structure and capacity, management and organization characteristics and the perceived effectiveness, whereas there were no statistically significant relationships between A-BVs' advisory methods characteristic applied by members and the perceived effectiveness. Logistic regression results also showed that level of application of rules encouraging members' active participation in important decision makings, clear terms of reference to guide contracting procedures, roles, and responsibilities of parties involved, type of people served and geographical area of program coverage, and members' ability to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were predictors of the perceived (evaluated) effectiveness of A-BVs. The study showed that evaluation of members of effectiveness of A-BVs would not be the same. It is suggested that Iranian public agricultural extension organization, as responsible organization for monitoring and evaluating services conducted by A-BVs, considered these differences between members with different levels of some important variables.