Social Responsibility and Rangelands Conservation: An Investigation on Mobile Pastoralists in Golestan Province, Iran

Journal of Rangeland Science

مقاله 3، دوره 9، شماره 2، تیر 2019، صفحه 112-125   

نوع مقاله: Research and Full Length Article

نویسندگان

Bahareh Behmanesh¹؛ Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani^{* 2}؛ Hossein Barani³؛ Mohammad Reza Shahraki⁴؛ Majid Mohammad Esmaeili⁵

¹Assistant prof.,Gonbad Kavous University

²Faculty Member, Gorgan of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

³Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

⁴Researcher and Range Management Expert, Golestan Province Headquarters of Natural Resources and Watershed Management, Gorgan, Iran

⁵Gonbad Kavoos University

چکیده

Social responsibility of pastoralists is one of the most important elements and an integral part of rangelands exploitation. It not only leads to better rangeland health, but also enhances exploiters’ satisfaction for continuous sustainable utilization of rangelands. The present study investigated the role of social responsibility in rangelands condition in nomadic areas of Gonbad County in Golestan province, Iran. Survey method was conducted in 2016. Population consisted of 180 nomadic households. A sample size of 115 households was selected using stratified random sampling method in ten pastoral units (nomadic and nomadic–rural systems). Required information was collected using questionnaires. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by academics and social experts of rangelands management. The findings showed that the social responsibility of respondents could be evaluated at high level. The ethical dimension of social responsibility was ranked in the first priority but the economic dimension was the last one. There was a significant and positive relationship between social responsibility and range condition. Also, social responsibility of uneducated exploiters (unable to read and write) was higher than other educated exploiters. Due to a positive relationship between social responsibility and range condition, it is recommended that exploiters’ responsibility can be enhanced by delivering appropriate educational opportunities in order to improve range condition.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Mobile pastoralists؛ social responsibility؛ Rangeland health؛ Pastoral unit؛ Iran

مراجع

Agrawal, A., 2003. Sustainable governance of common-pool resources: context, methods, and politics. Annual Review of Anthropology, 32: 243-262.

Altman, J., and Cochrane, M., 2005. Sustainable development in the indigenous-owned savanna: innovative institutional design for cooperative wildlife management. Wildlife Research, 32: 473-480.

Ariapour, A., 2016. Rangeland ecology, management and conservation benefits. Journal of Rangelands Sciences, 6(3): 296-297.

Bala, R., and Yeung, M., 2009. Chinese consumer's perception of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 88: 119-132.

Bradshaw, G.A., and Bekoff, M., 2001. Ecology and social responsibility: the re-embodiment of science. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 16: 460–465.

Carroll, A.B., 1991. The pyramid of corporate social responsibility toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4): 39-48.

Danko, D., Goldberg, J.S., Goldberg, S.R., Grant, R., 2008. Corporate social responsibility: the USA vs. Europe. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 19(6): 41-47.

Dong, S., Lassoie, J., Shrestha, K., Yan, Z., Sharma, E., and Pariya, D. 2009. Institutional development for sustainable rangeland resource and ecosystem management in mountainous areas of Northern Nepal. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(2): 994-1003.

Fernandez, S., Jose, L., Luna, S.L., Baraibar, E., 2010. The relationship between corporate governance and corporate social behavior: a structural equation model analysis. Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 18(2): 91-101.

Ghalavandi, Hasan, Kabiri, Afshar, and Soltanzadeh, V., 2014. Relationship between social responsibility and teamwork staff Urmia University. Journal of Applied Sociology, 25(1): 120-111.

Givel, M., 2007. Motivation of chemical industry social responsibility through responsible care. Health Policy, 81: 85-92.

Golob, U., Bartlett, J.L., 2007. Communicating about corporate social responsibility: a comparative study of CSR reporting in Australia and Slovenia. Public Relations Review, 33: 1-9.

Gupta, S., Pirsch, J., and Grau, S.L., 2007. A framework for understanding corporate social responsibility programs as a continuum: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Ethics, 70: 125-140.

Harjoto, M.A., 2011. Corporate governance and    CSR nexus. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(1): 45-67.

Hobbs, R.J., 2007. Setting effective and realistic restoration goals: key directions for research. Restoration Ecology, 15: 354-357.

IFRWO. 2017. Iran rangelands: http://frw.org.ir/00/Fa/StaticPages/Page.aspx?tid=1501.

IISD. 2004. Perceptions and Definitions of Social Responsibility. Canada: International Institute for Sustainable Development, Manitoba. Canada R3B 0Y4.

Ismail, M. 2009. Corporate social responsibility and its role in community development: An international perspective: www.sosyalarastirmalar.com/cilt2/sayi9pdf/ismail_maimunah.pdf.

Johnson, C., 2004. Uncommon ground: the poverty of history in common property discourse. Development and Change, 35(3): 407-434.

Khalili, S., Nouraei, T., and Sharifian, I., 2014. Impact of corporate social responsibility of sports Manufactured on customer loyalty. Applied Research in Sport Management, 3(2): 114-101. (In Persian).

Khanmohamadi, M., Ariapour, A. and Razzaghi, M.H., 2012. Comparison of experts and rangers’ opinions on prioritizing barriers in participation of rangers in range plans (case study: Tehran Province- Lar Moor). Journal of Rangelands Sciences, 2(4): 655-667.

Li, W.J., Li, Y.B., 2012. Managing rangeland as a complex system: how government intervention decouples social systems from ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 17(1): 305-314.

Liu, J., Dietz, T., Carpenter, S.R., Alberti, M., Folke, C., Moran, E., Pell, A.N., Deadman, P., Kratz, T., Lubchenco, J., Ostrom, E., Ouyang, Z., Provencher, W., Redman, C.L., Schneider, S.H., and Taylor, W.W., 2007. Complexity of coupled human and natural systems. Science, 317: 1513-1516.

Marek, P., and Zasuwa, G., 2011. Influence of a company’s social initiatives on the consumer attitude towards it. Results of Experimental Research, 5(2): 80-89.

Miller, D., 1997. Conservation biodiversity in the HKH rangelands. ICIMOD Newsletter, 27: 8-11.

Ostrom, E., 2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social–ecological systems. Science, 325: 419-422.

Petursdottir, T., Arnalds, O., Baker, S., Montanarella, L., and Aradóttir, A.L., 2013. A social-ecological system approach to analyze stakeholders’ interactions within a large-scale rangeland restoration program. Ecology and Society, 18(2): 29.

Plummer, R., and FitzGibbon, J., 2006. People matter: the importance of social capital in the comanagement of natural resources. Natural Resource Forum, 30: 51-62.

Poteete, A.R., and Welch, D., 2004. Institutional development in the face of complexity developing rules for managing forest resources. Human Ecology, 32(3): 279-311.

Robinson, L.W., 2009. A complex-systems approach to pastoral commons. Human Ecology, 37(4): 441-451.

Sandhu, H.S., Kapoor, S., 2010. Corporate social responsibility initiatives: an analysis of voluntary corporate disclosure. South Asian Journal of Management, 17(2): 47-80.

Scoones, I., 1999. New ecology and the social sciences: what prospects for a fruitful engagement? Annual Review of Anthropology, 28: 479-507.

Sick, D., 2008. Social contexts and consequences of institutional change in common-pool resource management. Society & Natural Resources, 21(2): 94-105.

Shahraki, M.R. and Barani, H., 2012. Review and rating factors affecting the degradation of rangelands in Golestan province. Journal of Conservation and Exploitation of Natural Resources. 1(3): 78-59. (In Persian).

Takala, T., and Pallab, P., 2000. Individual, collective and social responsibility of the firm. Business Ethics, 9(2): 109-118.

Tang, L., Dong, S., Sherman, R., Liu, S., Liu, Q., Wang, X., Su, X., Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Wu, Y., Zhao, H., Zhao, C., and Wu, X., 2015. Changes in vegetation composition and plant diversity with rangeland degradation in the alpine region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Rangeland Journal, 37(1): 107-115.

Vella, K.J., Williams, R.J., Walker, D.H., Smajgl, A., Kirschbaum, M.U.F., and Greiner, R., 2005. Viewpoint: social and economic dimensions of involving savanna communities in carbon management system. Australian Journal of Botany, 53: 741-747.

Viswesvaran, C., Deshpande, S.P., and Milman, C., 1998. The effect of corporate social responsibility on employee counterproductive behavior. Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 5(4): 5-12.

Wang, X., Dong, S., Sherman, R., Liu, Q., Liu, S., Li, Y., and Wu, Y., 2015. A comparison of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships in alpine grasslands across a degradation gradient on the Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau. Rangeland Journal, 37(1): 45-55.

Waudby, H.P., Petit, S., and Robinson, G., 2013. Pastoralists’ knowledge of plant palatability and grazing indicators in an arid region of South Australia. The Rangeland Journal, 35(4):445-454.

Zairi, M., and Peters, J., 2002. The impact of social responsibility on business performance. Managerial Auditing Journal, 17(4): 174-178.

Zaman Khan, H., 2010. The effect corporate governance elements on corporate social esponsibility (CSR) reporting. Journal of Law and Management, 52(2): 82-109.