Introduction: In addition to production factors such as water, land, and labor, businesses in agricultural sector need capital as a driving production factor to develop their economic activities. Easy and quick access to financial resources is one of the necessities and prerequisites for the development of business activities in the agricultural sector, because many farmers and activists in the agricultural sector, due to low-income levels and high production costs, are unable to make large and widespread investments, on the one hand, and the private sector is not highly interested in investing in the agricultural sector due to high risk and low returns, on the other hand. In this regard, the Agricultural Bank, as the only specialized bank in the agricultural sector, is responsible for providing financial resources for this sector. In fact, the basic mission of the Agricultural Bank is to provide credit facilities for the development of the agricultural sector and its related activities, to improve the living standards and income of the rural people, and in short, to finance agriculture and related activities and the businesses of this sector. Accordingly, one of the topics that has been paid attention to by researchers over recent years, leading to the improvement of agricultural production and productivity, is the effect of good governance, so that in addition to paying attention to physical and educational investments, there should be considered and improved the infrastructure related to governance in the concerned countries. The goal of governance in the agricultural sector is to emphasize the increase of agricultural, livestock, and industrial production that will meet public needs and bring the country to the stage of self-sufficiency and free it from dependence. In this regard, the importance of agricultural businesses is highlighted. By moving in the direction of good governance, comprehensive institutions are formed and cause the growth of various economic sectors and finally, development. Therefore, this study aimed at presenting a good governance model in line with the sustainability of agricultural businesses in Agriculture Bank of Iran known as BKI which stands for Bank-e-Keshavarzi Iran in Persian.
Materials and Methods: This research was as an applied study, in terms of purpose, and it was a descriptive (non-experimental) one, in terms of data collection method, following a mixed research strategy, after defining the topic and conducting library studies, the dimensions of good governance in BKI were identified in Delphi method; and to identify the dimensions of business sustainability, the library method and the theoretical foundations of the research were used. In the qualitative part of the research, firstly, by reviewing the theoretical literature, the dimensions of good governance in the Agricultural Bank were identified, resulting in selection of 15 managers of BKI and Agriculture-Jahad Organization of Tehran who were selected through a purposeful sampling approach, while the factors were evaluated using the Delphi technique. Finally, 32 indicators were identified in the form of six main components. Also, to identify the dimensions of business sustainability, the library method was used based on the background and theoretical foundations of the research, and the dimensions of business sustainability were designed in the form of a questionnaire in three components (social, environmental and economic) and 19 indicators. In the quantitative part of the research, to measure the research model, a questionnaire was designed and after verifying its validity and reliability, the questionnaire was given to 330 greenhouse owners of Tehran province, who were selected in a simple random sampling method. Then, to establish the relationship and sequence between the dimensions, components and indicators and to provide a structural model, the method of structural equations was used in the third-order confirmatory factor analysis method in SPSS23 and Smart PLS3 software.
Results and Discussion: The analysis of the results showed that among the six components affecting the good governance of the BKI, corruption control was the most effective component with an impact factor (factor load) of 0.279, followed by the component related to the quality of laws and regulations (0.274) in the second, the factors related to the rule of law (0.271) in the third, the component of the right to comment and respond (0.172) in the fourth, the component of government effectiveness (0.043) in the fifth and finally, the political stability factor (0.022) in the sixth places. Based on the study results, the social dimension of agricultural business sustainability with an impact factor (factor load) of 0.901, the economic dimension of agricultural business sustainability (0.891), and the environmental dimension of agricultural business sustainability (0.843) are the most important components of the sustainability of agricultural business. The analysis of the results showed that among the components affecting the sustainability of agricultural business, corruption control was found to be the most effective component (T-value = 17.854 , p < 0.01), followed by the components of the quality of laws and regulations (T-value = 0.274, T-value = 14.433), the rule of law (T-value = 0.271, T-value = 14.075), the right to comment and respond (T-value = 0.172, T-value = 11.301), the government effectiveness (T-value = 2.146, T-value = 0.043) and the political stability (T-value = 0.022 , T-value = 2.080) were in the next ranks of importance in order of priority.
Conclusion and Suggestions: The study results make it clear that executives (agricultural business managers) have an important role in the sustainability of agricultural business, but designing a good governance model is not simply the responsibility of executives, rather, it is affected by many factors and variables. Also, it can be concluded that many issues and problems related to the sustainability of agricultural business are formed during the formulation of policies and programs and are influenced by other factors. Therefore, in order to successfully implement a good governance in the BKI, the other concerned components and indicators might be considered as well.