evaluating the effectiveness of rural employment credits in developing sustainable entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector (case study: zanjan city)

Purpose: this research aims to examine the impact of paid credits on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable entrepreneurship in zanjan city.methods: the research is applied and descriptive-analytical. the statistical population of this research consists of households in the villages of zanjan city that have utilized rural employment credits. there are 188 natural and juridical persons with rural employment credits in 185 villages of zanjan city. all 188 credit recipients were selected as samples. data was collected using library and field methods (questionnaires). descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistics (binomial tests, one-sample t-test, and linear regression) were used to analyze the data.results: the findings from the descriptive statistics of this study indicate that the highest mean score is 2.74, observed in the social dimension, while the lowest mean score is 2.65, observed in the environmental dimension. additionally, the average score for sustainable entrepreneurship is 2.69. the results from the linear regression test show that, among the variables of loan amount, repayment period, education of loan recipients, job of loan recipients, and type of credits received, only the variable of loan amount, with a beta value of 0.294, significantly affects sustainable entrepreneurship in the studied villages.conclusion: the results regarding the credits paid to foster entrepreneurship and employment in rural areas indicate that these credits have not achieved the desired outcomes in terms of entrepreneurship and employment. they have only been effective in increasing the relative income of the target groups. according to the investigations, the most significant factor contributing to the ineffectiveness of the credits on the mentioned indicators is that the largest portion of the credits was used for purchasing livestock. this does not create new jobs but rather continues existing ranching jobs with increased relative and unstable income.