Hossein Najafi, Mehran Farajollahi, Reza Noruzzadeh and Mohammad Reza Sarmadi
The purpose of the present research is to provide a conceptual model for human resource development in Iran’s distance education system. The Delphi method (three rounds) and survey were used among 30 professors working in the area of distance education. Then, a researcher-made questionnaire was distributed among 136 samples from a population of 1082 doctoral students and the collected data was analyzed using LISREL 8.53.The results supported the main question of the research: distance education and its components influence human resource development (knowledge, attitude, skill, and behavior). Chi-square to df ratio (1.23) was less than 3 (number 3 is in the middle of the five-point Likert scale), the value of RMSEA (0.0032) was less than the cutoff value (0.01), p-value (0.32177) was greater than the significance level (a=0.05), and the values of GFI (0.97) and AGFI (0.93) were greater than the cutoff value (90%), all of which suggest the goodness of fit of the model and further indicate the causal relationship between distance education and human resource development. In other words, the components of distance education—i.e. technology, interaction, and facilities—have an effect on the components of human resource development—i.e. knowledge, attitude, skill, and behavior.
