Public Administration Perspective

Designing a Model for Promoting the Transparency of the Administrative System in Interaction with the Development Programs of E-Government (Case Study: Social Security Organization)

Document Type : Based on PhD Thesis

Authors

1 Department of Public Management, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran.

2 Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: The primary factor contributing to administrative corruption in the country is the lack of transparency and accountability of the government and its subsidiaries toward the public. The lack of attention to the transparency of Iranian public organizations over the years has resulted in irreparable damage to the country. In recent years, substantial financial and administrative corruption cases have emerged in governmental agencies nearly every few months. Thus, this research addresses a fundamental issue within the country, as a majority of the public has personally experienced these challenges and irregularities when interacting with public organizations. This study aims to present a model for enhancing administrative transparency in alignment with e-government development programs.
Design/ methodology/ approach: Since few studies have been conducted on the transparency of the administrative system in relation to e-government development programs, the nature of this research is exploratory, and the approach is qualitative. Specifically, it utilizes a case study strategy focused on the Social Security Organization. The research population includes elites and academic experts within the Social Security Organization. No sample size calculation was required because the qualitative sample was purposefully selected. The researcher used a snowball sampling technique to reach theoretical saturation, achieving it after conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 experts. The study employed thematic analysis to propose and validate a model titled “Model for Enhancing Administrative Transparency in Interaction with E-Government Development Programs.” Participant validation was used to ensure construct validity. Internal validity was established by comparing the experience-based model generated from coding, categorization, and qualitative data analysis with the anticipated model derived from theoretical subjects. To ensure the reliability of the qualitative part of the research and theoretical saturation, the agreement test based on the correlation matrix of the agreement of opinions between the interviewees and the diagram of two coders have been used. Additionally, the data analysis was performed using the Maxqda qualitative analysis software, version 2020.
 
Research Findings: The research findings revealed nine main themes. The sub-themes for the first main theme (Organizational Culture and Atmosphere) include organizational values, organizational trust, motivational practices, and superior organizational atmosphere. Sub-themes for the second main theme (Administrative Structure and Processes) include structural and process integration, decentralization, and administrative process reform. Sub-themes for the third main theme (Managerial Factors) include appropriate leadership style, financial management, human resource management, and IT management. Sub-themes for the fourth main theme (Environmental Factors) include the economic environment, cultural environment, government and legal institutions, and the political environment. Sub-themes for the fifth main theme (Managerial Supervision) include hierarchical supervision, inspector supervision, and digital supervision. Sub-themes for the sixth main theme (Public Supervision) include individual monitoring, media oversight, and supervision by NGOs. Sub-themes for the seventh main theme (Public Accountability) include establishing an accountable structure, stakeholder accountability, and promoting a culture of accountability. Sub-themes for the eighth main theme (Establishment of E-Government) include e-service delivery, e-information dissemination, e-accountability, and e-participation. Sub-themes for the ninth main theme (Growth and Development of the Social Security Organization) include dynamism and flourishing, growth in organizational profitability, human resource growth and development, and improving organizational and staff performance.
Limitations & Consequences Due to time constraints, this article only focuses on the Social Security Organization (selected for accessibility as the research population).
Practical Consequences: This research's findings benefit the Social Security Organization, all companies within this sector, and generally to all governmental and private organizations within the country.
Innovation or value of the Article Given the limited studies on administrative transparency in interaction with e-government development programs, this study employs a qualitative research approach, specifically a case study strategy in the Social Security Organization.
Paper Type: Original Paper
 

Keywords

  1. Abdulahi, Ali; Tavakli-Joshkhani, Nazanin (2013), investigating the role of information technology in clarifying and reducing corruption in government organizations, Government Management Perspectives Journal, 18, 73-91. (In Persian)
  2. Afzali, Abdul Rahman. (2010). Administrative corruption and its impact on development: causes, consequences and solutions. Journal of International Law, Presidential Center for International Legal Affairs, 45(27), 235-264. (In Persian)
  3. Ahmadi, Abdul Hamid; Shajie, Reza and Barani Mahtab. (2018). Prioritizing factors affecting the social accountability of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. The 3rd National Congress of Sports Science and Health Achievements, Gilan, Gilan University. (In Persian)
  4. Ahmadi, Mehrdad; Jajermizadeh, Mohsen and Jafari Zahra. (2016). Explaining the effect of e-government implementation on organizational transparency in Shiraz Social Security Insurance Organization. Second International Conference on Management and Accounting, Tehran, Salehan Institute of Higher Education. (In Persian)
  5. Anderson Rosemarie (2007), thematic content analysis (TCA) descriptive presentation of qualitative data, sage publication.
  6. Arshad S, Khurram S. (2020). Can government’s presence on social media stimulate citizens’ online political participation? Investigating the influence of transparency, trust, and responsiveness. Government Information Quarterly 37 (2020) 101486.
  7. Dehghanpour Farashah, Alireza, Abbasi ,Tayebeh, Dehghanpour Farashah ,Afsaneh.(2022) , "Identifying and Prioritizing the Barriers of Public Accountability in Iranian Public Organizations ",Journal of Iranian Public Administration Studies,6(3) ,97-123. (In Persian)
  8. Bauhr, D., & Nasiritousi, N. (2012), Resisting Transparency: Corruption, Legitimacy, and The Quality of Global Environmental Policies. Global Environmental Politics, 12(4), 9-29.
  9. Berberoglu, A. (2018). Impact of organizational climate on organizational commitment and perceived organizational performance: empirical evidence from public hospitals. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1-399.
  10. Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P,T., & Grimes J, M. (2010). Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Government Information Quarterly, (27) 264–271.
  11. Birajit Mohanty, Shweta Mehrotra (2018), Relationship between Liquidity and Profitability: An Exploratory Study of SMEs in India, Emerging Economy Studies, 4(2), 169-181.
  12. De Benedetto, M. (2014). Administrative Corruption. In: Backhaus, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_527-1.
  13. De Mingo Anahí Casadesús, Agustí Cerrillo-i-Martíneza, (2018), improving records management to promote transparency and prevent corruption, International Journal of Information Management 38, 256–261.
  14. Demircioglu, M. A., & Berman, E. (2019). Effects of the Innovation Climate on Turnover Intention in the Australian Public Service. The American Review of Public Administration, 49(5), 614-628.
  15. Dimant, E., & Tosato, G. (2017). Causes and Effect of Corruption: What Has Past Decade’s Empirical Research Taught US? A Survay. Journal of Economic Surveys, 2(32), 335-356.
  16. Economic statistics of the Chamber of Commerce (2018), abstract of the economic statistics of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture of Iran, 67, https://tinyurl.com/ygfpv8dg (In Persian)
  17. Ejiogu, Amanze. Ejiogu, Chibuzo. Ambituuni, Ambisisi. (2018), the dark side of transparency: Does the Nigeria extractive industries transparency initiative help or hinder accountability and corruption control? The British Accounting Review, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2018.10.004
  18. Geue, P. E. (2018). Positive practices in the workplace: impact on team climate, work engagement, and task performance. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 54(3), 272-301.
  19. Ghasemi Esfahalan, Leila, Khabaz Bavil, Samad. (2021). Model for clarifying the performance of government organizations. Management of Government Organizations, 9(No. 1 (Sec. 33)), 107-122. (In Persian)
  20. Ghazal Biglou, Muslim, Rahimi, Ruholah, Sheikh Mohd, Mahdi. (2022). A comparative study of the legal frameworks of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, Egypt and the international law of people's participation in the prevention of administrative corruption: a case study of the crime of embezzlement. Comparative Law Studies of Islamic Countries, 1(3), 17-35. (In Persian)
  21. Gissur Ó. Erlingsson , Anna Thomasson , Richard Öhrvall , (2018), Issues on Transparency, Accountability and Control in Hybrid organisations: The Case of Enterprises Owned by Local Government, in Andrea Bonomi Savignon , Luca Gnan , Alessandro Hinna , Fabio Monteduro (ed.) Hybridity in the Governance and Delivery of Public Services (Studies in Public and Non-Profit Governance, Volume 7) Emerald Publishing Limited,31 – 52.
  22. Grimmelikhuijsen Stephan G. Piotrowski Suzanne J., Van Ryzin Gregg G. (2020). Latent transparency and trust in government: Unexpected findings from two survey experiments. Government Information Quarterly 37, 101497.
  23. Gwet, KL.(2014), Handbook of inter-rater reliability: The definitive guide to measuring the extent of agreement among raters. Advanced Analytics LLC 2014.
  24. Haji Khalil, Mohammad and Rostaminia, Mohammad Asmaeil (2013). Administrative corruption versus administrative health; Looking at Iran. The 3rd Annual National Conference of Modern Management Sciences, Gorgan, Golestan Scientific and Professional Association of Managers and Accountants, Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katul branch. (In Persian)
  25. Heald David, (2018), Transparency-generated trust: The problematic theorization of public audit, Financial Acc &Man. 2018;34:317–335, wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/faam, DOI: 10.1111/faam.12175.
  26. Hindawy, F. M. E. (2023) "Combating Administrative Corruption and its Role in Achieving Sustainable Development in Light of the Kingdoms Vision 2030," Information Sciences Letters: Vol. 12 : Iss. 5 , PP -.Available at: https://digitalcommons.aaru.edu.jo/isl/vol12/iss5/33
  27. Hochstetter, J.; Vasquez, F.;Dieguez, M.; Bustamante,A.;Arango-Lopez,J.(2021)Transparency and E-Government in Electronic Public Procurement as Sustainable Development. Sustainability 2023, 15,4672
  28. Hochstetter, J.; Vasquez, F.;Dieguez, M.; Bustamante,A.;Arango-Lopez,J.(2021)Assessing Transparency in eGovernment Electronic Processes. 2021.3137799
  29. Hochstetter, J.; Vasquez, F.;Dieguez, M.; Bustamante,A.;Arango-Lopez,J.(2021) ATransparency Maturity Model for Government Software Tenders. 2021.3067217
  30. Holland, D, Krause. A, Provencher J, (2017). Transparency tested: The influence of message features on public perceptions of organizational transparency. Trent Seltzer Texas Tech University, College of Media & Communication, Lubbock, TX 79409, United States.
  31. Holland Derrick, Krause Amber, Provencher Joseph, Seltzer Trent, (2018), Transparency tested: The influence of message features on public perceptions of organizational transparency, Public Relations Review, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.12.002.
  32. Hoy, K. W. & Miskel, G. C. (2013) Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: The McGraw Hill Higher Education.
  33. Jamshidian, Mohammad Amin, Mirsepasi, Naser, Daneshfard, Karamollah.(2020). Designing the Model of Organizational Transparency in the Direction Administrative System Integrity Journal of Quality & Standard Management (JQSM). (In Persian)
  34. Khademi, Sayyed Musa, Khademi, Sayyed Reza. (2021). Designing the maturity measurement model of e-government (case study: Lorestan Governorate). Management of Government Organizations, 10(No. 2 (Sec. 38)), 11-26. (In Persian)
  35. Lee Chien-Chiang, Wang Chih-Wei, Ho Shan-Ju, (2020), Country governance, corruption, and the likelihood of firms’ innovation, Economic Modelling, Available online, In Press, Corrected Proof, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.01.013.
  36. Lopez L, Fontaine G. (2020). How transparency improves public accountability: The extractive industries transparency initiative in Mexico. The Extractive Industries and Society. 6(4). 1156-1167.
  37. Madani, Javad; Zarandi, Saeed; Abdulahi, Mohammad Reza (2017) Analysis of the impact of public accountability on the policy of promoting administrative health and organizational transparency in the public sector. Quarterly Journal of Public Policy in Management, 9(2), 21-41. (In Persian)
  38. Miri, Ali (2014). Organizational and managerial factors affecting administrative-financial corruption in government organizations. Ocean Management National Conference, Shiraz, Iran Modern Education Development Center (METANA). (In Persian)
  39. Mistry, J., & Jalal, A. (2012). An empirical analysis of the relationship between e-government and corruption. The International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, 12, 145 – 176.
  40. Moinifar, Mohammad and Zargar Seyyed Mohammad (2018) Evaluation of factors affecting the creation of administrative-financial corruption in organizations. The fourth national conference in management, accounting and economics with an emphasis on regional and global marketing, Tehran, Shahid Beheshti University, permanent secretariat of the conference. (In Persian)
  41. Moradi Saleh, Alireza, Rangriz, Hassan, Hassanpour, Akbar, Abdulahi, Bijan. (2020). Validation of superior organizational climate in Iran's private banks. Productivity Management, 15(3(58), 163-184(In Persian).
  42. Moslehpour, M., Altantsetseg, P.,Mou, W., & Wong, W.K.(2019). Organizational Climate and Work Style: The Missing Links for Sustainability of Leadership and Satisfied Employees. Sustainability, 11(1), 125.
  43. Norinejad, Mohammad Amin (2023) study of administrative transparency and its improvement in reducing administrative corruption, 10th International Conference on Religious and Islamic Studies, Law, Educational Sciences and Psychology, Tehran. (In Persian)
  44. Oye, N.D. (2013). Reducing corruption in African developing countries: The relevance of e-governance. Greener Journal of Social Sciences, 3(1), 006-013.
  45. Ramachandran, P, Pushpa Veni, K., and A. Sebastian Mahimai Raj. (2019), “Teaching Effectiveness of Women Teachers in Relation to Their Emotional Intelligence.” Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities, 6(S1), 143–47.
  46. Rangriz, Hassan; Hassanpour, Akbar; Abdulahi, Bijan; Moradi Saleh, Alireza (2019) Designing a superior organizational climate model, Interdisciplinary Studies of Strategic Knowledge, 10(40), 41-45. (In Persian)
  47. Rao, S., Perry, C., (2003), Convergent interviewing to build a theory in under-researched areas: principles and an example investigation of Internet usage in inter-firm relationships, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 6(4), 236-247.
  48. Shahkooh, K. A., Shahkooh, S. A., Saghafi, F. & Abdollahi, A. (2008). A proposal for corruption reduction in developing countries based on e-government. World Applied Sciences Journal, 4, 01- 07.
  49. Statistics of the Information Technology Executive Council (2020), transparency report of executive bodies, https://www.citna.ir/node/258285 (In Persian)
  50. Tabatabaei, Seyyed Mohammad (2018) The effect of organizational climate on the financial and non-financial aspects of the performance of branches of the provincial centers of Export Development Bank of Iran using the Maltese evaluation model, contemporary researches in management and accounting sciences, 2(7). (In Persian)
  51. The comprehensive reform program of the administrative system (second period) (2017-2019), the second program, the development of electronic government and administrative intelligence, approved by the Supreme Administrative Council of the Government. (In Persian)
  52. Tolbert, P. S. & Hall, R. (2009) Organizitional Structure Process and Outcomes. United State: Pearson Education
  53. Vasudevan, L., & Iqbal, A. (2018). Relationship between organizational climate and citizenship behavior of the non-supervisory staff in Bank Simpanan National, Malaysia. Int. J. Hum. Capital Urban Manage, 3(4), 287-302.
  54. Warren, A. M., Sulaiman, A. & Jaafar, N.I. (2014). Social media effects on fostering online civic engagement and building citizen trust and trust in institutions. Government Information Quarterly, 31(2): 291-301.
  55. Weißmüller, Kristina S., and Zuber, Anna. (2023). “ Understanding the Micro-Foundations of Administrative Corruption in the Public Sector: Findings from a Systematic Literature Review.” Public Administration Review 83(6): 1704–1726.
  56. Welch, E.W. (2012). The relationship between transparent and participative government: A study of local governments in the United States. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 78(1): 93-115.
  57. Xenidis, Yiannis; Kyriakos Theocharous (2014). Organizational Health: Definition and Assessment. Selected papers from Creative Construction Conference 2014. Procedia Engineering , 85(1), 562–570.
  58. Zahrabi Kish, Musa and Badisar, Seyyed Naseruddin. (2019). The role of the general policies of the administrative system announced by the leadership in the prevention of administrative corruption, the first national conference on law, jurisprudence and culture, Shiraz, Payam Noor University, Fars Province, Iran's Modern Education Development Center (METANA) (In Persian)
  59. Zakizadeh, Ismat; Tavasli Naini, Manouchehr and Ahmadi, Mohammad Sadegh (2018) Explaining the principles of transparency and freedom of information as components of good governance in the light of the legal system governing government contracts, private and criminal law, 39, 81-102. (In Persian)
  60. Zamiri, Abdul Hossein; Nasiri, Hamid Reza. (2009) Optimal governance and the role of transparency in its realization, Journal of Legal Research, 52, 173-224. (In Persian)
  61. Zuraik, A. and Kelly, L. (2019), "The role of CEO transformational leadership and innovation climate in exploration and exploitation", European Journal of Innovation Management, 22(1), 84-104.
Public Administration Perspective
Volume 15, Issue 4 - Serial Number 60
2025
Pages 89-111