Journal of Iranian Public Administration Studies

Journal of Iranian Public Administration Studies

Identifying the Dimensions of an Integrity-Based Administrative System: A Policy and Legislative Framework Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Niloufar Mozafari 1
Qasemali Jamali 2
Hossein Jamour 3
1 Researcher at the Islamic Parliament Research Center (IPRC), PhD student in Human Resource Management, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
2 PhD in Human Resource Management, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
3 PhD candidate in Business Policy Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, and Researcher at Islamic Parliament Research Center (IPRC), Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jipas.2025.512193.1784
Abstract
Purpose: The administrative system serves as the primary engine for national development, playing a vital role in executing macro-policies and realizing governance objectives. However, evidence indicates that despite the existence of numerous laws and rich upstream documents in Iran, serious challenges persist. The central problem addressed in this research is the profound gap between policy design and its actual implementation within the country's executive body. Many administrative reforms have failed due to the absence of a coherent model rooted in indigenous legal requirements. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to identify, explain, and extract the fundamental components of a health-oriented administrative system based directly on the country's policy and legislative framework. This study attempts to move beyond purely theoretical or imported models to provide a normative and operational framework extracted directly from current laws and macro-documents, possessing enforceability and legal accountability.
Methodology: In terms of purpose, this research is applied, and regarding its nature and method, it is descriptive-analytical. Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) was employed for data collection and analysis. The statistical population and research sources encompass all upstream documents, parent laws, and general policies related to the administrative system and anti-corruption measures in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The most significant documents examined include the "Constitution," "20-Year Vision Document (Horizon 1404)," "General Policies of the Administrative System," "General Policies of Resistance Economy," "The Supreme Leader's Eight-Article Decree," "Civil Service Management Law," "Law on Promotion of Administrative System Health and Countering Corruption," "Law on Transparency of the Three Branches," "The 7th Development Plan," and executive bylaws related to administrative offenses and the promotion of professional ethics. In this process, legal texts were meticulously studied, and themes related to administrative health were coded and categorized to formulate the final comprehensive model.
Findings: The findings derived from a deep analysis of upstream documents demonstrated that achieving administrative system health depends on simultaneous and balanced attention to 10 fundamental axes (macro-dimensions) and 31 sub-components. These ten axes are: Infrastructure Building: Creating electronic infrastructures, integrated databases (such as the taxpayers' system), and smartening processes to eliminate corruption bottlenecks. Accountability: Obligating agencies to respond to citizen complaints, establishing operational budgeting systems, and ensuring managerial accountability for decisions. Rule of Law: Emphasizing the deterrence of penalties, managing conflicts of interest, and implementing laws without discrimination across all management levels. Achievement-Orientation: This component, a novelty of the current research, indicates that laws emphasize "result-orientation"; meaning managers' evaluations must be based on tangible outputs, productivity, and public satisfaction levels. Transparency: Free citizen access to information, public publication of contracts, tenders, and managers' salaries to create a "glass room" environment in public management. Culture Building: Institutionalizing professional ethics, teaching Islamic and human values, and compiling ethical charters to transform employee attitudes. Anti-Corruption: A proactive approach to identifying corruption bottlenecks, legal protection for whistleblowers, and the recovery of illegitimate assets. Efficiency: Streamlining the government structure, reforming complex processes, eliminating "golden signatures" (exclusive approval privileges), and developing e-government. Participation: Utilizing public oversight capacities, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and employee participation in decision-making. Monitoring: Strengthening internal and external oversight, continuous inspections, and utilizing technology for real-time performance monitoring.
Conclusion: The practical and theoretical implications of this research indicate that Iran's legislative system possesses the full capacity to establish a healthy administrative system, and the primary challenge lies in the absence of a systemic perspective during implementation. A key conclusion is that administrative health is not one-dimensional; focusing solely on "monitoring" or "punishment" without attention to "infrastructure building" and "culture building" will be ineffective. One of the most significant implications of this study is highlighting the "Achievement-Orientation" dimension, meaning that administrative health equates to efficiency and effective service delivery. The model derived from this research suggests to policymakers and executive managers that to improve administrative health, they must place the transition from pure process-orientation to transparent result-orientation on their agenda. Furthermore, as a legal basis, this model provides a powerful tool for supervisory bodies to measure and assess the performance of agencies based on the obligations explicitly stated in upstream documents across each of these ten axes.
Keywords
Integrity
Administrative Integrity
Law
Qualitative Document Analysis
Upstream Documents
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  • Receive Date 13 March 2025
  • Revise Date 12 June 2025
  • Accept Date 02 July 2025