Omid Ramezani; Alireza Kooshki Jahromi; Mir Ali Seyyed Naghavi; Hossein Aslipour
Abstract
Behavioral insights influence citizens’ beliefs, awareness, and behaviors, enabling alignment of individual actions with broader public policies, and their systematic application can improve management and reduce drinking water consumption. This study aimed to develop a conceptual framework based ...
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Behavioral insights influence citizens’ beliefs, awareness, and behaviors, enabling alignment of individual actions with broader public policies, and their systematic application can improve management and reduce drinking water consumption. This study aimed to develop a conceptual framework based on behavioral insights to enhance and manage drinking water use. The research employed a descriptive–exploratory approach with a qualitative strategy, collecting data through semi-structured interviews with experts and analysis of laws, upstream documents, and policy reports. The participants included university faculty members and managers from the water and wastewater and regional water organizations in Mashhad, selected using purposive non-probability sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data collection instruments included an interview protocol based on the nine dimensions of the MINDSPACE behavioral insights model and a document analysis framework, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis following the approach of Braun and Clarke. The findings indicated that the various dimensions of the MINDSPACE model—including messenger, incentives, norms, defaults, salience, priming, affect, commitment, and self-identity—can play a role in shaping drinking water consumers’ behavior through distinct behavioral mechanisms and logics. Ultimately, the resulting conceptual framework clarified how behavioral insights can be systematically and effectively applied in managing drinking water use and provides a practical basis for designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioral policies and programs in water demand management.
Hadi Khanmohamadi; Hamidreza Damiri
Abstract
The present study aims to explain and systematize policy discourse, a field that has become one of the main streams of policy analysis after the argumentative turn and the expansion of interpretive approaches. Despite the extensive capacities of discourse approaches such as critical discourse analysis, ...
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The present study aims to explain and systematize policy discourse, a field that has become one of the main streams of policy analysis after the argumentative turn and the expansion of interpretive approaches. Despite the extensive capacities of discourse approaches such as critical discourse analysis, narrative-centric policy, and discursive institutionalism, the existing literature still faces conceptual fragmentation and the lack of a comprehensive picture of the components of policy discourse. Therefore, the study, using the scoping review method and examining scientific sources, has extracted the fundamental components of policy discourse and explained its main mechanisms, and has conducted an analytical critique of each of the identified dimensions. The findings show that policy discourse is not merely a linguistic layer, but rather a mechanism for meaning-making, problem representation, narrative construction, organization of semantic alliances, exercise of power, and institutionalization in the policy-making process. Discourse operates within social and institutional contexts and shapes policymakers’ perceptions and interpretations through tools such as framing, argumentation, and discursive action. The research concludes that policy discourse analysis is a powerful tool for understanding the relationship between meaning, power, and action, and can play a role in improving the decision-making process and developing more equitable policies.
Mohamadreza Molayari; Hassan Danaeefard; Ehsan Soltanifar
Abstract
This study, grounded in the philosophy of Critical Realism and employing the three-stage logic of abduction-retroduction-causal modeling, explores the institutional structures that influence the chronic phenomenon of cargo congestion in Iranian ports. From a purely commercial perspective, this phenomenon ...
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This study, grounded in the philosophy of Critical Realism and employing the three-stage logic of abduction-retroduction-causal modeling, explores the institutional structures that influence the chronic phenomenon of cargo congestion in Iranian ports. From a purely commercial perspective, this phenomenon equals a slowdown in the flow of imports and customs clearance. At the level of reality, however, it represents the outcome of hidden causal forces and reverse synergies among the currency, customs, regulatory and logistics domains manifested as a persistent pattern of organizational inefficiency. Qualitative field and documentary analyses conducted at Shahid Rajaee Port through systematic coding led to the identification of six recurring demi-regs: structural entanglement of monetarycustoms systems, bureaucratic circulation of permits and systemic delay, mission overlap and supervisory duplication, regulatory path dependence, opportunistic behavior of importers and logistical misalignment of the transport chain. These institutional mechanisms operate within a web of mutual feedbacks, producing a closed cycle of delay, waiting and extension that has itself become a generative force in the formation of cargo congestion. Retroduction revealed that these demi-regs are fed by deeper, fundamental causal clusters namely fragmented governance, defensive bureaucratic culture, structural economic instability and the historical pressure of sanctions. These intertwined clusters transform the decision-making system of foreign trade from a coordinating to a defensive mode, imposing the logic of “survival over efficiency” upon institutional complexity. Based on this analysis, cargo congestion is not an operational incident but a symptom of institutional functional erosion in logistical and border chokepoints, leading to the decline of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), rising transaction costs and weakening of national transit competitiveness. The final model of the research illustrates a causal-structural network in which the dynamics of cargo congestion emerge from the enduring interplay between underlying forces and actualized institutional mechanisms. Breaking this cycle requires intervention at the real layer through reintegrating institutional islands, internalizing intersectoral trust and reconfiguring the logic of policy coordination.
Ebrahim Javaherizadeh; Fatemeh GhasemiBanabari
Abstract
The aim of the research was to design and validate a tool to measure client satisfaction at Qom University. The research was applied in terms of orientation and has a mixed methodology (qualitative, quantitative). The research community in the qualitative phase and in the library section included research ...
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The aim of the research was to design and validate a tool to measure client satisfaction at Qom University. The research was applied in terms of orientation and has a mixed methodology (qualitative, quantitative). The research community in the qualitative phase and in the library section included research related to the subject and upstream documents, and in the field section, focus groups consisting of 30 experts. Also, the research community in the quantitative phase was service recipients (students and faculty members) at Qom University. The data collection tools in the qualitative phase were through library studies, upstream document analysis, conversation and discussion in focus groups, and in the quantitative phase, questionnaires. The sampling method in the qualitative section was purposive and in the quantitative section, simple random. The sample size in the quantitative section was obtained using the Cochran formula and 366 questionnaires were completed by service recipients. The data in the qualitative phase were analyzed using the theme analysis method, and to complete this process, the opinions of experts in the form of focus groups were used. The content validity of the scale provided was examined by experts; also, exploratory factor analysis was used to obtain the construct validity of the instrument. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed by examining the Cronbach's alpha value. Based on the research findings, the prepared instrument has the components of "interaction", "efficiency", "physical", and "accessibility", which consist of 24 items. The interaction component indicates the quality of human interactions such as attention, empathy, and openness. The efficiency component indicates the transparency and effectiveness of service delivery processes and adherence to work commitments. The physical component is related to the environmental conditions and the cleanliness of service providers, and the accessibility component covers the dimensions of in-person and offline access.
Zahra Momeni moradi; Khosruo Azizi
Abstract
The present study investigated the mediating effect of job satisfaction and self-efficacy on the relationship between proactive personality and proactive work behavior. The study was conducted on the public services of Tehran, with a statistical population of all public service employees (n=2891). A ...
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The present study investigated the mediating effect of job satisfaction and self-efficacy on the relationship between proactive personality and proactive work behavior. The study was conducted on the public services of Tehran, with a statistical population of all public service employees (n=2891). A simple random sampling method was used to select 340 employees as the sample using the Cochran formula. The data collection tool was a combined researcher-designed questionnaire consisting of the MacCluskey (1974) Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Swank et al. (2019) Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and the Podsakoff et al. (1990) Work and Organizational Behavior Questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the instrument have been confirmed in various studies. SmartPLS software was used to analyze the data. The results showed that proactive personality had a significant positive effect on proactive work behavior through job satisfaction (path coefficient = 0.72, t-score = 9.86) and self-efficacy (path coefficient = 0.60, t-score = 19.9). Additionally, proactive personality positively influenced proactive work behavior (t-score = 6.19), work behavior (t-score = 6.89), self-efficacy (t-score = 9.19), job satisfaction (t-score = 31.2), and work behavior through self-efficacy (t-score = 9.65).
AliAsghar Abdeshahi; Armita Sharipour Shirazi
