Identification of Regional Leadership Indicators of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran has been having a privileged status in the West Asia countries, notably in the region in terms of history, culture, and political geography. As the regional leader, today, the Islamic Republic of Iran has the potentials and indices of leadership to develop Iran's outward depth .The present article aims at identifying and introducing the Islamic Republic of Iran's indicators of regional leadership. The current research is of fundamental type and mixed research method, where the indicators of regional leadership have been identified using Delphi method, and its validity has been established by using exploratory factor analysis with its main elements and with orthogonal rotation of Varimax type. The statistical population in the present research is full enumeration sampling method comprising of the entire academic elite in the field of regional studies and public management as well as the managers and researchers working in research centers who were selected using purposive sampling method. In order to identify the indicators in relation to regional leadership, it addresses, in the first stage, to develop a regional leadership scale by reviewing the theoretical fundamentals and the researches previously conducted. In the second stage, it comes to improve the indicators enumerated in the research literature by referring to the elite and conducting semi-structured interviews. Finally, in the third stage, an exploratory factor analysis was used in order to determine which indicators of leadership constitute the main leadership elements, as well as to establish the relations between the indicators. The Islamic Republic of Iran's regional leadership indicators include five elements, namely internal energy, top regulations, capable executives, armed forces and population with science, technology, economy and interactions (how much they have an influence on nations) also with twelve indicators. It appears, based on the results and findings of the research, that the Islamic Republic of Iran's outward depth will likely be developed through identifying, practicing and continuing the indicators of regional leadership. The objective body of samples and extensions provided in this research substantiate this hypothesis.