Policy making Capacity Determinants in the Public Sector of Iran: A mixed Study

Policy capacity is defined as the ability of the government to develop or create "quality policy options" by combining and exploiting institutional and organizational resources to achieve goals. The goal is to improve policy capacity, help the government to intelligently identify national issues, set up strong agendas, and formulate and implement effective policies. In this research, based on the exploratory mixed method research, firstly, the components and elements of the policy-making capacity within the executive branch of the country were first examined through interviews with government officials of the tenth and eleventh cabinet and then they were asked to express the key determinants of policy capacity. According to the grounded theory, the text of the interviews was reviewed several times and many concepts were identified as determinant of policy capacity. In several reciprocating processes, these concepts were identified in four categories: "institutional factors", "policy capabilities" "policy-making infrastructures" and "participatory environmental interactions". In the second phase, the qualitative exploratory model was tested through a questionnaire in several ministries. The results of confirmatory factor analysis and regression models in the form of structural equation modeling in AMOS graph 18 indicate that the model is fitted with observed data.