The Evolution of Sound Governance in the Context of Public Policy Making: Utilizing a Grounded Theory Approach

In recent years, there have been increasing concerns about political issues in the governance debate. Different countries are required to establish sound governance in order to develop and improve their conditions. Sound governance is the newest type of governance that strives to improve the capacity of the government, people and various institutions to solve problems and create development. The main purpose of the current research is to investigate and identify the dimensions, components and indicators of sound governance in the context of public policy, which is investigated using the qualitative approach of the grounded theory. The current research is basic and the research method used in it is qualitative. Its participants are experts from academic fields and government organizations who have several years of scientific and executive experience in this field. These people were identified and interviewed using the purposeful sampling method, and according to the rule of theoretical saturation, 12 experts participated in semi-structured interviews, whose statements were categorized in the form of propositions, and used for analysis in the next steps. Each of the propositions were categorized according to the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin in the form of 103 open codes, 39 central codes and 10 selective codes. From the results of the present research, it can be pointed out the important role of sound governance in creating innovative and new forms of collective action with the aim of solving complex public policy issues, contributing to public knowledge, providing effective public services, sustainable development, citizen-oriented, etc. There are a set of results from the evolution of sound governance in the context of public policy.