The Weakness of Social Capital and the Challenge of Bureauphobia in Iran

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Author

Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Accounting, University of Tehran college of Farabi, Qom, Iran

10.22059/jscm.2024.373991.2494

Abstract

Contrary to the importance of citizens' perception and attitude towards the government and its performance, and extensive studies in this field, few studies have dealt with the perception and negative attitude towards the public sector that are not related to the inefficiency of the government. The aim of the current research is to investigate the relationship between bureauphobia and social capital. The research has been conducted in terms of purpose, application and descriptive-correlation method. To conduct the research, the presence of bureauphobia phenomenon and the level of social capital were studied and investigated by surveying citizens through a questionnaire. Then, the relationship between these two variables was analyzed. The research population was all citizens aged 18 to 70 who had visited one of the public sector organizations at least once in the past year. A sample of these individuals was selected using the accessible method and the questionnaire was administered to them. Among these individuals, 412 people completed the research questionnaire, which is sufficient given the unlimited size of the population and based on Morgan's table. The data were analyzed by drawing a consensus table and using the Chi-square test. The results showed that mistrust of the government and public sector employees is not only related to the performance of public services, but also that 29.12 percent of the respondents are afraid of bureaucracy. Also, the results showed that 66.5% had weak social capital. Finally, the results indicated that there is a significant relationship between social capital and bureauphobia. Finally, it can be said that as national cohesion and trust decrease, the negative image that is not the result of the government's performance increases, which has implications for officials and those involved.

Keywords

Main Subjects


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