نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Objective
This study aims to develop a context-sensitive model of network governance for employment in Iran and to explain the strategic positions of actors, power and dependency relations, their potential for convergence, and the coordination mechanisms among them. The study is grounded in the premise that employment, contrary to single-agency approaches, is not the outcome of the performance of one organization or the implementation of a single policy. Rather, it emerges from the interaction of multiple actors and economic, political, budgetary, production, trade, educational, social, and infrastructural subnetworks.
Methods
In terms of purpose, the study is applied and developmental; in terms of research design, it adopts a multistage exploratory mixed-methods approach with priority given to the qualitative phases. Data were collected through a systematic review of the literature, analysis of upstream policy documents, laws and regulations, the Delphi method, and a structured expert questionnaire. The participants consisted of 17 managers, policymakers, executive experts, and scholars in the fields of employment, the labour market, economic planning, and public governance, selected through purposive and snowball sampling. The initial list of domains, actors, and network objectives was refined and validated through two Delphi rounds. The MACTOR strategic actor analysis method was then used to examine direct and indirect influence and dependence, the relative power of actors, their positions toward the objectives, and their potential for convergence and coalition formation. In the final stage, the MACTOR findings were integrated with theoretical, documentary, and expert evidence.
Results
Iran’s employment governance network consists of 12 institutional subnetworks whose actors occupy four strategic positions: driving, linkage, dependent, and low-interaction. The security–political and anti-smuggling subnetwork and the revenue and budget subnetwork occupy driving positions and have greater capacity to shape the behaviour of other parts of the network. The subnetworks for employment network policymaking and planning, economic affairs, trade, investment, and production and services occupy linkage and intermediary positions and can transmit or amplify the effects of the driving domains across the network. The subnetworks for resource management and productivity, and civil and technical infrastructure are positioned as low-interaction actors, whereas the education, research and innovation; labour–employer–government relations; and social–cultural subnetworks are classified as dependent actors. The analysis of actors’ positions further showed that all 12 subnetworks held positive positions toward the overarching employment objectives, although their levels of strategic mobilisation were not equal. This pattern points to a gap between normative convergence at the level of objectives and operational coordination in terms of resource allocation, acceptance of responsibility, and changes in organizational procedures. The convergence analysis also indicated the potential formation of security–economic–budgetary and economic–production coalitions. By integrating the findings, a six-layer model was developed, comprising the nature and context of the problem, influential domains, actors and subnetworks, power and dependency relations, governance mechanisms, and expected outcomes. The model’s principal mechanisms include network leadership, horizontal and vertical coordination, institutional division of labour, a shared data and monitoring system, network accountability, conflict management, institutionalized stakeholder participation, and policy learning.
Conclusion
Formal responsibility for employment is not aligned with the actual power and resources held by actors within the network. Therefore, the central problem of the employment system is not the absence of a formally designated authority, but rather the weakness of mechanisms for governing relationships among actors who control the resources, authority, and instruments that shape employment outcomes. Moving from an agency-centred logic to network governance requires redefining the role of the Supreme Employment Council as a cross-sectoral steering hub, aligning responsibility with authority and resources, strengthening the participation of dependent actors, and establishing shared mechanisms for accountability, monitoring, and learning. Meeting these requirements can provide the institutional foundation for promoting sustainable, high-quality, and balanced employment.
کلیدواژهها English
