Strategic Modeling of the Corruption in the Oil Industry of Iran: An Application of System Dynamic Approach

The oil industry is the most important source of government revenue and acts a commanding power in the economy, and due to the strategic importance, high volume of transactions in the industry, the concentration of revenue flows in one point, the complexity and natural monopolies in the industry, it is quite vulnerable against corruption. This research is aimed modeling and simulating the strategic problem of corruption in the oil industry to develop policies for controlling corruption in a twenty year horizon. To this end, using the system dynamics approach, the complexity variables of the corruption problem as to the oil industry system were identified in the form of feedback loops in accordance with Parsons' theory of systems. After initial simulation of the model, considering the existing situation, the development of anti-corruption strategies and policies in the oil industry has been addressed. Three strategies, including reducing the opportunities for corruption in the oil industry, reducing the demand for corruption in the oil industry, and increasing the capacity to fight corruption, as well as combined policies, were investigated. The results of the policy implementation for each strategy were analyzed, and a combination of three strategies was presented as the best anti-corruption policy in the oil industry of Iran.