Identifying the factors affecting regional inequality in Iran

Regional inequality as one of the existing forms of inequality is one of the issues in the system of opportunity and its presence / absence and intensity / weakness has an important effect on the order and cohesion of society at different levels and dimensions. This is a serious problem, especially in developing countries. Due to the importance of this issue, this study seeks to identify the factors affecting regional inequality in Iran. The present study is a descriptive-exploratory study and the statistical population of the study consists of experts familiar with the issue of inequality and development of regions in Iran. Snowball, 10 of them were selected as a statistical sample of the study. Also, Content analysis, structural-interpretive modeling (ISM) and MICMAC analysis were also used to analyze the data. The results showed that out of 47 initially identified factors, 14 factors, including factors of poor planning, decisions of managers and planners and poor access to facilities and equipment, in calculating content validity, CVR coefficient above 0.75 and were recognized as the final factors of regional inequality. Also, the leveling of factors showed that the relevant factors can be classified into six levels. The factors of unique resources and capabilities were at the lowest level with 29% subscription and the factors of government centralism and inefficiency were at the highest level with 90% and 91% subscription. Their classification also showed that the factors of manpower constraint (with influence 10 and degree of dependence 5), lack of financial and investment resources (with influence 8 and degree of dependence 7) and lack of attention to research (with influence 13 and the degree of dependence 5) are the key factors of regional inequality and have a great impact on inequality.