Drawing the Cause-Effect Relationships Among the Components of Meritophobia Within the Public Organizations’ Culture (Based on the Viewpoint of Organizational Experts)

The main purpose of this study was determining the cause-effect relationships among the components of meritophobia within the public organizations’ culture based on the viewpoint of organizational experts. The study at hand was an exploratory mixed-methods research project. In the qualitative phase of the study, the thematic analysis, and in the quantitative phase, the Fuzzy DEMATEL method was used. Data triangulation was used to examine the validity of the instrument, and interrater and test-retest reliability measures were employed for reliability checking.  The statistical population in the quantitative phase were the experts and managers of Tehran city public organizations who were familiar with meritophobia issue. In this section, 14 participants were selected using snowball sampling. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population were 10 experts. The data collection instruments were semi-structured interviews in the qualitative phase and questionnaire in the quantitative phase. The findings of the qualitative phase showed that overall, 8 factors – including toxic organizational atmosphere, political biases of the managers, administrative corruption, deviations from law, human resource challenges, inconsideration of meritocracy system, the sick structure of the society, and the dominant culture at workplace – were identified as the factors forming meritophobia. The sick structure of the society, the dominant culture at workplace, organizational corruption, and deviations from law affect other variables more, and the inconsideration of meritocracy system is highly influenced by other factors. Culture is the most important tool that can prevent meritophobia in organizations. Attention to cultural ground-setting in the societies and organizations paves the way for the institutionalization of meritocracy system in organizations.