Study of administrative corruption and its contexts in Tehran Municipality and presenting an exploratory model

Studying and understanding the causes, processes, indicators and consequences of administrative corruption and ways to deal with this phenomenon is an undeniable necessity for the administrative system. In municipalities, corruption is considered as one of the important issues of urban management. The purpose of this research is to find a model to explain the causes of administrative corruption in Tehran Municipality. Administrative corruption was studied with inductive approach and grounded theory method and semi-structured interview tool. In this regard, interviews were conducted with 30 managers and experts in the field of administrative corruption, and after performing open coding, central coding and selective coding, 12 main concepts and 44 areas of administrative corruption in Tehran municipality were identified. Finally, the paradigmatic model, the causal conditions, the intervening conditions and the underlying conditions of the occurrence of administrative corruption in Tehran Municipality were explained. The causes of corruption can be investigated at two levels, namely organizational structure and organizational environment and bureaucratic activism. The factors and axes identified that are the cause of the occurrence of administrative corruption in the municipality are all gathered around a more general concept that has created a suitable platform for the emergence of these areas, and that is the concept of "corrupt organizational structure". The "corrupt organizational structure" has finally caused the creation of a culture of corruption in Tehran Municipality, which results in the reproduction of corruption in the organizational context of Tehran Municipality.