Designing a Citizen Participation Model in Good Corporate Governance in Iran's Water and Wastewater Companies (A Qualitative Approach)

Ghasemi Ghale, Keramat; Rabiee Mandajin, Mohammad Reza; Momeni, Mandan

doi:10.22112/jwwse.2026.568854.1478

Designing a Citizen Participation Model in Good Corporate Governance in Iran's Water and Wastewater Companies (A Qualitative Approach)

Articles in Press

Authors

Keramat Ghasemi Ghale ¹

Mohammad Reza Rabiee Mandajin ¹

Mandan Momeni ²

¹ Department of Public Management, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Department of Business Management, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22112/jwwse.2026.568854.1478

Abstract

Good corporate governance is a fundamental requirement for improving productivity, transparency and accountability in companies, particularly in Iran's water and wastewater sector, which faces water stress. Yet no context-specific model exists at the corporate level of this industry. This study aimed to design a model of citizen participation in good corporate governance in Iran's water and wastewater companies. A qualitative approach was adopted, using thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke's six phases and Attride-Stirling's thematic network technique. Data came from semi-structured interviews with 12 academic experts and senior managers, selected by purposive sampling, until theoretical saturation; trustworthiness was assessed using Lincoln and Guba's criteria. The analysis yielded 135 basic themes, 18 organizing themes and four global themes: political-legal, cultural-social, economic and scientific-educational. Transparency, accountability, distributive justice, social trust, innovation and digital transformation, participation in decision-making, citizen oversight and social responsibility constitute the main categories of the model. The thematic network shows that the political-legal dimension acts as an enabler, the scientific-educational as a capacity builder, the cultural-social as a mediator, and the economic as an incentive. The model can inform participatory policies and the inclusion of a participation index in managerial performance appraisal.

Keywords

Citizen participation

Good corporate governance

Thematic analysis

Thematic network

Iran&rsquo

s water and wastewater companies