Title: Similarity based comparison of good governance among the countries of the world and examining Iran's development status

Authors: Mona Ahani; Morteza Mousakhani; Reza Najafbagy; Mohammad Ali Afshar Kazemi

Addresses: Department of Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, 1477893855, Iran ' Department of Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, 1477893855, Iran ' Department of Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, 1477893855, Iran ' Department of Management, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, 1955847781, Iran

Abstract: The study of good governance over the past two decades has been at the forefront of the world's scientific and international circles, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the status of countries based on good governance and determine the ranking of Iran among other countries, using clustering techniques. In order to select an appropriate clustering method and the appropriate number of clusters, the Silhouette coefficient for each K-Means, Two Step and Kohonen method was calculated for the number of different clusters of each. Based on an assessment of these findings, the K-Means 12 cluster method was selected. The research findings show that, among the four countries of the world having common clusters with Iran in terms of the level of human development, Iran ranks among the 'Lowlevel developing countries' and 'Moderate developing countries'. This issue highlights the importance of improving the level of good governance indicators in the country in order to achieve a higher level of development.

Keywords: good governance; World Bank; clustering; K-means; Silhouette.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2020.108748

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2020 Vol.20 No.2, pp.116 - 131

Received: 12 Sep 2018
Accepted: 09 Jan 2019
Published online: 31 Jul 2020 *

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