Background & Purpose: The process of rebuilding trust involves an entity's effort to restore trust after an incident of breach (i.e., untrustworthy behavior). Given that the issue of distrust in government organizations has become a significant problem and should be seriously addressed, this research aimed to identify the factors of rebuilding lost trust in government organizations in Lorestan province using the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (IFCM) method.
Methodology: This research is exploratory (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of method and applied in terms of objective. The statistical population of the research includes university professors, managers, and employees of government organizations. 25 of them were selected based on the principle of theoretical saturation and using purposive sampling. The data collection tools in the qualitative part of the research included a review of theoretical literature and semi-structured interviews, and in the quantitative part, a questionnaire. The validity and reliability of these tools were assessed through content validity, theoretical validity, and inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, using Cohen's Kappa test. Furthermore, the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed using content validity and test-retest reliability. In the qualitative section, using thematic analysis and coding processes, factors for rebuilding trust in government organizations were identified. Then, in the quantitative section, using the IFCM method, the factors for rebuilding trust in government organizations were prioritized in terms of importance using a fuzzy cognitive map.
Findings: The qualitative findings include identified factors for rebuilding trust, such as: institutionalizing ethical values, proactive reinforcement and punishment mechanisms, standardizing administrative services, creating a space for dialogue, transparency, enhancing management skills, verifying professional qualifications, establishing the rule of law and its requirements, developing a comprehensive responsive system, and strategic intelligence. In the quantitative section, the factors of transparency, creating a space for dialogue, establishing the rule of law and its requirements, institutionalizing ethical values, and strategic intelligence were identified as the most important factors, respectively, in terms of importance.
Conclusion: Attention to the identified factors and their effective implementation can be considered as comprehensive solutions for rebuilding and strengthening trust in government organizations. By adopting an integrated and coordinated approach in this area, it is possible to improve performance and increase the effective participation of employees in organizational processes.