Designing an fi Performance Evaluation Model for Cultural Organizations Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process: A Case Study of the Cultural Units of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee

Abstract

This study aimed to design a comprehensive, indigenous, and hierarchical model for evaluating and ranking the performance of cultural organizations, with particular application to the provincial cultural units of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee. This applied study employed a quantitative, descriptive-analytical, and survey-based design. The study population consisted of managers, specialists, and experts in cultural management, from whom 30 participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using an indicator-identification questionnaire and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) pairwise-comparison questionnaire. Content validity was confirmed by expert review, and the reliability of the Likert-scale questionnaire was supported by a Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.70. The final hierarchical model comprised nine main criteria, 57 subcriteria, and 31 provincial cultural units. Criteria and subcriteria weights were calculated through pairwise comparisons, whereas provincial alternative weights were derived from objective organizational performance data for 2019. AHP results indicated that “efficiency and quality of counseling and guidance services” (weight = 0.233), “infrastructure affairs” (weight = 0.176), and “coverage and quality of educational services” (weight = 0.135) were the three highest-priority criteria, jointly accounting for more than 54% of the total model weight. The consistency ratio was 0.0107 for the main criteria, ranged from 0.0001 to 0.031 for the subcriteria, and from 0.0001 to 0.089 for the alternatives; all values were below the acceptable threshold of 0.10. In the final ranking, Tehran achieved the highest performance weight (0.0699), whereas Sistan and Baluchestan obtained the lowest (0.0123), indicating a performance gap exceeding 5.6-fold. The proposed model integrates quantitative and qualitative performance indicators within a coherent hierarchical framework and provides a transparent, defensible, and practical instrument for ranking cultural units, identifying strengths and weaknesses, allocating resources more effectively, and implementing data-driven performance management. The model also has the potential to be adapted to other cultural organizations.