5. Municipal administration culture
Jordanian social structure impacts significantly on municipalities'
decisions. The municipalities sector has its own internal culture
that reflects the attitudes of managers towards research and
knowledge. In this research, municipal administration culture refers
to three dimensions including the relationship between
administration and researchers, awareness and resistance to
change.
In order to link knowledge with decision making the relationship
between administration and researchers is crucial
. Municipal administration culture
plays an important role in developing the norms and values that
help to use research and knowledge in the decision making
process.
The use of research begins when the decision maker becomes
aware of the role of knowledge in providing a framework to direct
decisions. found that awareness leads to decision
makers seeking scientific products and research that offer the
most appropriate information for them. According to
research is not commonly used in Jordanian urban planning
and management and awareness of research quality is low.
This could potentially lead to the use of poorly conducted research
with questionable findings, with consequent decisions being based
on flawed data.
Resistance to change is also a potential barrier to the use of
research in the decision making process. In Jordanian municipalities
regulations and self-experience are the main basis of decision
making and the use of a new strategy might generate a certain
amount of resistance . Unless this issue is addressed