Abstract



In today’s complex and dynamic environments, public organizations—particularly in the cultural sector—require the establishment of an effective succession planning system to maintain leadership continuity, transfer institutional knowledge, and achieve their strategic goals. Empowering senior managers, as an internal driver of leadership development, is considered a primary prerequisite for successful succession planning. Despite its significance, the lack of a coherent and indigenous model systematically linking executive empowerment with the succession planning process in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance was identified as a critical gap. The objective of the present study is to design an indigenous model for senior executives’ empowerment in order to strengthen the succession planning system in this ministry. In terms of purpose, this is an applied-developmental study, and in terms of approach, it is qualitative, employing a Design Science Research (DSR) strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 16 senior managers and human resource experts within the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, selected via purposive and snowball sampling methods until theoretical saturation was reached. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings led to the extraction of 11 main themes and 68 sub-themes, culminating in the design of a six-layer model consisting of: contexts and conditions, actions and policies, the empowerment process, future managers’ competencies, outputs, and the ultimate outcome. The proposed model can serve as a foundation for human resource policymaking, promoting meritocracy, and strengthening the succession planning system in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as well as in similar cultural organizations.