ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic cast doubts on governments' traditional crisis responses and sparked a surge in citizen-led, participatory, bottom-up responses. Iran's experience is worth investigating because it relied significantly on citizen groups to manage the crisis despite long-term sanctions and extremely restricted resources. The authors undertook an exploratory case study using the grounded theory (GT) method and an online survey to explore Iran's confrontation. The central notion discovered was referred to as 'faith-driven civic engagement.’ The response was characterized by adaptability, promptness, and comprehensiveness. The causes and strategic orientations included intrinsic motives, capability building, and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Public Organization Review is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)