National Corruption Research Articles

Research on the Influence of Village Carders on the Standardized Management System of Village-Level Affairs – Based on the Investigation and Analysis of District L, Y City, Shandong Province, China

Chinese anti-corruption struggle has achieved phased victory, the national corruption governance center has gradually moved down, and the issue of "micro-corruption" of village cadres has attracted widespread attention from the political, practical and academic circles. The standardized management system of village-level affairs is promoted and implemented nationwide as an institutional arrangement for regulating the power of village cadres and combating corruption. However, in the actual implementation process, there are problems such as passive implementation and even resistance to implementation by village cadres. The study took the L District of Y City, Shandong Province as an example, and found that the village cadres did not implement the corresponding standardized management system. The factors affecting the implementation of the standardized management system of the village cadres were investigated from the three-dimensional perspective of motivation, ability, and pressure, and then reasonable policy recommendations were put forward. Aims to give better play to the effectiveness of standardized systems.

Natural Resources, Governance, and Corruption

: In efforts to explain the resource curse, researchers have examined the connection between the resource curse and national corruption. Because being relatively rich in natural resources may encourage rent-seeking behavior, some have speculated that the root cause of the curse might be corruption rather than an abundance of natural resources. The evidence is mixed. This article turns the question around and asks, given political, cultural, institutional, and economic influences, whether there is a statistical relationship between resource abundance and corruption. The focus is on the interaction of autocratic governance and resource abundance. The results suggest that the rents on natural resources alone are not a strong cause of corruption. There is evidence that natural resources combined with autocratic governance influences corruption but, after controlling for other influences the relationship is not strong and the results are sensitive to the way that corruption is operationalized. Meanwhile, several non-resource variables including, larger government, more competition, political stability, and business freedom do seem to reduce national corruption. The study is based on 125 nations using average 2012–2016 variable values.

Cultural Values, National Personality Characteristics, and Intelligence as Correlates of Corruption: A Nation Level Analysis

Research on national corruption has mostly focused on economics and politics of corruption, whereas cultural factors and especially national personality characteristics have attracted less attention. In the present study, the influence of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Schwartz’s values, Eysenckian personality factors, and national IQ on Corruption Perception Index scores were studied by using aggregated data. Regression analysis results showed that EPQ Lie scores, Hofstede's power distance, and masculinity, as well as Schwartz's hierarchy, mastery, and harmony, were positively, and individualism and intelligence negatively related to corruption. The effects of cultural values on corruption were mostly mediated by income. The effect of individualism on corruption was moderated by income so that individualism was negatively related to corruption in countries with lower income. The results suggest that cultural factors should be taken into account in corruption studies and anti-corruption policies.

National corruption and international banking

This paper identifies national corruption as a determinant of international banking. Using total international banking claims of 21 countries from worldwide borrowers, at the bilateral lender-borrower level, we document that when lender countries are less corrupt than borrower countries, international banking volume tends to be higher between countries with similar corruption levels. In contrast, when lender countries are more corrupt than borrower countries, corruption difference has no significant impact on international banking volume, because relatively more corrupt lenders perceive relatively less corrupt borrowers as generally creditworthy. The effect of corruption difference weakened during the 2007–2009 financial crisis, but subsequently regained its precrisis strength among the relatively less corrupt lenders while gaining new force among relatively more corrupt lenders.

Diffusion theory, national corruption and IFRS adoption around the world

International financial reporting standards (IFRS) have been widely adopted around the world. However, while there is a lot of evidence on the economic consequences of IFRS adoption (e.g. foreign direct investments; development of financial markets; financial accounting quality; access to capital; and stock market liquidity), especially at the firm-level, few studies examine the national factors that may impede or facilitate the adoption of IFRS at the country-level. This paper seeks to make two new contributions to the extant international accounting literature by examining the influence of national corruption on the (i) speed and (ii) extent of IFRS adoption around the world. Relying on Rogers’s (1962) theory on diffusions of innovation (i.e. Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards), this study uses data relating to 89 non-European Union countries over the 2003–2014 period. Our proposition is based on theoretical and empirical evidence that suggests that country-level IFRS adoption decisions are a function of a country’s institutional environment, including the level of corruption. The findings show that the level (control) of corruption is negatively (positively) associated with a country’s (i) speed and (ii) extent of IFRS adoption.

Catch me if you care: International development organizations and national corruption

Many international development organizations (IDOs) have officially mandated anti-corruption criteria for aid selectivity. Substantial debate remains over whether corruption deters aid and whether anti-corruption rules are effectively implemented. We argue that the extent to which both corruption and anti-corruption mandates factor into IDO allocation depends on the composition of the donors. Using existing data on corruption alongside newly collected data on anti-corruption mandates, we demonstrate that organizations composed of corrupt donors are just as likely to adopt, but less likely to enforce, anti-corruption mandates. Organizations composed of less corrupt donors, by contrast, tend to divert aid away from corrupt states, with or without formal anti-corruption rules in place. The findings have implications for the debate over whether international efforts to institutionalize “good governance” standards are sincere or cheap talk, whether multilateral strategies are in fact less politicized than bilateral aid allocation strategies, and whether international organizations should be inclusive, open to membership by many or even all states, including those with dubious track records.

Nigeria’s Hegemony in West Africa – Counting the Cost

The aim of this study is to examine Nigeria’s hegemony in West Africa and its implications on Nigeria’s national core development programmes. This is done via critical examination of some selected regional and national development indicators with a view to fi nd ways of improving the overall national performance as signifi cant contribution to regional development. On political impact, the study found that successive Nigerian governments were engrossed in unprecedented national corruption than development, diverting billions of dollars meant for national development in the guise of national security, regional peacekeeping, humanitarian intervention and socio-economic development of the sub region. The consequences of such political ineptitude were widespread: failed leadership, clientelism, rentierism, political apathy, escalating national insecurity, wide-spread poverty and unemployment and poor macroeconomic development. Overall, the study opines that Nigeria should shore up greater commitment and responsibility towards her national and human capital development, massively improve the infrastructure, reorientate both military and political elites to ensure integral national growth, overhaul her regional and foreign policy goals to meet her national interest goals as true catalyst for regional development.

Corruption & Bank Profitability: Understanding Sustainable Financial Inclusiveness in ECOWAS Region

This study examines the effects of corruption on banks profitability and the impact this may have on banks effectiveness in achieving their role in economic development through organizational inclusiveness. Using a dynamic panel model of all the commercial banks in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the study deepens our understanding of how institutional and regional contexts impact on organizational inclusiveness. The study reports a significant positive relationship between the perception of the level of national corruption and banks profitability. The study suggests that the control of corruption is important in reducing financial exclusion and enhances financial market development in Africa.

African elephant poaching rates correlate with local poverty, national corruption and global ivory price

Poaching is contributing to rapid declines in elephant populations across Africa. Following high-profile changes in the political environment, the overall number of illegally killed elephants in Africa seems to be falling, but to evaluate potential conservation interventions we must understand the processes driving poaching rates at local and global scales. Here we show that annual poaching rates in 53 sites strongly correlate with proxies of ivory demand in the main Chinese markets, whereas between-country and between-site variation is strongly associated with indicators of corruption and poverty. Our analysis reveals a recent decline in annual poaching mortality rate from an estimated peak of over 10% in 2011 to <4% in 2017. Based on these findings, we suggest that continued investment in law enforcement could further reduce poaching, but is unlikely to succeed without action that simultaneously reduces ivory demand and tackles corruption and poverty.

Market and Network Corruption

Economists tend to reduce all corruption to impersonal market-like transactions, ignoring the role of social ties in shaping corruption. In this paper, we show that this simplification substantially limits the understanding of corruption. We distinguish between market corruption (impersonal bribery), and network (or parochial) corruption which is conditional on the social connections between bureaucrats and private agents. We argue, both theoretically and empirically, that these types of corruption have different qualities. Using data from the Life in Transition Survey (LiTS) which covers all post-socialist countries we show, first, that the correlation between market and network corruption is weak, which implies that ignoring network corruption leads not only to an underestimation of the overall scale of corruption but also biases national corruption rankings. Secondly, in line with theoretical expectations, we find that network corruption is more persistent over time, less related to contemporary national socio-economic and institutional characteristics and has stronger historical roots than market corruption. Yet, network corruption, unlike bribery, is not able to ‘grease the wheels’ and is not associated with political instability. Lastly, we show that the decline in bribery which was observed in almost all post-socialist countries in the period from 2010 to 2016 was accompanied by rising network corruption in many of them, which has important policy implications.

The Impact of Culture on Corruption, Gross Domestic Product, and Human Development

The evidence of culture’s impact on corruption and its consequences is still inconclusive despite several investigations: (1) Sometimes, theory is lacking and causes and consequences seem exchangeable. Based on psychological research on the distribution and use of power, we predicted that a steeper distribution of power induces more corruption and elaborated its negative consequences in a complex causal model. (2) For measuring power distribution, pervading national culture, we augmented Hofstede’s ‘Power Distance’ with three additional indicators into a reversed, more reliable and valid culture composite called “Power Balanced Freedom” (PBF). (3) Instead of the usual regression and instrument approaches, which cannot estimate multiple causal chains including causal feedback, a non-recursive path analysis was employed with data from 85 nations. PBF predicted less national Corruption (62%), with positive effects on Gross Domestic Product (GDP, 72%) and Inequality Adjusted Human Development (IHDI, 66%, including Life Expectancy, Income, and Education). The often expected reverse effect of GDP on Corruption was not significant. Contrary to influential authors from economics, culture variables are the most important predictors of corruption and its consequences. Nonetheless, our extended model supports the main thrust of their ideas and adds more precision. Our conceptual distinction of the uses of power and our empirical measure PBF reflect Kant’s ethical imperative: freedom and autonomy for everyone. Widely shared life chances as measured by IHDI reflect utilitarian, consequentialist ideas. These different ethical approaches are connected in the confirmed causal model, in line with Rawls’ first and second principle of justice.

Flourishing and prosocial behaviors: A multilevel investigation of national corruption level as a moderator.

The current psychology literature defines flourishing as leading an authentic life that directs one towards the highest levels of both feeling good and functioning well. Numerous studies show that flourishing relates to a wide array of advantageous personal outcomes. However, the same literature says very little about the social outcomes of flourishing, even though an individual’s pursuit of well-being does not happen in isolation of others. With the present research, we seek to address this void. Specifically, we argue that flourishing, in its psychological conceptualization, does not provide strong moral guidance. As such, flourishing is amoral when it comes to social outcomes such as prosocial behaviors. Drawing on social learning theory, we argue that flourishers’ prosociality is at least somewhat contingent on the moral guidance of their society. To assess this, we tested society’s corruption level as a moderator in the relation between flourishing and prosocial behavior. To that end, we conducted two studies using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), which were collected in 2006 (N1 = 50,504) from 23 countries and in 2012 (N2 = 56,835) from 29 countries. We generally find that corruption at the national level moderates the relation between flourishing and prosocial behaviors (i.e., helping close/distant others, charitable activities). Overall, our study suggests that moral guidance should factor into discussions about flourishing.

The extent and cost of corruption in transport infrastructure. New evidence from Europe

Transport infrastructure provision from roads to waterways involves large amounts of public funds in very complex projects. It is hardly a surprise that all across Europe, but especially in high corruption risk countries, it is a primary target of corrupt elites. This article provides a state-of-the-art review of the literature on the cost of corruption and estimates the level of corruption risks and associated costs in European infrastructure development and maintenance in 2009–2014 using novel data on over 40,000 government contracts. Two forms of corruption costs are investigated in the empirical section: (1) distorting spending structure and project design, and (2) inflating prices. Findings indicate that corruption steers infrastructure spending towards high value as opposed to small value investment projects. It also inflates prices by 30–35% on average with largest excesses in high corruption risk regions. Contrary to perceptions, corruption risks in infrastructure are decoupled to a considerable extent from the national corruption environment. Source data and risk scores are made downloadable at digiwhist.eu/resources/data.

Content analysis of corruption coverage: Cross-national differences and commonalities

The article presents and summarizes some results from extensive cross-national content analysis of media coverage of corruption. The authors examined a sample containing 12,742 articles published in France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2013. A limited number of studies have been done thus far to reveal how the media deals with corruption cases in certain countries, and cross-national comparative analyses are exceedingly scarce. The core focus of the study is to reveal the significant differences in the corruption cases covered by the media according to the countries under analysis. We assume that some differences exist between the media coverage of corruption in the new and the old European Union member states and also that by classifying countries into groups based on their perception of the level of the corruption, some dissimilarities will be revealed between them. We conclude that the distinction between countries based on whether they are old or new European Union members does not wholly determine the nature of reporting on international or national corruption cases, for example, Italy was more similar to the old European Union member states in this sense. Considering the level of institutionalization of corruption cases, Italy appears to be more similar to the other old European Union members, but we should clarify that differences based on this feature of the cases are not clearly highlighted in the interaction model. However, if we use the variable perceptions of corruption to classify countries, we find that countries with a ‘cleaner’ environment (the United Kingdom, France) place more focus on reporting corruption cases in the international arena.

Abandon Ship? Party Brands and Politicianss Responses to a Political Scandal

How do politicians react to a political earthquake? In this article, we study politicians’ – rather than voters’ – responses to the main political scandal in Italian recent history (Tangentopoli), and overcome endogeneity concerns by analysing the local implications of this national corruption scandal. We find that local politicians withdraw support for incumbents in parties hit by Tangentopoli – inducing early government terminations in such municipalities. Moreover, politicians in parties hit by the scandal exhibit higher rates of party switching and lower re-running rates. By decreasing the value of the party “brand”, scandals thus become transmitted across politicians and levels of government via partisan cues.

ІНСТИТУТ БІЗНЕС-ОМБУДСМЕНА – ІНСТРУМЕНТ ЗАХИСТУ ПРАВ ТА ІНТЕРЕСІВ СУБ’ЄКТІВ ПІДПРИЄМНИЦТВА

The article describes the state of legal regulation of the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of business entities. The genesis and evolution of the institution Council of the Business Ombudsman in Ukraine are characterized. The authors analyzed the status of the Business Ombudsman Council and characterized the Memoranda signed by it and their purpose. To date, Memorandums have been signed with the Prosecutor General's Office, the State Customs Service, the State Tax Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, the National Corruption Prevention Agency, the Kyiv City State Administration, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Justice and others. The composition of the Business Ombudsman Council is characterized, it is noted that only professionals with the highest qualifications and work experience are included in the composition. The person who heads the Business Ombudsman Council is characterized and the features of her appointment to the position are considered. The authors carried out a significant analysis of the composition of complaints that are submitted to the Business Ombudsman Council according to various criteria, namely: by years, by regions, by areas of activity, by origin of capital, by the size of business entities. It was noted that complaints are considered in a timely manner in compliance with the Rules of the Business Ombudsman Council and according to the relevant procedure, which consists of three stages. The deadlines for handling complaints are minimal. Existing cases of refusals to accept complaints for consideration are analyzed. Such cases include: missed the deadline, anonymous complaints, repeated complaints, and also if the possibility of an administrative appeal was not used for this case or a court or arbitration decision has already been made. The fact of an increase in the number of complaints was stated, which is associated with the awareness of business representatives, as well as an increase in confidence in the institution of the Business Ombudsman Council. It is proposed to determine the status of the Business Ombudsman Council at the legislative level by developing and adopting a special law.

Role of destination competitiveness and national corruption in hotel performance: A study of developing economies of Central America

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between destination competitiveness (DC), national corruption and hotel performance (HP). A panel data analysis was applied to the Central American region. The results reveal that corruption has an impact on DC and HP. Such findings are important for the region as many of the countries are battling high levels of corruption while developing tourism industry. In addition, DC was found to have a unidirectional impact on HP. These findings provide a number of theoretical and managerial implications, reinforcing the role of a “shadow” economy and the importance of tourism.

Corruption and Trust in the European Union and National Institutions: Changes over the Great Recession across European States

AbstractDoes corruption influence trust in national institutions in the same way as trust in international institutions? Did this influence change over the economic crisis 2008? Using data from the European Social Survey, we examined the association between corruption and trust in national and European parliaments before and after the start of the Great Recession 2008. We found that over the Crisis, the effect of corruption on trust in national parliament became more negative than it was before 2008. We also discovered a positive association between corruption and trust in the EU before the Crisis. That is, states with a higher level of national corruption seem to have more trust in international institutions, such as the EU. However, this relationship disappears after 2008. Our findings contribute to the debates on the impact of corruption on trust in national and international institutions, and on the consequences of the Great Recession.

Gobierno Electrónico y Corrupción en México (2005-2010)

Diversos estudios dan testimonio de que el gobierno electrónico es una herramienta que facilita las transacciones y el intercambio de información de manera digital entre la administración pública y los ciudadanos, lo que minimiza la probabilidad de incurrir en actos corruptos. Sin embargo, este tema ha sido poco estudiado para el caso de México. En este trabajo se analiza el impacto que ha tenido la difusión de la información y las transacciones realizadas mediante el gobierno electrónico a nivel estatal y en el Distrito Federal sobre el Índice Nacional de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno para el 2005 y el 2010. Los resultados indican que el impacto del gobierno electrónico ha sido significativo, pero modesto. Estos datos enriquecen la discusión sobre los cambios requeridos para aliviar este problema en el país.

Perceptions of Organizational Politics: A Cross-cultural Perspective

Despite the large number of studies on organizational politics, we still know very little about cross-cultural differences in these perceptions. The present study focuses on the roles of cultural values and the level of perceived national corruption in explaining cross-national differences in perceptions of organizational politics. Specifically, the study emphasizes the impact that cultural values may have on the degree to which employees perceive their organizational environment as political. In addition, it is proposed that in countries with a high level of corruption, corruption permeates throughout society, down to the individuals’ workplace such that citizens who perceive their country as corrupt will similarly perceive their workplace as corrupt. Two empirical illustrations support the argument that cultural values and perceptions of corruption in a country are related to perceptions of organizational politics.