Workplace Corruption Research Articles

Pendidikan Anti Korupsi Bagi Calon Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di PT. Global Lubna Jaya Sukoharjo

Indonesian workers abroad often face different work environments compared to Indonesia, including stricter ethical and moral standards. They represent the nation in their host countries. Anti-corruption education for prospective Indonesian workers can help build a positive image of professionalism and integrity, increasing other countries' trust in their quality and work ethics. The goal of this education is to develop a firm stance against workplace corruption both domestically and abroad. The community service partner is PT. Global Lubna Jaya Sukoharjo. The service method is online, using simulations and case studies. Results show significant understanding of anti-corruption culture among the participants, who commit to avoiding corrupt practices and fighting corruption together.

Combating Workplaces Corruption

The study emphasises the necessity to address workplace corruption in Malaysia. It discusses the causes, effects and how to address the corruption issues happened in workplace Malaysia. Individual factor, economy development, organizational culture and religious, political leadership power has led to the causes of corruption in workplace. In addition, effects like income distribution, consumption pattern, government budget, economic reforms are highlighted in the paper. The paper also touched upon the remedial measure like leadership, credibility, involving people, responsible press, oversight bodies and improving institution as remedial measure to address the issue

Whistleblowing in Norwegian Municipalities—Can Offers of Reward Influence Employees’ Willingness and Motivation to Report Wrongdoings?

This organizational study aims to explore whistleblowing in Norwegian Municipalities. The purpose is to explore whether employees perceive that their workplace has a well-functioning reporting system, to investigate what kind of rewards, if any, the employees considered most desirable, and to map, if any, the relationship between all types of compensation and the willingness to notify within one’s own organization. This study reports on 2018 interview data from a medium-sized Norwegian municipality. The main findings indicated that the municipally exhibits little perceived every-day focus on fighting corruption and that the employees have limited knowledge of the systems and routines available to them. Further, results showed that multiple factors influenced the employee’s willingness to report and receive compensation. Especially was increased management recognition and a more clearly formalized reporting processes perceived as important motivation factors. This study contributes to organization and leadership studies and identifies problem areas, possibly helping managers and organizers focus further on the importance of anti-corruption work and whistleblowing processes within organizations. Further studies are recommended to increase the field of knowledge related to employees’ willingness and motivation to notify when they witness workplace corruption.

Blowing the whistle on workplace corruption: the role of ethical leadership

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a structural model of the role of ethical leadership on intent to whistle blow workplace corruption using the theory of planned behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a mixed method, sequential design. Interviews were conducted in the first phase to identify corrupt practices and validate the salience of the variables in the study. The second phase administered surveys to test the hypotheses of the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was done to analyze structural relationships among variables.FindingsSEM results showed an adequately fit model, indicating ethical leadership predicting organizational norms and controls. It also found that ethical leadership has indirect effect toward employees’ attitude toward corruption through organizational norms and control. Furthermore, ethical leadership also has indirect effect on intent to whistle blow through organizational controls.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was conducted in the Philippines, a high-power distance culture. In such a culture, the influence of leadership is crucial, as it dictates standard behaviors of members and the organization as a whole. Future research may wish to explore whether the findings would also apply in low-power distance cultures.Practical implicationsThe finding suggests that ethical leadership is crucial in shaping organizational norms and controls, which in turn, influences employees’ attitude toward corruption and their intention to whistle blow.Originality/valueThe study contributes to corruption literature by providing empirical evidence of the structure model how the role of ethical leadership shapes organizational norms and controls that, in turn, influences employee attitude toward corruption and intent to whistle blow.

Workplace corruption: a resource conservation perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide elements for human resource management to better understand workplace corruption in order to prevent and to manage corrupt behaviors at work.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a quantitative research methodology (n=575) is used; the sample is selected from French public sector employees. Multiple regression analysis assesses the impact on corrupt behaviors (e.g. bribary and property deviance) of selected determinant psychological resources (e.g. powerlessness, distributive and procedural justice and sense of mastery).FindingsMain results highlight that sense of mastery, distributive justice and procedural justice have a negative impact on workplace corruption, whereas powerlessness has a positive impact on workplace corruption. The direct impact and relationships that are explored between selected determinant psychological resources and workplace corruption contribute to the literature on corrupt acts and conservation of resources (COR) theory. Sense of mastery, power, procedural and distributive justices are considered as personal resources for employees at workplace. Individuals thoughtfully engage in corrupt acts and behaviors as a defensive move to protect perceived threats on valued motivation factors.Research limitations/implicationsAt an empirical level, the research is limited to a sample from public sector employees. Similar to the structures of public and private organizations, which are different, determinants of organizational corruption in public and private sectors are also different. Another main limitation is the cross-sectional design. Investigating motivation-based dynamics of corruption would benefit from longitudinal methodology.Practical implicationsThe present research suggests that a COR-based management of human resources can be of functional use on at least two grounds. First, COR theory shifts the perspective from a moral and macro-economic issues to a psychological plane. Second, and by staying in tune with motivational processes, a COR-based management is suited to prevent corrupt mechanisms fueled by frustrated or endangered motivational resources.Originality/valueOn the basis of an original taxonomy of workplace corruption, a research model is developed using the framework of COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989). As a non-inductive approach, corruption is considered from the standpoint of a rational defensive attitude on the part of employees seeking to preserve valued psychological resources. A COR-based perspective also allows for a preventive “salutogenic” management style of corrupt behaviors.

Endangered Resources: The Role of Organizational Justice and Interpersonal Trust as Signals for Workplace Corruption

This study examines workplace corruption from the perspective of individual psychological processes. Existing literature has shown how corrupt behaviours can emerge from various kinds of motivations, including manipulation, retaliation, and conformity. This research suggests yet another path, where corruption stems from a motivation to preserve resources that individuals perceive to be threatened by their professional environment. As such, the study is grounded in conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001). We put forward an original model that introduces the notion of resource signals. An enrichment of original COR theory, resource signals correspond to individuals’ perceptions that the work environment is supportive, or, otherwise, of their need for resource development and preservation. Specifically, the study tests a moderated mediation model where a sense of mastery, a personal resource, moderates the impact of resource signals, including distributive justice, procedural justice, and interpersonal trust, on occupational corruption. Results are drawn from a sample of French public sector employees (n = 575). They validate the hypothesized mediating role of trust between both facets of organizational justice and measures of corruption, including bribery and property deviance. An indirect negative effect, however, is strongest between procedural justice and workplace corruption. As hypothesized, a sense of mastery significantly moderates the link between trust and both corruption types. This research contributes to both theory and practice. By integrating resource signals within a COR framework, it shows that corrupt behaviours are to be gauged against interacting motivations for preserving psychological resources. Consequently, this study also suggests that organizations should go beyond ethics and procedures, and to consider workplace corruption as a potential symptom of organizational signals perceived as threats to individuals’ valued resources.

Student Perceptions of Workplace Corruption and its Effect on Their Academic Motivation

Corruption is a worldwide issue, and our understanding of it has been shaped by public policy at the expense of personal motivation. Therefore, a psychological standpoint is required to identify youth at risk of future exploitation. A total of 890 students (psychology, economics, law and education) participated in this study, and their motivation for being at university (AMS-C 28) and their perceptions of the effects of corruption on motivation (PoCM) were measured. Interestingly, students reported that their perception of corruption in the workplace affects their intrinsic motivation and subsequently, the amotivated group reported the highest willingness to use corruption in the future. The study proposes that the self-determination theory in conjunction with PoCM can potentially identify students at risk. We argue that intrinsic motivation, the form closest to the self-determined end of the SDT continuum, can protect students from the adverse effects of corruption.

Downsize or rightsize? Changing KESC to K-ELECTRIC (Case A)

Subject area Organizational restructuring strategy such as downsizing and rightsizing and their effects on organizational performance. Study level/applicability The case can be taught to graduate students of a business administration program for change management or human resources management courses. Case overview The case discusses a structural change strategy followed by a crisis management situation of a Pakistani state-owned enterprise with hierarchical structures, unclear work roles and workplace corruption and its shift toward a profitable company with rebranded mission and values. With the management takeover by the Abraaj Group, several issues were identified as major blocks to K-ELECTRIC’s performance. Drastic changes included information technology advancement, investment in infrastructure of generation capacity, marketing campaigns and corporate social responsibility initiatives with a record profit in 2011-2012, for the first time in 17 years. But, the greatest challenge to quality service and profitability was faced by the human resources department, to retrench 4,459 workers by offering a voluntary separation scheme to non-core management staff in 2009. However, disregarding the successful impact on business performance, only 300 workers (approximately) had accepted the package in early 2010, while the rest questioned the decision of outsourcing non-core jobs and demanded reinstatement with the company, followed by a series of protests in January 2010. K-ELECTRIC needed to make some sensitive and timely decisions to ensure efficient and quality service to its customers as its top agenda. Expected learning outcomes The outcomes include: to understand the challenges faced by a recently privatized public utility service to become lean and efficient without compromising on its public mission of providing electricity to the residents of the city; to analyze the factors that influence choice of restructuring strategies and their effects on the employment relationship and organizational performance; to recognize the critical role of leadership in choosing a voluntary downsizing strategy and analyzing the sense of urgency needed to execute the decision; and to recognize the role of legal and organizational consultancy needed in critical decision-making to prevent workplace violence. Supplementary materials Teaching notes and teaching guide.

Organisational Culture and Workplace Corruption in Government Hospitals

This study examines corruption attitudes and norms in government hospitals in the Philippines. It tests a culture-building model that advocates communication of desired values, leadership role modelling, employee role modelling, alignment of systems and structures, training and evaluation, and reinforcement. Results reveal components that influence corruption attitudes and norms. Communication predicted individual attitudes or acceptability of corrupt acts. Leadership, systems, and controls predicted the prevalence of corrupt acts. Employee role modelling predicted both acceptability of and the prevalence of corrupt acts. In addition, there is a positive relationship between individual attitudes and organisation norms reinforcing the dyadic relationship between the two.

Workplace Bullying as Workplace Corruption

Creative nonfiction writing is used to interpret secondary data and produce a short story depicting events of workplace bullying in the public sector as also being acts of corruption. Creative nonfiction writing enables interrogation of, and vicarious experience of, sensitive, complex, and controversial workplace events. Readers are invited to think, and feel, the events of bullying (and corruption), as well the multiple perspectives involved. For organizations grappling with workplace bullying, understanding the behaviors as also being potentially corrupt will deepen understanding, as will recognition of the possible rationales of those involved in its downward spiral.

Towards Reducing the Harm: Workplace Bullying as Workplace Corruption—A Critical Review

Workplace bullying and workplace corruption are both disturbing workplace phenomena. However, despite considerable research into both, there remains insufficient understanding of either, including scant recognition that, at times, they may intersect. A critical review of what have been hitherto quite separate literatures is undertaken for the purpose of developing a research agenda that recognises the potential areas of overlap. Rather than isolating and distinguishing the two constructs, or attempting to link or explain their complex causes, secondary analysis of the respective literatures is critically undertaken to showcase the possible overlaps that can exist. What is presented is evidence from the literature that, sometimes, acts of workplace bullying are also acts of corruption, and have rarely been recognised as such previously. Recognising this overlap is intended to encourage the emergence of a new, and much needed, research agenda. Increased understanding of both these harmful workplace phenomena can then emerge to make our workplaces safer—for employees, employers, and the organisations that employ them.

Corruption in the post-Soviet workplace: the experiences of recent graduates in contemporary Ukraine

While Ukraine was bestowed market economy status by the European Union in 2005 its labour market still endures many structural problems. By exploring the experiences of young graduate employees this article highlights the difficultly in obtaining work within Ukraine's labour market and the problems they face once they have secured employment. Rather than seeing the development of a transparent labour market the collapse of the command economy has seen a relatively closed system develop. The article demonstrates how many jobs are secured through the use of connections or the demanding, and payment, of bribes.The situation does not improve once graduates obtain long-term employment. Interviewees discuss the lack of job security, the informal payment of wages and the lack of legal protection from corrupt employer practices. The article has broader resonance outside of the Ukrainian case study as the discussion of workplace corruption highlights how the issue is concerned with much more than simply cash based transactions and how those that endure it are likely to turn to the informal economy for employment.

Encouraging Public Sector Employees to Report Workplace Corruption

This paper aims to do two things: (1) report the findings of a survey of 800 public sector employees regarding attitudes to reporting workplace corruption; and (2) offer suggestions for practical strategies which managers can employ to encourage employees to report wrongdoing. Survey responses indicated that the existence of whistleblower protection legislation might encourage people to make a report which they may not normally consider making. The majority of respondents indicated that they believe that it is their responsibility to report corruption. The majority, however, are also unsure about their organisation’s ability and/or willingness to protect them if they do make a report. Not surprisingly, then, most also expect that people who report corruption will suffer for it.

Factors which deter public officials from reporting corruption

A survey of over 800 public sector employees was conducted to explore the factors which would be most likely to deter public sector employees from reporting workplace corruption. Respondents were asked to consider whether they would make a report in the absence of certain factors which have been found in past research to impact on the decision to make reports. The aim was to determine which workplace strategies managers should make a priority when encouraging employees to report workplace corruption. Concern about not having enough proof was the most commonly reported deterrent, followed by the absence of legal protection from negative consequences. The factors which were reported as deterring the least number of respondents were the absence of role responsibility for reporting corruption and not being directly affected by the corruption. Respondents from lower income groups were more likely to be deterred from reporting corruption in the absence of encouraging factors. In addition, a relationship was found between a lack of information about mechanisms for reporting corruption and a negative attitude toward reporting corruption.

Is monitoring implementation the key to preventing repeated workplace corruption?

Survey results published in 2009 by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of New South Wales reported that most public sector organisations in its jurisdiction have established integrity policies and procedures – or ‘organisational integrity systems’ (ICAC 2009). Despite this, many of the public inquiries conducted by the ICAC that find corrupt conduct often also find a failure to implement or enforce existing anti-corruption mechanisms in agencies. More recently an ICAC inquiry reported that similar patterns of repeated corrupt conduct had been pervasive in one government agency since the early 1990s despite being prohibited by organisational policy (ICAC 2008). These findings are also consistent with the anecdotal experience of integrity practitioners that public sector agencies are experiencing repeated workplace corruption despite the presence of apparently adequate organisational integrity systems. When workplace corruption is exposed, it may be professionally investigated and reforms to address the problems proposed and attempted, yet the same or similar workplace corruption reoccurs. As Barber suggests, ensuring successful delivery requires a “long grind” of “steady, persistent implementation” and “gentle pressure, relentlessly applied” (Barber 2008:112 and 119).This paper examines cases of low-level non-compliance in a municipal waste collection services and a state owned railway to identify some of the factors that could be contributing to reoccurring workplace corruption. The analysis suggests that a major factor in repeated workplace corruption is the failure to monitor and implement reforms recommended by investigations and existing organisational integrity systems.