Business’ attitudes towards corruption in selected Central European countries

Vretenar, Nenad (author), Filipas, Ana Marija (author), Briš Alić, Martina (author)

Purpose: Corruption is perceived as a widespread problem throughout the world, including in Central European countries. In terms of corruption, these countries still lag behind the leading EU countries (as indicated by the 2023 Worldwide Governance Indicators). As corruption itself is very difficult to measure, the perception of corruption is often used as a proxy. The aim of this paper is to analyse attitudes towards corruption in selected Central European countries and to draw conclusions on the factors influencing these perceptions. Based on the assumption that the difference between de jure and de facto transparency matters, we selected Czechia, Hungary, and Poland as countries with small differences between these two dimensions of transparency, and Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia as countries with large differences. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using Eurobarometer data, we applied logistic regression to analyse attitudes towards corruption in the two groups of countries distinguished by differences in de jure and de facto transparency. Each group, consisting of three Central European countries, was used to create a model, i.e., Model 1 and Model 2, with a total number of observations of 901 and 902, respectively. Both models displayed adequate fit indices and enabled predictions that allowed us to draw conclusions. All respondents were business representatives with decision-making responsibilities in their companies, ensuring that the results reflect company perceptions rather than those of the general public. Findings: Attitudes towards corruption in the countries studied are related to perceptions of patronage and nepotism in business, perceptions of corruption in public procurement, perceived links between politics and business, and attitudes towards tax rates. In the group where there is little difference between de jure and de facto transparency levels, business attitudes towards corruption are also associated with perceptions of adequacy of infrastructure and complexity of administrative procedures. In the countries where these differences are substantial, attitudes towards corruption are related to perceptions of problems arising from frequent changes in the law, problems with debt collection, and differences in views regarding the severity of bribery depending on the value of the bribe. Academic contribution to the field: This research provides a better understanding of the factors influencing the perception of corruption in Central European countries from a business perspective. In doing so, it introduces a methodology that is well-suited for the analysis of survey-collected data, especially since it allows the dependent variable to be categorical. Moreover, by using data from the Transparency Index to differentiate countries, the study has the potential to stimulate further theoretical and empirical research into the relationship between corruption and transparency. Lastly, by linking companies’ perceived problems to overall perceptions of corruption, this paper helps to identify the areas within the studied countries where pockets of corruption are most likely to exist. Originality/Value: Previous research has found that corruption tends to occur when the gap between de facto and de jure transparency is larger. This research demonstrates that the size of this gap can also be successfully used to achieve a better understanding of the factors influencing attitudes towards corruption. Therefore, this paper employs the difference between de jure and de facto transparency as a categorisation criterion to analyse the factors influencing the perception of corruption. This categorisation approach enabled the development of two separate logistic regression models with high predictive power.

• Language: English
• Keywords: de jure transparency, de facto transparency, corruption, attitudes towards corruption, business
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 29-52, 166-167
• Numbering: Vol. 21, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-153342
• UDC: 35:330.526.33:343.352(4-191.2)
• ISSN on article: 2591-2240
• DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.02
• COBISS.SI-ID: 178361347
• Publication date in RUL: 22.12.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Central European public administration review
• Shortened title: CEPAR
• Publisher: Fakulteta za upravo
• ISSN: 2591-2240
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293849600

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Namen: Korupcija je prisotna po vsem svetu, tudi v srednjeevropskih državah, ki na tem področju še vedno zaostajajo za vodilnimi državami EU (glede na Svetovne kazalnike upravljanja 2023). Ker je samo korupcijo težko izmeriti, beležimo predvsem percepcije korupcije. Cilj prispevka je analizirati odnos do korupcije v izbranih srednjeevropskih državah in oblikovati zaključke o dejavnikih, ki vplivajo na zaznavo korupcije. Raziskava, ki se osredotoča na razlike med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo, je zajela Češko, Madžarsko in Poljsko kot države z manjšimi razlikami ter Hrvaško, Slovaško in Slovenijo kot države z večjimi razlikami med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Na podlagi podatkov Eurobarometra smo z logistično regresijo analizirali odnos do korupcije v obeh skupinah držav, ki ju sestavljajo po tri srednjeevropske države z večjimi ali manjšimi razlikami med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo. Iz vsake skupine smo oblikovali po en model, tj. model 1 in model 2, s skupnim številom opazovanj 901 oziroma 902. Modela sta izkazala primerne indekse ustreznosti in omogočila napovedi, na podlagi katerih smo lahko oblikovali svoje zaključke. Vsi anketiranci so bili predstavniki podjetij na odločevalskih položajih, kar zagotavlja, da rezultati odražajo percepcije podjetij in ne splošne javnosti. Ugotovitve: Odnos do korupcije v proučevanih državah je povezan s percepcijo klientelizma in nepotizma v podjetjih, percepcijo korupcije pri javnih naročilih, zaznavanjem povezav med politiko in podjetji ter odnosom do davkov. V skupini, kjer je razlika med pravno-formalno in dejansko stopnjo preglednosti majhna, je odnos podjetij do korupcije odvisen tudi od tega, kako ustrezna se jim zdi infrastruktura in kako zapleteni se jim zdijo upravni postopki. V državah, kjer so te razlike precejšnje, pa na odnos do korupcije vplivajo pogoste spremembe zakonodaje, težave pri izterjavi dolgov ter razlike pri dojemanju resnosti vprašanja podkupnin glede na vrednost podkupnine. Akademski prispevek k znanstvenem področju: Raziskava omogoča boljše razumevanje dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na zaznavanje korupcije v srednjeevropskih državah z vidika podjetij. Pri tem uvaja metodologijo, ki je primerna za analizo podatkov, zbranih z anketo, zlasti ker omogoča kategoričnost odvisne spremenljivke. Z uporabo podatkov iz indeksa preglednosti za razlikovanje med državami študija spodbuja nadaljnje teoretične in empirične raziskave razmerja med korupcijo in preglednostjo, s povezovanjem zaznanih težav podjetij s splošno percepcijo korupcije pa pomaga opredeliti morebitna problematična področja v proučevanih državah. Izvirnost/vrednost: Predhodne raziskave so pokazale, da je korupcija pogostejša tam, kjer so razlike med dejansko in pravno-formalno preglednostjo večje. Ta raziskava kaže, da lahko proučevanje obsega teh razlik učinkovito pri-speva k boljšemu razumevanju dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na odnos do korupcije. Članek zato razliko med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo uporablja kot merilo za analizo dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na zaznavanje korupcije. Takšen pristop je omogočil oblikovanje dveh ločenih logističnih regresijskih modelov z visoko napovedno močjo.

• Keywords: pravno-formalna preglednost, dejanska preglednost, korupcija, odnos do korupcije, podjetje