Social and Political Consequences of Administrative Corruption: A Study of Public Perceptions in Spain

Abstract

Spain experienced an outbreak of public sector corruption—much of it related to the involvement of regional and local administrators and politicians in the country's urban development boom—that angered the public and sparked calls for government reform. Using data from a 2009 survey that followed these events, the authors examine the association between perceived corruption and the attitudes and behaviors of citizens, including satisfaction with government and democracy, social and institutional trust, and rule‐breaking behaviors. The findings suggest that perceptions of administrative as well as political corruption are associated with less satisfaction, lower levels of social and institutional trust, and a greater willingness to break rules. Although these survey results cannot prove causation, they are consistent with the notion that administrative and political corruption damages the legitimacy of government in the eyes of citizens and weakens the social fabric of democratic society.

Does a Public Service Ethic Encourage Ethical Behaviour? Public Service Motivation, Ethical Leadership and the Willingness to Report Ethical Problems

“…While trust in public institutions is critical for good governance and democracy, it is declining in many countries (Pew ; Edelman ). Evidence suggests that this decline is not only due to increasing political divisiveness and citizen dissatisfaction with government performance but is also due to the perception that the actions of public officials are often driven more by self‐interest than public interests (Vigoda‐Gadot ; Villoria et al ). Such concerns mirror various reports and studies that suggest that unethical behaviour in government is widespread (Kaptein et al ; Ethics Resource Center ; Near and Miceli ; Caillier ; OPM ; KPMG ).…”

“…With trust in government declining in many countries (Edelman ) and nearing all‐time lows in the United States (Pew ), concerns regarding government accountability are widespread. In addition to concerns about whether we can hold government accountable for desired policy outcomes, decreasing trust levels also reflect concerns that the actions of public administrators during policy implementation are driven by self‐interest rather than the interests of the larger public or community (Vigoda‐Gadot ; Villoria et al ). Such concerns are mirrored by government employee surveys that suggest that unethical behaviour remains widespread in government (Kaptein et al ; Ethics Resource Center ; Kolthoff et al ; OPM ) and that government employees do not feel they can report suspected ethical violations without retribution or even that appropriate actions to address their concerns would be taken even if they were reported (Kaptein et al ; Near and Miceli ; Caillier ; OPM ).…”

Paging Congressional Democrats: It Was the Immorality, Stupid

“…When politicians are accused of, or caught, enriching themselves at the expense of the public good, cynicism is fostered and trust reduced (Bowler and Karp 2004). If undeterred, repeated corruption scandals threaten to undermine the legitimacy of elections (Caillier 2010;Stockemer, LaMontagne, and Scruggs 2011;Villoria, Van Ryzin, and Lavena 2012). Surprisingly, the evidence from past studies is mixed as to whether politicians are punished more severely for corruption than other types of scandals (Doherty, Dowling, and Miller 2011).…”

Social Capital and Longitudinal Change in Sustainability Plans and Policies: U.S. Cities from 2000 to 2010

“…Likewise, questions have been raised about the causal direction of social capital's relationships to other political and social attributes [1,[42][43][44][45]. In the context of participation (itself related to social capital), Portney and Berry nonetheless recently observed: -This analysis cannot sort out, with any precision, whether there is a causal connection between participation and the pursuit of local sustainability policies or what the direction of that causation might be.…”