Meyer Sahling 2018

Background

  • Research Context: Numerous studies have linked various economic, social, and institutional variables with government corruption. However, much of this literature overlooks the management of public officials.

  • Significance: Corrupt exchanges typically involve public officials, hence understanding civil service management is fundamental to addressing corruption.

Purpose of the Article

  • Review Scope: This article reviews 36 studies on civil service management and anti-corruption.

  • Key Findings:

    • Previous works have focused narrowly on civil service management structures.

    • Associations found between meritocratic recruitment and lower corruption, while evidence on areas like pay structures, promotion, transfer, and job stability is limited.

  • Call to Action: There is a need for more research assessing a wider set of civil service management practices to understand and curb corruption effectively.

Introduction

  • Historical Context: Corruption containment has been a central aim for civil service reform since the inception of public administration research (Wilson, 1887).

  • Political Impetus: In the U.S., civil service reforms arose from a desire to counteract corruption associated with spoils (Rubin and Whitford, 2008).

  • Current Relevance: Civil service professionalization remains vital for corruption containment according to practitioners and academics (Rauch and Evans, 2000; Dahlström et al., 2012; Neshkova and Kostadinova, 2012).

Limitations of Current Research

  • Lack of Focus: Existing corruption literature often neglects the structure and management of executive government, concentrating instead on societal, economic, and macro-political institutions (Treisman, 2007; Olken and Pande, 2012).

    • Absence of Empirical Evidence: There is little empirical evidence linking civil service management organization and practices to corruption.

Civil Service Management Defined

  • Definition by Berman (2015): Technical human resource management (HRM) refers to the operational functions for managing people in public organizations. Key functions include:

    • Recruitment

    • Selection

    • Remuneration

    • Promotion

    • Performance appraisal

    • Transfer

    • Employment protection

    • Dismissals

  • Scope: The review is intentionally limited to these HRM functions, excluding broader strategic or cultural human resource management topics.

Methodology

  • Study Selection:

    • The review included a total of 62 studies: 57 journal articles, three books, and two unpublished working papers.

    • Studies were identified by searching nine key political science and public administration journals for articles since 2000.

    • Exclusions were made for studies that didn’t address civil service management or corruption.

    • The search expanded into economics, area studies, criminology, and business ethics.

Findings and Discussion

2.1 Recruitment and Selection

  • Focus Areas: Prior studies primarily looked at:

    • Criteria influencing recruitment and selection outcomes (merit vs. political factors).

    • Selection processes (examinations vs. appointments).

  • Linked Mechanisms:

    • Merit and Exam-based Recruitment: Advocated to reduce corruption through:

    1. Enhanced reputation among officials fostering adherence to honesty norms (Rauch and Evans, 2000).

    2. Shifted accountability to bureaucrats, diminishing political influence and reducing corruption opportunities (Dahlström et al., 2012).

    3. Protection from political pressures due to lack of political criteria in recruitment, leading to integrity in administrative decisions (Neshkova and Kostadinova, 2012).

  • Empirical Evidence:

    • Studies (Rauch and Evans 2000; Dahlström et al. 2012; Neshkova and Kostadinova 2012; Meyer-Sahling et al., 2016; Oliveros and Schuster, 2017 and others) support the association between merit recruitment and lower corruption.

  • Unexplored Areas: Mechanisms sustaining this association remain largely unexamined, warranting further exploration of context-dependent influences on recruitment effectiveness.

2.2 Remuneration

  • Current Trends: Existing literature mainly assesses the impact of pay levels on corruption.

  • Theoretical Explanation: Higher wages could lead to:

    1. Increased opportunity costs of engaging in corruption when caught (shirk and efficiency wage theory) (van Rijckeghem and Weder, 2001).

    2. Officials’ perceptions of fairness impacting their corruption intent.

  • Mixed Empirical Evidence:

    • Several studies yield inconclusive results regarding the pay levels' correlation with corruption:

    • Negative correlation found by Van Rijckeghem and Weder but not robust in fixed effects analysis.

    • No significant correlation found by Rauch and Evans (2000), Dahlström et al. (2012), Treisman (2000).

    • Cross-sectional evidence suggestive of varied outcomes (Alt and Lassen, 2003; Dong and Torgler, 2013, Karahan et al., 2006; Navot et al., 2015).

  • Conclusion: Greater focus on pay system structures, equitable salary setting, and performance-based compensation systems is necessary to better understand their collective impact on corruption.

2.3 Promotions, Career Systems, Performance, and Transfers

  • Current Status: Research into promotion systems has been limited, indicating mixed effectiveness of closed versus open career systems on corruption mitigation.

  • Insights on Promotion: Promoting based on performance may deter corruption if performance standards align with ethical conduct (Kwon, 2014). Conversely, promotions based on seniority could enhance or undermine corruption risks depending on their implementation.

  • Empirical Research: Limited studies yielding indirect evidence link certain promotion practices to corruption.

  • Further Studies Needed: More direct inquiry into the relationship of promotions, performance evaluations, and transfers on corruption is essential.

2.4 Job Stability and Tenure Protection

  • Theoretical Perspectives: Job stability can have dual implications for corruption, serving as both protection against political pressure and as a potential shield for corrupt practices.

  • Strong Perspectives: Employment protections create a long-term socialization conducive to ethical behavior while increasing the risk of corruption through lasting networks.

  • Current Empirical Status: The literature fails to establish clear relationships between job stability, tenure protections, and corruption outcomes.

  • Research Imperatives: Further empirical exploration of job stability's influence on corruption, including context and interaction with other HRM practices, is needed.

Lessons from the Literature

  • Identification of Robust Relationships: The literature has identified a reasonably robust association between merit recruitment and reduced corruption, necessitating a closer inspection of the underlying mechanisms and practices fostering this relationship.

  • Complex Nature of Pay and Corruption: The inconsistent findings on the link between pay levels and corruption highlight the need for further inquiries into the characteristics surrounding public pay systems.

  • Research Gaps on HRM Functions: Limited attention to critical HRM functions beyond recruitment necessitates deeper investigation into how promotions, transfers, performance appraisals, and tenure protections influence bureaucratic corruption.

  • Methodological Advancements: A call for more comprehensive methodological approaches, including qualitative studies, organizational surveys, and studies that incorporate causal identification, to broaden understanding of civil service management and corruption.

Future Research Agenda

  • Request for Broader Analysis: Future research should address understudied civil service management functions, assessing their interconnected effects across varying contexts, and utilizing a plural methodological framework.

  • Potential Methodologies: Suggests innovative methodologies, including surveys, qualitative analyses, experimental designs, and robust organizational-level data to enhance scholars' and policymakers' understanding of corruption dynamics in civil services.

Acknowledgments

  • Funding Credit: Acknowledges the support received from the British Academy/DfID Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme for the research project on civil service reform and anti-corruption in developing countries.

References

  • A comprehensive list of studies cited throughout the article, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the topic and emphasizing key findings and methodologies utilized in exploring the relationship between civil service management and corruption.