IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v116y2013i1p139-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rationalizing Ideologies, Social Identities and Corruption Among Civil Servants in Indonesia During the Suharto Era

Author

Listed:
  • Adang Budiman
  • Amanda Roan
  • Victor Callan

Abstract

This study investigated how the social identities assumed by individuals as part of their professional roles influence the nature and use of a range of rationalizations for their corruption or the corrupt acts of others. Thirty senior Indonesian public servants were interviewed about the causes and factors that perpetuated corruption during the Suharto era, and how they rationalized corrupt behavior within the role of being a civil servant. Findings revealed that corruption was routine and embedded in the daily activities and administrative structures of Indonesian public servants. Rationalizing ideologies that supported corruption included a denial of responsibility, social weighting and an appeal to higher loyalties. Central to these rationalizations were explanations around the low levels of civil service salaries, poor accountability, and corrupt leadership at senior levels of the government. However, the expression of these rationalizations varied across three social or role identities of the Indonesian civil servant: the professional civil servant, the collegial civil servant, and the corrupt civil servant. The implications of these findings for interventions in organizations in developing countries are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Adang Budiman & Amanda Roan & Victor Callan, 2013. "Rationalizing Ideologies, Social Identities and Corruption Among Civil Servants in Indonesia During the Suharto Era," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 139-149, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:116:y:2013:i:1:p:139-149
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1451-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-012-1451-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-012-1451-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 255-283.
    2. Deon Filmer & David Lindauer, 2001. "Does Indonesia Have A 'Low Pay' Civil Service?," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 189-205.
    3. Stelios Zyglidopoulos & Peter Fleming & Sandra Rothenberg, 2009. "Rationalization, Overcompensation and the Escalation of Corruption in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 65-73, January.
    4. Hill,Hal, 2000. "The Indonesian Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521663670.
    5. Vivi Alatas & Lisa Cameron & Ananish Chaudhuri & Nisvan Erkal & Lata Gangadharan, 2009. "Subject pool effects in a corruption experiment: A comparison of Indonesian public servants and Indonesian students," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 12(1), pages 113-132, March.
    6. Stelios Zyglidopoulos & Peter Fleming, 2008. "Ethical Distance in Corrupt Firms: How Do Innocent Bystanders Become Guilty Perpetrators?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 265-274, March.
    7. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September.
    8. Septiana Dwiputrianti, 2011. "Scope of Auditing on the Quality of Content in the Indonesian External Public Sector Auditing Reports," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 133-149, December.
    9. Vinay Bhargava & Emil Bolongaita, 2004. "Challenging Corruption in Asia : Case Studies and a Framework for Action," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15069, December.
    10. Lorenzo Pellegrini, 2011. "Corruption, Development and the Environment," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-94-007-0599-9, June.
    11. Benjamin A. Olken, 2007. "Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115, pages 200-249.
    12. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 45(4), pages 559-594, December.
    13. Niki A. Nieuwenboer & Muel Kaptein, 2008. "Spiraling Down into Corruption: A Dynamic Analysis of the Social Identity Processes that Cause Corruption in Organizations to Grow," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(2), pages 133-146, December.
    14. Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Working Papers 1998/063, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Haynes, Kathryn, 2010. "Other lives in accounting: Critical reflections on oral history methodology in action," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 221-231.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jakimow, Tanya, 2018. "A moral atmosphere of development as a share: Consequences for urban development in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 47-56.
    2. Weißmüller, Kristina Sabrina & Zuber, Anna, 2022. "Understanding the Micro-Foundations of Administrative Corruption in the Public Sector: Findings from a Systematic Literature Review," OSF Preprints z9bcy, Center for Open Science.
    3. Vial, Virginie & Hanoteau, Julien, 2015. "Returns to Micro-Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: A Quantile Study of Entrepreneurial Indonesian Households’ Welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 142-157.
    4. Weißmüller, Kristina Sabrina, 2022. "Implicit Dimensions of Moral Licensing in Citizen-State Interactions," OSF Preprints a8uwd, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Günther G. Schulze, 2013. "Corruption in Southeast Asia: a survey of recent research," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 79-109, May.
    2. Alice N. Sindzingre & Christian Milelli, 2010. "The Uncertain Relationship between Corruption and Growth in Developing Countries: Threshold Effects and State Effectiveness," EconomiX Working Papers 2010-10, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    3. Toke S. Aidt, 2009. "Corruption, institutions, and economic development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 271-291, Summer.
    4. Blackburn, Keith & Forgues-Puccio, Gonzalo F., 2009. "Why is corruption less harmful in some countries than in others?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 797-810, December.
    5. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov, 2019. "Market And Network Corruption," HSE Working papers WP BRP 209/EC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Ghulam Shabbir & Mumtaz Anwar & Shahid Adil, 2016. "Corruption, Political Stability and Economic Growth," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 689-702.
    7. Guriev, Sergei, 2004. "Red tape and corruption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 489-504, April.
    8. Keith Blackburn & Rashmi Sarmah, 2006. "Red Tape, Corruption and Finance," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0639, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    9. Michael Breen & Robert Gillanders, 2012. "Corruption, institutions and regulation," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 263-285, September.
    10. Luca Correani, 2005. "Preferences, Development and Corruption Trap," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 177-200.
    11. Vanessa da Silva Mariotto Onody & Ana Catarina Gandra de Carvalho & Eduardo Polloni-Silva & Guilherme Augusto Roiz & Enzo Barberio Mariano & Daisy Aparecida Nascimento Rebelatto & Herick Fernando Mora, 2022. "Corruption and FDI in Brazil: Contesting the “Sand” or “Grease” Hypotheses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    12. Wolfgang Maennig, 2004. "Korruption im internationalen Sport: ökonomische Analyse und Lösungsansätze," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 73(2), pages 263-291.
    13. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    14. Axel Dreher & Christos Kotsogiannis & Steve McCorriston, 2009. "How do institutions affect corruption and the shadow economy?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(6), pages 773-796, December.
    15. Cameron, Lisa & Chaudhuri, Ananish & Erkal, Nisvan & Gangadharan, Lata, 2009. "Propensities to engage in and punish corrupt behavior: Experimental evidence from Australia, India, Indonesia and Singapore," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 843-851, August.
    16. Keith Blackburn & Niloy Bose & M. Emranul Haque, 2011. "Public Expenditures, Bureaucratic Corruption And Economic Development," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(3), pages 405-428, June.
    17. Bienvenido Ortega & Antonio Casquero & Jesús Sanjuán, 2016. "Corruption and Convergence in Human Development: Evidence from 69 Countries During 1990–2012," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 691-719, June.
    18. Neeman Zvika & Paserman M. Daniele & Simhon Avi, 2008. "Corruption and Openness," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-40, December.
    19. Gabriel Caldas Montes & Paulo Henrique Luna, 2021. "Fiscal transparency, legal system and perception of the control on corruption: empirical evidence from panel data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 2005-2037, April.
    20. Dreher, Axel & Kotsogiannis, Christos & McCorriston, Steve, 2007. "Corruption around the world: Evidence from a structural model," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 443-466, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:116:y:2013:i:1:p:139-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.