IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v37y2025i1d10.1057_s41287-024-00671-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Patronage and the Labour Market Experience of High-Skilled Workers: Mixed Methods Evidence from Sierra Leone

Author

Listed:
  • Jamelia Harris

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

This paper explores how political patronage can affect the labour market experience of high-skilled workers, and how jobseekers respond in such instances. A budding, primarily quantitative, literature has assessed corruption and labour market outcomes, but little has been written on how agents navigate corrupt practices and political patronage in the labour market. A mixed methods design is used, drawing on survey and focus group data from Sierra Leone. Findings show that when recruitment decisions are influenced by political connections ahead of merit, there is wide perceptions of unfairness in the labour market. Political patronage and corrupt practices in the labour market affect the allocation of jobs, how long it takes for some jobseekers to find jobs, and the quality of the match. Jobseekers respond to such practices by reducing job search and/or limiting search to particular sectors and jobs. In Sierra Leone, this primarily emerges as the development sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Jamelia Harris, 2025. "Political Patronage and the Labour Market Experience of High-Skilled Workers: Mixed Methods Evidence from Sierra Leone," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 37(1), pages 241-262, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:37:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41287-024-00671-8
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-024-00671-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-024-00671-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-024-00671-8?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. Rafael Di Tella & Alberto Ades, 1999. "Rents, Competition, and Corruption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 982-993, September.
    2. Lori Beaman & Niall Keleher & Jeremy Magruder, 2018. "Do Job Networks Disadvantage Women? Evidence from a Recruitment Experiment in Malawi," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 121-157.
    3. Jamelia Harris, 2023. "Exploring donor-driven skills development as a channel of continued aid dependency," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 1249-1268, June.
    4. Benjamin A. Olken & Rohini Pande, 2012. "Corruption in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 479-509, July.
    5. Jamie M. Sommer, 2020. "Corruption and Health expenditure: A Cross-National Analysis on Infant and Child Mortality," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 690-717, July.
    6. Marcelo Arbex & Dennis O'Dea & David Wiczer, 2019. "Network Search: Climbing The Job Ladder Faster," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(2), pages 693-720, May.
    7. Bukari, Chei & Seth, Suman & Yalonetkzy, Gaston, 2024. "Corruption can cause healthcare deprivation: Evidence from 29 sub-Saharan African countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Fields, Gary S., 2011. "Labor market analysis for developing countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 16-22.
    9. Katherine Casey, 2015. "Crossing Party Lines: The Effects of Information on Redistributive Politics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2410-2448, August.
    10. Tony Addison & Oliver Morrissey & Finn Tarp, 2017. "The Macroeconomics of Aid: Overview," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(7), pages 987-997, July.
    11. Jakob Svensson, 2005. "Eight Questions about Corruption," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 19-42, Summer.
    12. Colin C. Williams & Abbi M. Kedir, 2016. "The Impacts Of Corruption On Firm Performance: Some Lessons From 40 African Countries," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(04), pages 1-18, December.
    13. Casey, Katherine, 2015. "Crossing Party Lines: The Effects of Information on Redistributive Politics," Research Papers 3299, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    14. Daniel Suryadarma, 2012. "How corruption diminishes the effectiveness of public spending on education in Indonesia," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 85-100, April.
    15. Arlette Beltrán, 2016. "Does corruption increase or decrease employment in firms?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 361-364, March.
    16. Beam, Emily A., 2016. "Do job fairs matter? Experimental evidence on the impact of job-fair attendance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 32-40.
    17. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2005. "Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of growth?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 69-97, January.
    18. Tassier, Troy & Menczer, Filippo, 2008. "Social network structure, segregation, and equality in a labor market with referral hiring," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 514-528, June.
    19. Jamelia Harris, 2023. "Occupational Preferences of Skilled Workers in the Presence of a Large Development Sector," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(3), pages 342-359, March.
    20. Bukari, Chei & Seth, Suman & Yalonetkzy, Gaston, 2024. "Corruption can cause healthcare deprivation: evidence from 29 sub-Saharan African countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122806, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Lim, King Yoong, 2019. "Modelling the dynamics of corruption and unemployment with heterogeneous labour," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 98-117.
    22. Vittorio Bassi & Aisha Nansamba, 2022. "Screening and Signalling Non-Cognitive Skills: Experimental Evidence from Uganda," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 471-511.
    23. Marcel Fafchamps & Julien Labonne, 2017. "Do Politicians’ Relatives Get Better Jobs? Evidence from Municipal Elections," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 268-300.
    24. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek, 2018. "The effect of corruption on labour market outcomes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 207-218.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lurdes Martins & Jorge Cerdeira & Aurora A.C. Teixeira, 2020. "Does corruption boost or harm firms’ performance in developing and emerging economies? A firm‐level study," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 2119-2152, August.
    2. Jamelia Harris, 2023. "Opting out of public sector employment: Gender and occupational aspirations among university graduates in Sierra Leone," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(5), pages 897-914, July.
    3. Ha, Le Thanh & Thanh, To Trung & Thang, Doan Ngoc & Anh, Pham Thi Hoang, 2021. "Bribery, export decisions, and institutional constraints: Evidence from cross-country firm-level data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 585-612.
    4. Auer Daniel & Römer Friederike & Tjaden Jasper, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    5. repec:hhs:bofitp:2009_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Marcus Dejardin & Hélène Laurent, 2024. "Entry-regulation and corruption: grease or sand in the wheels of entrepreneurship? Fresh evidence according to entrepreneurial motives," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1223-1272, March.
    7. Yu Yan & Shusen Qi, 2021. "I Know What I Need: Optimization of Bribery," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 311-332, November.
    8. Pérez-Oviedo, Wilson & Cajas-Guijarro, John & Pinzón-Venegas, Kathia, 2024. "Corruption, unemployment, and clientelism: A Political Economy approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    9. Goel, Rajeev K. & Korhonen, Iikka, 2011. "Exports and cross-national corruption: A disaggregated examination," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 109-124, March.
    10. Auer, Daniel & Römer, Friederike & Tjaden, Jasper, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-1.
    11. Jun Hu, 2021. "Asymmetric punishment, Leniency and Harassment Bribes in China: a selective survey," Working Papers hal-03119491, HAL.
    12. Vasylyeva, Anna & Merkle, Ortrun, 2018. "Combatting corruption in higher education in Ukraine," MERIT Working Papers 2018-021, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Andreas Assiotis & Kevin Sylwester, 2013. "Do the effects of corruption upon growth differ between democracies and autocracies?," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 06-2013, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    14. Choudhury, Sanchari, 2019. "WTO membership and corruption," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Jamie Bologna & Amanda Ross, 2015. "Corruption and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Random Audit Program," Working Papers 15-05, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    16. repec:pdn:wpaper:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bertrand Venard, 2013. "Institutions, Corruption and Sustainable Development," Post-Print hal-00874275, HAL.
    18. Nam Pham Xuan & Thanh Ha Le, 2023. "Bribery and firm survival in Vietnam: Moderating effects of market competition, credit, and institutional constraints," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 1242-1269, May.
    19. Yan-Leung Cheung & P. Raghavendra Rau & Aris Stouraitis, 2021. "What Determines the Return to Bribery? Evidence from Corruption Cases Worldwide," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6235-6265, October.
    20. Gans-Morse, Jordan & Borges, Mariana & Makarin, Alexey & Mannah-Blankson, Theresa & Nickow, Andre & Zhang, Dong, 2018. "Reducing bureaucratic corruption: Interdisciplinary perspectives on what works," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 171-188.
    21. Bertrand Venard, 2013. "Institutions, Corruption and Sustainable Development," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2545-2562.
    22. Judge, William Q. & McNatt, D. Brian & Xu, Weichu, 2011. "The antecedents and effects of national corruption: A meta-analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 93-103, January.

    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:pal:eurjdr:v:37:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41287-024-00671-8. 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.palgrave-journals.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.