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- Deontological and Consequentialist Ethics and Attitudes Towards Corruption: A Survey Data AnalysisPublication . Megías, Adrián; Sousa, Luis de; Jiménez-Sánchez, FernandoMuch of the empirical research on corruption for the past 45 years has focused on perception-based definitions and measurements. Citizens’ perceptions, their attitudes and (self)reported experiences of corruption have been widely studied through different perception-based measures obtained in surveys, interviews, and experiments applied to citizens in general, and experts, business leaders, politicians, or public officials. Notwithstanding the significant progress made to understand the complexity of citizens’ understandings, judgements and practices, we are still unable to decipher by what criteria they establish what is or is not corruption and what types of corruption are susceptible of being condemned/tolerated. This paper makes an innovative contribution to fill this gap. We propose a methodological design to identify and measure different perception-based definitions of corruption based on two contrasting normative perspectives: deontological and consequentialist ethics. We identified four groups: the Virtuous; the Intransigent; the Pragmatic; and the Hypocrite. Using survey data from a national sample of Portuguese citizens, we employ discriminant analysis and logistic regression models to differentiate individual profiles in terms of process- and outcome-based social definitions of corruption and explore the explanatory factors that account for these different conceptualisations and their different degree of tolerance towards corruption.
- Understanding corruption through the analysis of court case content: research notePublication . Sousa, Luis de; Calca, PatríciaPurpose The two main objectives of this project were to advance knowledge about the way corruption and related offences are structured and operate in society and to draw inferences on the efficiency and efficacy of the judicial authorities in handling reported offences with the ultimate goal of improving and effecting control policies. Design/methodology/approach In this research note the authors attempt to explore the relevance of judicial materials. The authors developed an analytical framework to extract information from court case decisions and analysed 838 court cases on corruption and related offences in Portuguese first instance courts for the period 2004–2008 to map the distribution of corruption and related offences, understand the anatomy of corruption as a criminal offence and learn from the judicial system's capacity to investigate, prosecute and trial reported occurrences. Findings Most corruption cases took place in the major metropolitan areas, involved municipalities as passive agents and construction companies as active agents and had to do with urban sprawl and land management policies. Court data also allowed the authors to gauge the areas or sectors of activity more exposed to corruption risks. Generally speaking, these tend to be those areas or sectors characterized by high levels of informality and clientelism, high profitability ratios deriving from political decisions, unbalanced supply-demand of decisional goods and services, disorganised and fragmented regulation, low levels of transparency and insufficient or misguided supervision. Research limitations/implications The framework for analysis is replicable in other contexts with minor adjustments. The major limitation is access to court decisions/narratives. This project was developed in partnership with the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office. This has facilitated access to those materials. For those wishing to use the database, the major limitation is that it covers only the period 2004–2008. Practical implications The court narratives confirm that in cases where the complaint is complemented by documentary, audio, video and photographic evidences collected by special investigative means the subsequent production of proof in court is more effective. The data also suggests that cases reported from inside the organisation where the offence takes place are likelier to reach the trial phase, thus reinforcing the need for diversifying and strengthening reporting mechanisms and procedures and the guarantees to those who are willing to collaborate with the auditing and investigative authorities. Social implications The authors contend that court cases of corruption and related offences yield important and useful policy-oriented information that should not be overlooked by decision-makers when upgrading their efforts to fight corruption. Originality/value This research note introduces a novel dataset on corruption court cases in Portugal. The policy significance of this dataset is threefold: (1) it provides decision-makers a more detailed mapping of the volume and distribution of corruption and related offences across the country than that provided by standard judicial statistics; (2) it fosters knowledge on key sociological aspects of the corrupt fact, thus helping decision-makers to understand better the type of actors, objectives, contexts, resources and exchanges involved and (3) it helps to understand the dynamics of judicial proceedings and how certain procedural and institutional features impact on outcomes.
- Democratic values, relative deprivation, political trust, and the resilience of corruption in Portugal: a survey analysisPublication . Clemente, Felippe; Sousa, Luis deCorruption is commonly defined as deviant behaviour that strays from established legal and formal norms, as well as expected conduct when fulfilling official duties and responsibilities. It is essential to stress that the acceptance or condemnation of such behaviour hinges primarily on how well evaluators comprehend these standards. This implies that citizens’ assessments of the impact of corruption on their lives and society are heavily influenced by the values they hold dear within a democracy and their trust in democratic institutions to uphold and safeguard those values. Based on recently collected survey data, we demonstrate that citizens’ adher ence to process-oriented democratic values, their feeling of relative deprivation and their level of political trust significantly affect their egocentric perceptions of the effects of corruption and tolerance towards corruption. Furthermore, we find that control variables, such as self-reported experiences of corruption, age, education, income, and exposure to social media, also exert a significant influence on our de pendent variables. By linking citizens’ egocentric perceived corruption effects and intolerance towards corruption with their procedural notion of democracy, feeling of relative deprivation and political trust, this study contributes to the understanding of the resilience of this intricate phenomenon in democratic societies.