Administrative corruption (Essay Sample)

Administrative corruption TABLE OF CONTENTS TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc174476406 \h 32. Research Methodological Paradigm PAGEREF _Toc174476407 \h 43. Epistemology, Ontology, and Axiology PAGEREF _Toc174476408 \h 54. Research Methods PAGEREF _Toc174476409 \h 55. Data Analysis Approach PAGEREF _Toc174476410 \h 76. Approach to Writing Up PAGEREF _Toc174476411 \h 77. Ethical Considerations PAGEREF _Toc174476412 \h 88. Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc174476413 \h 8References PAGEREF _Toc174476414 \h 10 1. Introduction Administrative corruption is still a major issue in public administration worldwide, and greatly impacts governance, economic development, and people's trust (Darwish, 2024). The past literature presents numerous facets and extensions of corruption, including detailed accounts of its causes, consequences, and operational techniques. (Schomaker, 2020) However, most of the research carried out has been done under this broader definition of corruption with little emphasis on administrative corruption in the public sector. This research seeks to fill this gap by focusing on administrative corruption which is specifically highlighted in government agencies or institutions. The gap in the literature which is thus defined is the absence of works that investigate factors peculiar to the administrative form of corruption as opposed to political or corporate corruption. It is therefore important to comprehend this difference in order to formulate specific measures against corruption. The study's research question is “What are the key factors that perpetuate administrative corruption within public institutions, and how can they be effectively mitigated?” An answer to this question will advance the knowledge in the field as it will help to understand the causes of administrative corruption in more detail and will provide suggestions for anti-corruption practices for policymakers. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the major factors of administrative corruption in public organizations. The goal is to determine these factors in their quantitative measure and explore them with the help of empirical evidence to derive the strategies to decrease the level of corruption and increase the institutional integrity as this study will contribute to the understanding of administrative corruption and provide insights on how to improve governance and integrity in the public sector. 2. Research Methodological Paradigm This research on administrative corruption falls under positivism research paradigm since positivism maintains that knowledge is acquired through empirical observations and that the analysis of data involves formal and statistical reasoning as this is a major principle in the social sciences especially in research that involves pattern recognition and determination of cause and effect relationships (Newman & Gough, 2020). Positivism is especially relevant in the investigation of administrative corruption since it facilitates the collection and analysis of empirical data, which is important in the identification of factors that lead to corruption within administrative organizations (Junjie & Yingxin, 2022). The application of this paradigm allows to measure and quantify the variables associated with corruption and arrive at an objective perspective as to the phenomenon and the positivism approach has the advantages of objectivity and replication which make them generalizable across different contexts; thus, the study’s recommendations can be applicable to numerous public institutions. Nevertheless, the positivist approach is not without its weaknesses. Some of the major criticisms include the fact that it might sometimes produce reifications of complex social phenomena. Administrative corruption is a complex phenomenon that depends on cultural, social, and political factors that cannot be adequately described using quantitative indices exclusively. It may therefore lack the capacity to point out these deeper but less observable or empirical factors (Junjie & Yingxin, 2022). Moreover, the emphasis on the rationality of decisions and the impossibility of being involved in a process under analysis may lead to the omission of context factors in corruption schemes that are often highly significant. However, the assets of positivism in terms of embracing empirical data and research findings as well as the capacity to generalize the results offer this study the best premise. This study ruled out other research paradigms like interpretivism and critical theory as being irrelevant for the study in progress as interpretivism, which gives preference to the individual’s subjective impression of the phenomenon, was excluded because the study aims to reveal generalizable factors influencing administrative corruption (Alharahsheh & Pius, 2020). On the other hand, critical theory, which attempts the emancipation of society, was rejected as its use may bring into the study a biasness which is in contrast to the research’s neutral approach towards practices of administrative corruption. 3. Epistemology, Ontology, and Axiology The epistemological approach of this research is associated with positivism since this paradigm presupposes that the best way to gain knowledge is through observation and measurements and this epistemology is in line with the argument that it is possible to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of administrative corruption by gathering and analyzing facts. The ontology of the study is positivist in nature since it posits that administrative corruption is actually a real entity that exists, and can be observed and quantified while based on the axiological perspective, this research is neutral in that it does not support a particular value orientation, which is typical of positivist research (Pandey & Pandey, 2021). Factors of biasness such as own beliefs and values are excluded to ensure that the results derived are purely from the data collected as this commitment to neutrality and fairness is important in maintaining accuracy of the findings of the study. 4. Research Methods To assess the factors that lead to administrative corruption, this research makes use of quantitative research approach in conducting a survey with 15 well developed questions and the survey would be conducted on 100 participants obtained from different public institutions to provide a diverse sample which increases generalizability of the results. The use of a quantitative survey method is therefore informed by the fact that a large amount of information needs to be gathered in order to search for patterns that may not readily be seen through the use of qualitative analysis as the main advantage of Survey method is that it combines the use of questionnaires to cover a large sample so that the responses can be statistically analyzed (Ghanad, 2023). In addition to that, this method could help to measure attitudes, behaviors and experiences in regards to administrative corruption followed by identification of patterns and relationships between cause and effect (Mohajan, 2020). Further, a survey entails an organized way of collecting data to minimize inconsistency, which is critical in generating accurate and comparable data. However, the survey method also has some drawbacks. Indirect question and response bias are some of the challenges that may be encountered during the research; more so in sensitive issues such as corruption where the participants may not give their best or true opinion. To address this problem, the survey questions will be formulated without any leading and biased statements, and the participants will be informed that their identity and responses will be kept confidential (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). Another weakness is that the use of closed-ended questions may not adequately capture the richness of the participants' experience or perception of matters. This limitation could be addressed by using open-ended questions so that the participants can give more elaborative answers and enrich the data collected. Methods such as interviews or case studies are included in the list of qualitative research methods but excluded in this study, although the qualitative methods are useful in understanding the context in which corruption occurs and the circumstances around the phenomenon, they are not suitable for the study aimed at establishing the patterns and generalizable factors of corruption (Taherdoost, 2022). This is the reason that the quantitative approach has been chosen for the proposed research, as it involved statistical analysis and the possibility of generalizations of the study outcomes. 5. Data Analysis Approach The data that will be retrieved from the surveys will be analyzed based on an inductive approach, which means that the findings from the specific surveys will be used to develop general conclusions and based on the proposed research questions and aim of the study, inductive approach is most suitable for this research since it helps to discover emergent patterns and structures in the collected data that may not have been generalized in advance (Pandey & Pandey, 2021). This approach is consistent with the study aims, as it seeks to identify various factors that lead to administrative corruption where as the primary method of analyzing the data obtained from the questionnaires will be the use of descriptive statistics to summarize the data collected. Measures of central tendency such as the mean, median and mode analysis are very useful in data presentation as they provide a user friendly method of data description to enable identification of diverse patterns as descriptive statistics also enables the use of graphs and charts in presenting the data, which aids the understanding of the research findings by others (Dong, 2023). Hence, use of descriptive statistics is due to requirement to present the results in a clear and underst...