Civil service management and corruption: what we know and what we don't

Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik; Mikkelsen, Kim Sass; Schuster, Christian

Abstract

Numerous studies have linked a range of economic, social, and institutional variables with corruption in government. Yet, most of this literature overlooks the management of public officials themselves. This is a relevant omission: almost all corrupt exchanges involve public officials. This article reviews studies – 36 in total – that do address civil service management and anti-corruption. It finds that prior works assess a narrow set of civil service management structures. Meritocratic recruitment and, less robustly, pay levels have been associated with lower corruption. By contrast, robust evidence on how corruption relates to other established public personnel management areas – such as distinct pay structures (rather than levels), promotion, transfer, and job stability practices – is largely unavailable. The article thus calls for research assessing the effects of a broader set of civil service management practices to gain a deeper understanding of corruption, and how to curb it.

Citation

Meyer-Sahling, J., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2018). Civil service management and corruption: what we know and what we don't. Public Administration, 96(2), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12404

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 4, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 18, 2018
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 19, 2020
• Journal: Public Administration
• Print ISSN: 0033-3298
• Electronic ISSN: 0033-3298
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 96
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 276-285
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12404
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/909603
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12404
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Meyer-Sahling J-H, Mikkelsen KS, Schuster C. Civil service management and cor-; ruption: What we know and what we don't. Public Admin. 2018;96:276–285., which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12404. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving