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

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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik, Mikkelsen, Kim Sass, Schuster, Christian
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2018
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49893/
_version_ 1848798104147460096
author Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik
Mikkelsen, Kim Sass
Schuster, Christian
author_facet Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik
Mikkelsen, Kim Sass
Schuster, Christian
author_sort Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description 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.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:14:28Z
format Article
id nottingham-49893
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:14:28Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Wiley-Blackwell
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-498932020-05-04T19:30:36Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49893/ Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik Mikkelsen, Kim Sass Schuster, Christian 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. Wiley-Blackwell 2018-02-04 Article PeerReviewed Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik, Mikkelsen, Kim Sass and Schuster, Christian (2018) Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't. Public Administration . ISSN 0033-3298 (In Press)
spellingShingle Meyer-Sahling, Jan-Hinrik
Mikkelsen, Kim Sass
Schuster, Christian
Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title_full Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title_fullStr Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title_full_unstemmed Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title_short Civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
title_sort civil service managament and corruption: what we know and what we don't
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49893/