Attitudes to Corruption in Ukraine2013-ongoing

The corruption practices and attitudes to them are studied in two areas: business and higher education.

In the data sets from their managerial surveys conducted in 2013 (n=600) and 2015 (n=120), Elena Denisova-Schmidt and Yaroslav Prytula observe two types of corruption: one, defined as “the abuse of power by either individuals or groups for private gain,” and another in the form of the abuse of power by CEOs and general managers not obviously for their own private gain, but for the gain of other individuals or groups. Moreover, this latter abuse of power, either within or beyond the existing rules, laws and norms, often appears to be the only way to get things done in the country.

In the area of higher education, a series of experiments was conducted to study the effectiveness of anti-corruption educational campaigns among Ukrainian students in Lviv. Using two folders – one with information about the negative effects of corruption in general and in the higher educational system in particular designed by Transparency International (treatment group) and another with corruption-irrelevant information (control group) – the study suggests that such campaigns might have the opposite effect and even ‘promote’ corruption. Would the results be different if only computer-based materials, such as short videos, PowerPoint presentations or postings in social media accounts were used? The new study will investigate this and other related questions.

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