m. pecujlija i. cosic l. nesic-grubic s. drobnjak · 2017. 10. 12. · s. drobnjak mois, belgrade,...

ORIGINAL PAPER

Corruption: Engineers are Victims, Perpetratorsor Both?

M. Pecujlija • I. Cosic • L. Nesic-Grubic • S. Drobnjak

Received: 14 March 2014 /Accepted: 10 June 2014 / Published online: 17 June 2014! Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract This studywas conducted in Serbian companies on licensed engineers andin its first part included a total of 336 licensed engineerswho voluntarily completed thequestionnaires about their ethical orientation and attitudes toward corruption and inthe second part 214 engineers who participated in the first survey, who voluntarilyevaluated their company’s business operations characteristics. This study has clearlyshown that there is a direct significant influence of the engineer’s ethical orientationsand attitudes toward corruption on their evaluation of the characteristics of theirrespective companies regarding business operations. This research also clearly showsthat only engineers with a strong deontological orientation, low ethical subjectivity,and strong readiness to fight corruption, low corruption acceptance and high aware-ness of corruption can successfully fight corruption, improve the business operationsof their companies and make beneficial changes to society. Otherwise, they should beconsidered as corruption perpetrators, not just as its victims.

Keywords Corruption ! Ethics ! Job satisfaction ! Business operations

Introduction (Verba volant, scripta manent1)

The Royal Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with the Engineering Counciland a number of the leading professional engineering institutions, has created a

M. Pecujlija (&) ! I. Cosic ! L. Nesic-GrubicFaculty of Technical Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, Novi Sad, Serbiae-mail: [email protected]

S. DrobnjakMoIS, Belgrade, Serbia

1 ‘‘Spoken words fly away, written words remain’’.

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Sci Eng Ethics (2015) 21:907–923DOI 10.1007/s11948-014-9569-1

http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11948-014-9569-1&domain=pdfhttp://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11948-014-9569-1&domain=pdf

Statement of Ethical Principles to which it believes all professional engineers andrelated bodies should subscribe.’’

Also, the Royal Academy of Engineering states that: ‘‘Professional Engineerswork to enhance the welfare, health and safety of all whilst paying due regard to theenvironment and the sustainability of resources. They have made personal andprofessional commitments to enhance the wellbeing of society through theexploitation of knowledge and the management of creative teams.’’ One of theaspects of this statement is that Professional Engineers should adopt the higheststandards of professional conduct, openness, fairness and honesty. They shouldavoid deceptive acts, take steps to prevent corrupt practices or professionalmisconduct, and declare conflicts of interest, reject bribery or improperinfluence…’’

The main purpose of this paper is to show that engineers are not just victims ofcorruption, they should also be considered as corruption perpetrators (likemanagers). In addition, this paper strives to show that there is direct link betweenthe engineers’ ethical orientation coupled with his/her attitude toward corruptionand their company‘s business operations working characteristics. According toBasart and Serra (2013), it seems to be a frequent practice in academic papers totransform any analysis of professional ethics into a study of ethics of the respectiveprofessional. Whenever this transformation occurs in engineering, the outcome isthat engineering ethics becomes engineers’ ethics. They noticed that due to the factthat this shift is so subtle and common it quite often goes unnoticed. The intention ofthis paper is clear: to examine the relations between the engineers’ ethicalorientations coupled with their attitudes toward corruption with their company’sbusiness operations characteristics. So, this paper deals with the interaction betweenthe ethics purported by engineers and the ethical environment these engineersexperience when working for their company.2

Abusus optimi pessimus3

This research follows Collins et al. (2009) idea that corrupt behaviour may becomeaccepted practice within organizations and that corruption may become institution-alized in firms and rationalized by organization members (Anderson and Jap 2005).

Collins et al. (2009) states that social relations influence companies throughmanagers’ actions as well as the behaviour of the rest of the employees in company(Adler and Kwon 2002). Individuals develop personal relationships with othersthrough mutual interaction, which Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) describe as the

2 Basart and Serra (2013) wrote: ‘‘Engineering is more than what engineers do in their work. Whileworking there is always a private or a public organization by whom the engineer is employed. Thisorganization is a more or less complex entity where many stakeholders, interests, and boundaries(external as well as internal) interrelate. Suppliers also play a role as another organization with ananalogous structure. Laws and public regulations establish what is allowed and what is forbidden. Finally,the result of his or her work is delivered and acts upon the client or society who had previouslycommissioned, under certain conditions, a specific product or service’’.3 ‘‘The corruption of the best is the worst’’.

908 M. Pecujlija et al.

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‘‘personal positioning’’ of an individual. The positioning of individuals within theirfamilies, business organizations or other relationships creates identification with agiven group, which leads to sharing the same norms, building of trust, whileexpectations or obligations are formed to provide support to the rest of the group(Uzzi 1997). Literature in the field of management emphasizes the importance oftop managers and their social relationships to the strategic choices of the businessorganization (Baumer 2007). Understanding of interpersonal interaction is crucial tounderstanding the causes of criminal behaviour (Sutherland and Cressey 1974).Collins also writes (2009) that the need for obtaining official approval from stateinstitutions in order to receive potentially profitable contracts for public works andprocurement has long been recognized as a generator of corruption (De Soto 2000).The establishment of formal and informal procedures for issuing various permitscan be initiated by bureaucrats, who want to be paid for their position, in order toobtain the issuance of the required permit. Additionally, some companies mayattempt to use corruption and bribery in an attempt to avoid or speed up the issuanceof a permit (Martin et al. 2007). In any case, for corruption to occur, there are somenegotiations involved to a certain degree, as well as the interaction between the stateand a company. Researchers support such a characterization of corruption. It isproven that the amount of time that managers spend in discussions with governmentofficials is precisely proportional to the volume of corrupt transactions. This is alongthe lines of Basart and Serra (2013) claims that the quality of engineers work, thedegree of responsibility they are willing to take, and the commitment to goodservice, is influenced by the elements named above. As they claim, engineers are nota singularity inside engineering; they exist and operate as a node in a complexnetwork of mutual relationships with many other nodes.

Corruptio optimi cuiusque pessima4

According to Rabl and Kuhlmann (2011), the model of corrupt activity (in this caseengineer‘s corrupt activity) includes the following components and relationships:

1. Desire to achieve a personal or professional goal2. Impact of the expected positive and negative emotions

The level of desire depends on the expected positive and negative emotionsregarding the achievement of the goal. When considering whether to act or not,people take into account the emotional consequences of achieving, as well as failingto achieve the desired goal. These emotions have the power of motivation (Peruginiand Bagozzi 2004) and encourage decision-making as part of a general process ofself-regulation. The power of the expected emotions associated with achieving orfailing to achieve a goal influences the desire for the goal in both cases (Bagozziet al. 2003).

4 ,,The best things, when corrupted, become the worst‘‘.

Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both? 909

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3. Intention to achieve a personal or professional goal

The desire to achieve a personal or professional goal must be converted into theintention. This transition from indulgent state of deliberation into a solid sense ofcommitment is described through the metaphor ‘‘Crossing the Rubicon’’ (Heck-hausen 1987) and occurs in the phase prior to action, as stated in the Rubicon Modelof Action Phases (Gollwitzer 1990; Heckhausen 1987). Compared to intentions,desires are understood as something less feasible by the one who is deciding, lessassociated with action, and carried out over a longer period of time (Perugini andBagozzi 2004).

4. Influence of goal feasibility

People consider how difficult it is to achieve particular goals. They investigatewhether they can achieve these goals through their own actions, whether thecontexts of their surrounding circumstances are mitigating or aggravating factors, aswell as whether they will have the necessary resources or opportunities at theirdisposal (Gollwitzer 1990). Several empirical findings have proven the existence ofthis linear function between the difficulty of achieving a goal and the performance,which stops when a subject reaches the limits of his abilities, when it is very difficultto achieve the goal.

5. Desire to achieve a personal or professional goal through corrupt action

When an intention regarding the goal is formed, plans are developed on how toachieve it. In our case, one of the ways of doing this via corrupt activity. In theModel of Effortful Decision Making and Enactment (Bagozzi et al. 2003), the desireto enact is caused by the goal intention. If there is the significant intent to achievethe personal or professional goal, it can be assumed that this will result in a certaindesirability of resorting to corrupt action.

6. Influence of attitude and subjective norms

According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour the stronger intention of anindividual to decide on the behaviour leads to attitudes and subjective norms morefavourable in relation to the given behaviour. Bagozzi et al. (2003) find thatattitudes and subjective norms influence intentions only to the extent to which theylead towards the desire to act. The desires function as mediating variables betweenthe attitude and subjective norm on one hand, and the intention on the other(Perugini and Bagozzi 2001).

7. Intention to achieve a personal or professional goal through corrupt action

For non-routine goals, the important components of the Rubicon Model are thegoal intention and the implementation intention. While expressing the goalintention, the commitment of an individual making a decision to achieve a selectedgoal, is formed as a consequence of a conscious process in which all of the availablepossibilities are individually assessed in terms of their desirability and feasibility,the implementation intention is the selection of an implementation plan, whichconsiders and shapes the details regarding when, where, how and for how long to


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perform an activity aimed at achieving a goal, in the implementation of decisions(Bagozzi et al. 2003). Similar to the formation of the goal, intention from the desireto achieve a goal described in the previous text, the desire for implementationresults in implementation intentions after ‘‘Crossing the Rubicon’’ and refers to theintensity and the extent of the tendency towards the particular way of achieving thegoal (Bagozzi et al. 2003).

8. Influence of perceived behavioural control

Whether an implementation intention will be formed depends on the anticipateddifficulties. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1991) states the perceivedbehavioural control as a concept that refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of acertain behaviour, which implies taking into account past experiences, as well as theanticipated limitations and obstacles. It is used to explain behaviour in which peoplehave incomplete control over their will. When it comes to corrupt activities, it canbe assumed that there is an incomplete control of the will, because it is influencedby outside factors, such as the probability of being caught (Carrillo 1999) and theseverity of prescribed punishment. Moreover, the perceived behavioural controldepends on the transaction costs that occur before, during and after the corruptrelationship (Lambsdorff 2002).

9. Corrupt action

According to the Model of Action Phases whether the intention that occurs in thephase prior to action, turns into action in the action phase, depends on the strengthof the will (Buchan 2005). The more committed the persons are to achieve the goal;the more likely they are to be actually engaged in appropriate actions. The studiesconducted by Brandstatter et al. (2001) show that implementation intentions lead toimmediate initiation of action directed towards achieving a goal when confrontedwith the given situation or opportunity.

In order to to examine the relations between the engineers’ ethical orientationscoupled with their attitudes toward corruption (predictors of their corrupt activity)with their company’s business operations characteristics, we state these researchhypotheses (Fig. 1):

H1 There is the significant influence of the engineers’ moral orientation on thebusiness operations characteristics of their companies.

H2 There is the significant influence of the engineers’ attitude towards corruptionon business operations characteristics of their companies.

Research

Sampling and Data Collection

In the first part of the study the link to the survey was sent by e-mail to licensedengineers from more than 200 companies in Serbia (their e-mail addresses wereobtained from the Serbian Chamber of Engineers). The number of usable returned


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surveys was 336 giving us an effective response rate of 59 %. The study includesthe total of 336 engineers, who voluntarily completed the questionnaires used in thestudy (Ethical Orientation, and Attitudes Toward Corruption). In the second part ofthis study we asked these participants (336 engineers who completed survey) toevaluate their firms’ business operations characteristics. The number of usablereturned surveys was 214 giving us an effective response rate of 64 %. That way weavoided cross-sectional data (Podsakoff et al. 2003). One of the issues of greatestconcern for this research was whether the responses gathered are truthful or not. Thesensitive nature of the subject of corruption could cause respondents to give sociallyacceptable, rather than truthful, responses. Having in mind that we have just sent alink that provided for total anonymity of respondents. The control questions werealso included in each questionnaire.

Measures

Ethical Orientations

An Ethical Orientation Questionnaire (EOQ) (Pecujlija et al. 2011) consists of theeight Likert-type items, where each item of the questionnaire refers to one particularethical orientation. The basic idea of the questionnaire is that all of the includedethical orientations are simultaneously present in every respondent, and thatdifferences among people in ethical orientations precisely derive from thosesimultaneous differences. This instrument is quite reliable considering its alphacoefficient (0.83). Considering the initial idea of the research on the simultaneouspresence of the ethical orientations of different intensities in the respondents, theEOQ obtained results were subjected to the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Theengineers‘ ethical orientation is reflected in the simultaneous effects of two factors:OBLIGATION FOR MORAL ACTION (deontological aspect of engineers‘morality) and SUBJECTIVITY as reflection of engineers‘ real ethical normsthat they claimed in their real life (see ‘‘Appendix’’: Tables 2 and 3).

Fig. 1 Research model. Note:Moral: Engineers ethicalorientations. Corrupt: Engineersattitudes toward corruption.WC: Business operations


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Attitudes Towards Corruption

The Questionnaire on the attitudes towards corruption consists of the 26 Likert-typeitems relating to the Model of Corrupt Activity. The questionnaire on therespondents’ attitudes towards corruption is an ad hoc research instrument relatingto the respondents’ attitudes towards corruption, their own corrupt behaviour, aswell as the social attitudes towards corruption (ethical climate), alpha = 0.84. Theintention was to reduce these 26 items to the very essence of the engineers’ attitudestowards corruption, thus the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied again.Considering the content of the projected Questionnaire items (see ‘‘Appendix’’:Tables 4 and 5) first extracted factor was named THE AWARENESS OFCORRUPTION. This factor should be treated as the cognitive aspect of theengineer’s attitude toward corruption. Given the content of the ten Questionnaireitems projected onto the second extracted factor, this factor was named THEREADINESS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION (the engineers‘ will). Considering thecontent of the Questionnaire items that project onto the third extracted factor, thisfactor was named THE ACCEPTANCE OF CORRUPTION (engineers‘ emotionalreaction to existing corruption).

Business Operations Characteristics

The questionnaire on the performance and output value assessment is an ad hocresearch instrument, which refers to the engineers’ assessment of the followingcharacteristics of the system in which they are employed: Quality, Effectiveness,Work Capability, Performance and Efficiency.5 This instrument is highly reliableconsidering its alpha coefficient (0.92).

Results

We used the variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach (Kock2010) to test our hypothesized model (Fig. 1), where the engineers‘ ethicalorientations coupled with their attitudes toward corruption directly effects thebusiness operations characteristics of their companies. The hypotheses wereexamined through investigation of the path coefficients and the total effect sizes(Cohen 1992) of the constructs in the final model.

5 PERFORMANCE are the effects of work per unit of the time, QUALITY is a degree of how good theproduct is, as a result of work. The measure of quality in industrial systems is determined by the product’sfunction, the accuracy of its dimensions and shape, as well as the degree of customer satisfaction and thesimilar parameters. EFFECTIVENESS is a complex indicator of the system quality, in the terms of theability to perform the goal function, within a given period of time, and in the given environmentalconditions. EFFICIENCY represents the ratio of the output value units against of the input value units. Anefficient enterprise may not necessarily be an effective one, simply because it can be effective in activitiesthat are not of the essential importance for it. WORK CAPABILITY represents the potential capacity ofthe participants in the work process. The degree of utilization of the potential capacity is subject to theeffects of legal limitations, established work mode, and satisfaction of the work participants and theirposition in the work process.


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In this case, the fit indices were satisfactory (APC = 0.224, p\ 0.001;ARS = 0.360, p\ 0.001; AVIF = 2.729), suggesting the data is a good fit withthe proposed model. In addition, AVIF is based on the variance inflation factors(VIFs) calculated for each latent variable in the relation to all of the other latentvariables, revealing if there is multicollinearity among variables in the model. Thefindings (Fig. 2), depicting standardized path coefficients showed that all predictedpaths show significance, for the proposed model. Hypothesis 1 predicted that all twocomponents of an engineer’s ethical orientations would have positive effects oncompanies’ business operations characteristics. This path from ethical orientation(Moral) to business operations (WC) had a significant respective p value (b = 0.18,p\ 0.01) and the effect size appeared to be medium (0.05). The significant pathcoefficient was also associated with the relationship between the engineers attitudestoward corruption (Corrupt) and business operations characteristics (b = -0.27;p\ 0.01). Cohen’s f-squared effect size coefficient value for this path coefficientwas 0.08, suggesting that the hypothesized effect was also relevant (Cohen 1992).This finding supported the second hypothesis, suggesting that the engineers’attitudes toward corruption significantly contribute to their companies’ businessoperations. A minus in front of this path coefficient means that engineers are awareof the sad fact that without corruption nothing is possible. So we can say thatcorruption became an integral part of their companies’ business operationscharacteristics.

Detailed analysis (Table 1) shows that the following variables have a statisticallysignificant impact on the engineer‘s assessment of the QUALITY: the obligation ofethical behaviour (Beta = 0.29 p = 0.00), subjectivity of ethical norms (Beta =-0.15 p = 0.00) and the readiness to fight corruption (Beta = -0.22 p = 0.00).

The obligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.247 p = 0.000) and readiness tofight corruption (Beta = -0.195 p = 0.001) are statistically significant predictorsof the engineer‘s assessment of the EFFICIENCY. Table 1 clearly shows that thesignificant predictors of the engineer‘s assessment of the WORK CAPABILITY arethe obligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.205 p = 0.000) and the readiness tofight corruption (Beta = -0.200 p = 0.001). The following variables have astatistically significant impact on the assessment of the PERFORMANCE: theobligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.33 p = 0.00), subjectivity of ethicalstandards (Beta = -0.20 p = 0.00) and the readiness to fight corruption (Beta =-0.27 p = 0.00). The EFFECTIVENESS significant predictor is the engineersobligation for ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.20, p = 0.00).

Discussion (Labor Omnia vincit improbus6)

The results show that the engineers‘ ethical orientation coupled with their attitudestowards corruption, have a real impact on their assessment of the businessoperations characteristics of their companies.

6 Steady work overcame all things, Vergilius.


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If we observe each characteristic separately, we can see, when speaking ofQUALITY, that the obligation for ethical behaviour is proven to be thesignificant predictor in the assessment of this business operations characteristic.This result suggests that only strong and clear moral principles can be a reliablebarrier to the engineer‘s corrupt behaviour (simply, their strong deontologicalorientation). One very interesting finding is that the lower the readiness of ourrespondents to fight corruption, the higher is their assessment of this businessoperation. This is a seemingly contradictory finding, but it basically shows howimportant a proper ethical climate is within the companies and in society, ingeneral.

The statistically significant predictors in the assessment of the EFFICIENCY,PERFORMANCE and the WORK CAPABILITY are almost identical to thepredictors of the QUALITY.

Discussing the impact of corruption on the EFFECTIVENESS the situationappears to be much simpler than when it comes to other business operationscharacteristics. Considering that the working system with pronounced efficiencydoes not necessarily have to be effective, and that the EFFECTIVENESS isdiscussed through the operational readiness of a system, as well as its reliability andflexibility, it is very indicative that the statistically significant predictor of thisbusiness operation is only the obligation for ethical behaviour. Based on theobtained research results, we can say:

1. The engineers ethical orientations coupled with their attitudes towardscorruption represents the immediate indicators of their companies businessoperations characteristics;

2. If engineers express a high degree of acceptance of the corruption that indicatesa poor ethical climate in their societies, companies, their moral disengagementor all three;

Fig. 2 SEM results. Note:Moral: Engineers ethicalorientations. Corrupt: Engineersattitudes toward corruption.WC: Business operations


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3. If engineers possesses a low level of the readiness to fight corruption (so theengineers cannot be just declarative ethical) this suggests to us that we treatthem not just as the victims of corruption, but as corruption perpetrators as well;

4. ‘‘An Ideal Engineer’’ has to have a strong deontological orientation, low ethicalsubjectivity, strong readiness to fight corruption, low corruption acceptance and highawareness of corruption.Only this kindof the engineer is able to improve the businessoperations characteristics of their company and make beneficial changes to society.

Conclusions, Limitations and Directions for Further Research (Faber est suaequisque fortunae7)

Considering the size of the respondent sample, its demographic characteristics, aswell as the companies that are the subjects of our research, we must be very cautious

Table 1 Business operations predictors

Coefficientsa

Model Unstandardizedcoefficients

Standardizedcoefficients

t Sig. Collinearitystatistics

B Std. error Beta Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) 4.49 .21 20.79 .00

Obligation .14 .02 .29 5.84 .00 .77 1.29

Subjectivity -.07 .02 -.15 -3.07 .00 .78 1.28

Readiness to fight corruption -.10 .02 -.22 -4.06 .00 .67 1.47

Dependent variable: quality

1 (Constant) 3.49 .19 18.28 .00

Obligation .10 .02 .24 4.62 .00 .77 1.29


Dependent variable: efficiency

1 (Constant) 3.69 .17 20.62 .00

Obligation .07 .02 .20 3.77 .00 .77 1.29


Dependent variable: work capability

1 (Constant) 4.18 .25 16.19 .00

Obligation .21 .02 .33 7.47 .00 .77 1.29

Subjectivity -.13 .02 -.20 -4.71 .00 .78 1.28


Dependent variable: performance

1 (Constant) 4.05 .31 13.05 .00

Obligation .07 .03 .12 2.10 .03 .77 1.29

Dependent variable: effectiveness

7 ,,Every man is the artisan of his own fortune’’.


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in the generalization of the obtained results. The obtained results representsubjective assessments of our respondents, it is, above all, necessary to deepen theresearch methodology in order to make measurements of the system’s businessoperations characteristics as objective as possible, so that the results of futureresearch are more reliable as well. Likewise, it is necessary to conduct similarresearch on a much more differentiated sample of companies and engineers (not justlicensed), and to clearly operationalize the presence or absence of both individualand systemic corruption.

To conclude this paper, the following words by Spier and Bird (2014) best fit:‘‘Science and Engineering Ethics encourages behaviours that do not simply rely oncompliance with the ‘‘letter of the law’’, but which go beyond that level to pave theway for the implementation of modes of being which people aspire to achieve in theinterest of improving their societies.’’

But one question still remains: how does one create the ‘‘ideal engineer’’ (onewith strong deontological orientation, low ethical subjectivity, strong readiness tofight corruption, low corruption acceptance and high awareness of corruption)?

Acknowledgments The authors thank the editor and the anonymous referees for their valuablecomments and suggestions on a previous version of this paper.

Appendix

See Tables 2, 3, 4, 5.

Table 2 The Ethical Orientations Questionnaire Eigenvalues

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction sums of squaredloadings

Rotation sums of squaredloadings

Total % ofvariance

Cumulative(%)

Total % ofvariance

Cumulative(%)

Total % ofvariance

Cumulative(%)

1 1.93 24.20 24.20 1.93 24.20 24.20 1.91 23.90 23.90

2 1.85 23.12 47.32 1.85 23.12 47.32 1.87 23.42 47.32

3 .89 12.45 59.77

4 .81 10.14 69.92

5 .77 9.63 79.55

6 .65 8.14 87.69

7 .54 6.76 94.45

8 .44 5.54 100.00

Extraction method: principal component analysis.

From the Table 2, it can be seen that the two factors were obtained with the eigenvalues higher than 1. Itis interesting to note that the eigenvalue of the third factor is almost 1, its value is 0.89, but consideringthe given criteria it was not taken into account, although if we did, we would have obtained a much higherpercentage of explained variance of the observed phenomenon. On the other hand, primary goal is toobserve the stable factor structure of the phenomenon in the research


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Tab

le3

TheEthical

OrientationQuestionnaire

rotatedfactors

Component

12

Moralisthat

whichis

goodforme

.23

.38

Ibelievethat

itisnecessary

todoto

otherswhat

youwould

likethem

todoto

you

.80

-.17

Itissufficientto

abidebythelaw

inorder

tobemoral

-.16

.77

Itisnecessary

todogoodnomatterwhat

consequencesitmay

haveforme

.54

.15

Amoralprocedure

isonethat

also

considerstheinterestsofothers

.66

-.14

Morality

isaverysubjectivecategory,andamatterofpersonal

taste

-.17

.73

Moralisthat

whichdoes

more

goodthan

harm

.26

.65

Thereexistsauniversalmoral

truth

that

weshouldallabideto

.58

.30

Extraction

method:

principal

componentanalysis.

Rotationmethod:

varim

axwithKaisernorm

alization.

Consideringthecontentoftheprojected

Questionnaire

item

sonto

thefirstextractedfactor,thisfactorisnam

edTHEOBLIG

ATIO

NFORMORALACTIO

N.According

tothecontentoftheprojected

Questionnaire

item

sonto

thesecondextractedfactor,thisfactoris

nam

edTHESUBJECTIV

ITY

Throughtheprincipal

componentsmethodandthecriterionoftakinginto

accountonly

those

factors

whichhaveacharacteristic

rootgreater

than

2,threefactors

were

singledout.This

increasedstrictnessoftheextractioncriterionis

meant

tosingle

outastrong

factorstructure

oftheobserved

phenom

enon,despitethefact

that

the

obtained

model

loose

alittle

onitsexplanatorypower


123

Tab

le4

Theattitudes

towardcorruptionQuestionnaire

Eigenvalues

Component

Initialeigenvalues

Extractionsumsofsquared

loadings

Rotationsumsofsquared

loadings

Total

%ofvariance

Cum

ulative

(%)

Total

%ofvariance

Cumulative(%

)Total

%ofvariance

Cum

ulative

(%)

15.14

19.77

19.77

5.14

19.77

19.77

4.73

18.19

18.19

22.87

11.05

30.83

2.87

11.05

30.83

3.13

12.04

30.24

32.16

8.32

39.16

2.16

8.32

39.16

2.31

8.91

39.16

41.88

7.24

46.40

51.18

4.56

50.96

61.14

4.39

55.35

71.06

4.10

59.46

8.91

3.50

62.96

9.88

3.40

66.36

10

.86

3.30

69.67

11

.72

2.77

72.44

12

.69

2.68

75.12

13

.67

2.60

77.73

14

.64

2.46

80.19

15

.60

2.33

82.53

16

.56

2.16

84.70

17

.54

2.11

86.81

18

.53

2.07

88.89

19

.48

1.84

90.73

20

.42

1.64

92.38

21

.40

1.53

93.92

22

.37

1.43

95.35

23

.34

1.31

96.67


123

Tab

le4continued

Component

Initialeigenvalues

Extractionsumsofsquared

loadings

Rotationsumsofsquared

loadings

Total

%ofvariance

Cum

ulative

(%)

Total

%ofvariance

Cumulative(%

)Total

%ofvariance

Cum

ulative

(%)

24

.31

1.19

97.87

25

.29

1.11

98.98

26

.26

1.01

100.00

Extraction

method:

principal

componentanalysis

Therearethreeobtained

factors

withtheeigenvalues

higher

than

2


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Table 5 The attitudes toward Corruption Questionnaire rotated factors

Component

1 2 3

Corruption represents the biggest obstacle to the development of our society .07 .43 .39

In a poor society, only the one accepting should be held responsible .05 .39 .05

I consider it acceptable to give gifts to those who help me -.08 .03 .39

Corruption is equally present in all countries .01 .21 .45

Corruption is justified if it allows for faster resolution of major projects ofsociety or an organization

.17 .70 -.05

Corruption is viewed negatively only by people who are not in a position toeither give or accept bribes

-.00 .39 -.08

The penalties for corruption need to be much harsher -.00 .58 .34

Corrupt transactions in the majority of cases cannot be proven .13 -.11 .46

Corruption is the best indicator of the deterioration of values and moralprinciples of a society

.15 -.12 .56

People who work on exposing corruption should be provided with protection -.02 -.06 .62

Many people need to turn to their own jobs, rather than pay attention to who isbribing whom, cheating and similar

.04 .51 .37

Corruption is a completely normal phenomenon in countries that are intransition

-.15 .52 .17

The media exaggerate when they point to the harmful effects of corruption .13 .58 -.04

There are few people who have not succumbed to some form of corruption -.09 -.09 .44

Corruption is traditionally characteristic of our mentality .04 .10 .54

In our country, corruption is slightly present .22 .70 .04

Overall social attitude towards bribery and corruption .29 .40 -.13

The degree of development of an anti-corruption attitude within anorganization

.59 -.04 -.05

The preventive measures undertaken by the management of an organization inthe fight corruption

.70 -.07 .03

The ethical standards of the employees .76 .07 .05

The height of the stipulated penalties for initiators of bribery and corruption .77 .19 -.03

The ability to obtain information on the work of the responsible persons withinan organization/institution

.71 .24 .01

Own professional development .56 -.05 .13

Social conditions of securing an existence solely through work .58 .18 -.07

The attention devoted within your organization to suppressing corruption .79 .09 .01

The attitude towards the occurrence of corruption in the environment in whichyou work

.77 .08 .09

Extraction method: principal component analysis

Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization

Considering the content of the projected Questionnaire items (Table 5) onto the first extracted factor, thisfactor was named AWARENESS OF CORRUPTION. Given the content of the ten Questionnaire itemsprojected onto the second extracted factor, this factor is named READINESS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION.Considering the content of the Questionnaire items that project onto the third extracted factor, this factoris called ACCEPTANCE OF CORRUPTION


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permission.

c.11948_2014_Article_9569.pdfCorruption: Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?AbstractIntroduction (Verba volant, scripta manent)Abusus optimi pessimusCorruptio optimi cuiusque pessimaResearchSampling and Data CollectionMeasuresEthical OrientationsAttitudes Towards CorruptionBusiness Operations Characteristics

ResultsDiscussion (Labor Omnia vincit improbus)Conclusions, Limitations and Directions for Further Research (Faber est suae quisque fortunae)AcknowledgmentsAppendixReferences

m. pecujlija i. cosic l. nesic-grubic s. drobnjak · 2017. 10. 12. · s. drobnjak mois, belgrade,...

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