Corruption as Culturally Defined

A Cross-Cultural View of Corruption

Comment on the following sayings

Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective.

Pratibha Patil

The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.

Kurt Cobain

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism.

Joe Biden

Before you read:

Answer the following questions

- Why do some people choose corruption and others not?

Read the text

What Is Corruption?

Corruption can be defined simply as behavior that corrupts. It tends to subvert the

cultural system in which it occurs. This means that one cannot recognize corruption in a

particular society without knowing something about how that society works.

The West tends to be universalist in its outlook: every society works, or should work,

essentially the same way. Its business practices, for example, should be based on a

market system that is characterized by transparency and regulated by laws that apply

equally to all players. A country that fails to conform to this model is viewed as

underdeveloped or dysfunctional. It follows that corruption is basically the same,

whether one does business in Sweden or Sudan.

The reality, however, is that different cultures use radically different systems to get things done. Whereas Western cultures are primarily rule-based, most of the world’s cultures are relationship-based. Western business people trust the system, while people elsewhere trust their friends and family. Westerners organize their business around discrete deals that are drawn up as written contracts and enforced by a legal system. Others organize their business around personal relationships that are cemented by personal honor, friendship, or long-term mutual obligation. Loyalty to cronies is suspect behavior in Western business but represents high moral character in much of the world.

The distinction of rule-based and relationship-based systems is only one of many cultural differences, but it already creates different ethical norms.

Corruption as Culturally Defined

Since cultural systems operate differently, business practices that are corrupting in the

West may be acceptable elsewhere, even obligatory. Practices that are acceptable to

Westerners may be corrupting elsewhere. And finally, practices that are corrupting both

in the West and elsewhere may be corrupting for very different reasons. Each of these

three possibilities may be illustrated as follows.

What is corrupt in the West may be acceptable elsewhere. The classic example of the

purchasing agent illustrates this point. The Western purchasing agent is expected to

award contracts based on the quality of bids and transparently available financial

information about the bidders. An agent who favors personal friends is viewed as

corrupt, because cronyism subverts this transparency-based system. It creates a conflict

of interest: a choice that is good for the agent and his or her cronies may not be good for

the company.

In much of the world, however, cronyism is a foundation for trust. A purchasing agent

does business with friends because friends can be trusted. He or she may not even ask to

see the company financials, since this could insult the other’s honor. It is assumed that

cronies will follow through on the deal, not because they fear a lawsuit, but because they do not wish to sacrifice a valuable relationship in an economy where relationships are the key to business. In such a system it is in the company’s interest for the agent to do business with friends, and cronyism therefore presents no conflict of interest.

What is acceptable in the West may be corrupt elsewhere. Lawsuits provide an example

of this. In the West, which relies on rules and individual responsibility, lawsuits are

routine and necessary. In Japan, however, they are corrupting. Japan is a strongly

relationship-based culture in which interpersonal relations are based on maintaining

harmony. Harmony is preserved by elaborate courtesies, humility, deference to

superiors, and avoidance of confrontation. Lawsuits have no place in this system because they promote confrontation. Thus if a plane crashes, the victims’ families normally do not file suit; rather, the airline’s CEO personally apologizes to them. The apology does not indicate personal guilt as in the West but is intended to restore harmony. A dramatic illustration of this principle is provided by Shohei Nozawa’s tearful apology to employees and stockholders shortly after Yamaichi Securities declared bankruptcy.

Nozawa was not admitting guilt and in fact had just assumed his position as CEO in order to clean up a mess left by others. His aim was to restore harmony among the

stakeholders.

What is corrupt both in the West and elsewhere may be corrupt for different reasons.

Bribery, for example, is corrupting in the West because it induces people to depart from

established rules and procedures. Furthermore, if bribes become common enough, people in general may lose faith in the system and flout the rules routinely.

Bribery is also corrupting in most Confucian cultures, but for a different reason: it shortcircuits the building of relationships. China and Taiwan, for example, rely on the stability provided by long-term relationships of mutual obligation (gu ā nxì). A bribe

“buys” a relationship that lasts only until the next bribe is required.

Since there is a fine line between legitimate gu ā nxì relationships and quid-pro-quo

bribery, bribery tends to be more common in Confucian countries than in some Western

countries. An Western analogue would be litigiousness, or overuse of the legal system,

since there is an equally fine line between legitimate lawsuits and nuisance lawsuits.

Litigiousness is a form of corruption that is particularly prevalent in the United States.

Bribery can also flourish in Western countries, of course, particularly when political

upheaval or oppression break down the traditional rule-based mechanisms.