Based on empirical data from selected public universities in Khabarovsk, Russia, this paper compares first-and fifth-year students regarding their attitudes towards corruption in general and university corruption in particular. Even after making both groups of students comparable with respect to a range of socioeconomic characteristics by a matching approach, the results suggest that fifth-year students are more open to a range of informal and corrupt practices than first years. Our analysis therefore points to the possibility that the Russian higher education system might 'favour' compliance with corruption and informal practices, with potentially detrimental consequences for the Russian society as a whole. ARTICLE HISTORY

Abstract. The authors investigate the effect of anti-corruption educational materials -an informational folder with materials designed by Transparency International -on the willingness of students to participate in an anti-corruption campaign and their general judgment about corruption in two cities in Russia and Ukraine by conducting experiments. During a survey of 350 students in Khabarovsk, Russia, and 600 students in Lviv, Ukraine, young people were randomly exposed to either a folder with information about the negative effects of corruption in general and in the higher education system in particular (treatment group), or a folder with information irrelevant to corruption (control group). The effects were statistically significant in the total sample in Khabarovsk and only in some social groups in Lviv. The results might be interesting not only for scholars, but also for policy makers and practitioners.

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This paper examines how anti-corruption educational campaigns affect the attitudes of Russian university students towards corruption and academic integrity. About 2,000 survey participants were randomly assigned to one of four different information materials (brochures or videos) about the negative consequences of corruption or to a control group. Using machine learning to detect effect heterogeneity, we find that various groups of students react to the same information differently. Those who commonly plagiarize, who receive excellent grades, and whose fathers are highly educated develop stronger negative attitudes towards corruption in the aftermath of our intervention. However, some information materials lead to more tolerant views on corruption among those who rarely plagiarize, who receive average or above average grades, and whose fathers are less educated. Therefore, policy makers aiming to implement anti-corruption education at a larger scale should scrutinize the possibility of (undesired) heterogeneous effects across student groups.

The article proposes a theoretical framework for considering mesolevel social networks in terms of relational sociology. A methodological solution of restrictive construction strategies is offered in order to determine the boundaries among micro-, meso-, and macrolevel networks. The heuristic potential and interpretive properties of the mesolevel theory are shown, as well as its application limits in relational sociology