Factors That Might Lead to Corruption: A Case Study on Malaysian Government Agency

Abstract

Corruption has hindered the effectiveness of customs administrations in many developing countries. In the 21st century, a new problem has arisen which is the rise of international terrorism. Usually, these criminal corruption activities will happen at the border points of a country. This is where the criminal operators offer bribes to the customs officials to allow them to smuggle illegal items into the country. This has posed a huge risk to both the internal and international securities of many countries. This paper seeks to investigate the factors that may influence corruption in organizational procedures that occur in Malaysia. Given the importance of government agency and its accountability, internal control and discretionary power, this paper focuses on these factors in the effort to combat corruption, increase moral awareness and narrow the opportunities for corrupt practices. Specifically, this study found that there are significant relationships between the level of accountability, internal control, discretionary power and the perception on corruption. The result also indicated that corruption flourishes in a situation where the accountability of agents to the principal is weak, when agents have low internal control and when the agents have great discretion.

The role of the audit in the prevention and detection of corruption events: Evidence of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games

“…Corruption is a concept that is difficult to define itself. However, there is a consensus among authors who agree that it's everywhere and, in one way or another, it's connected to the question of human behavior throughout history (Abdul, Yusoff & Mohamed, 2019;Banerjee, 2019;Liu, Moldogaziev & Mikesell, 2017). The authors state that one of the difficulties related to the definition of this topic is related to the dependence of a country's regulatory system, which may change the perception that corruption is from a legal point of view.…”

“…In general, the absence of restrictions on the managers' behavior who have the power to regulate or manage public resources leads to incentives in governments for the practice of bribery, resulting in corruption (Abdul et al, 2019;Banerjee, 2019;Liu et al, 2017).…”

Council’s Online Disclosure of Accountability Practices: Isomorphism Inquiries

“…In today's challenging global governance system, public sector organisations are plagued with increasing cases of corruption among public officials which stimulates the demand for greater accountability (Lodhia & Burritt, 2004). The excessive corruption cases in the public sector organisations are attributed to the lack of accountability practice (ACP) in the Malaysian public sector, (Abdul, Yusoff, & Mohamed, 2019) which adversely affects the administrative systems. In response to the demand for more accountable and transparent public sector organisations and government, Malaysia has undergone several reforms and revolutions at different levels of the government since the 1960s (Abdul et al, 2019), which have contributed to the acceptance of the New Public Management (NPM) model (Said, Alam, & Abd Aziz, 2015) including the use of the website.…”

“…The excessive corruption cases in the public sector organisations are attributed to the lack of accountability practice (ACP) in the Malaysian public sector, (Abdul, Yusoff, & Mohamed, 2019) which adversely affects the administrative systems. In response to the demand for more accountable and transparent public sector organisations and government, Malaysia has undergone several reforms and revolutions at different levels of the government since the 1960s (Abdul et al, 2019), which have contributed to the acceptance of the New Public Management (NPM) model (Said, Alam, & Abd Aziz, 2015) including the use of the website. The initiatives were undertaken because the Malaysian government is criticised for lack of transparency in providing information to the citizens (Khor, 2020).…”

Reasons for Non-Disclosure of Accountability Practices Information on the Website of Malaysian Local Governments

“…The lacking of accountability in the Malaysian public sector happens as a result of the increasing corruptions among public officers (Abdul, Yusoff, & Mohamed, 2019). Corruption matters because it could adversely affect not only local governments, but the entire public sector administrative system.…”