Corruption as an Obstacle for Doing Business in the Western Balkans: A Business Sector Perspective

This paper investigates business people’s perceptions of corruption as an obstacle for doing business and their attitudes towards corruption. It is based on a survey conducted on the sample of over 1800 business owners and managers in the Western Balkans region. Using the original survey data collected in 2010 for seven countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – the paper explores business people’s views on the ways in which the business sector is dealing with corruption as well as on the perceived role of private and government agents in curbing corruption. The factor analysis produced three distinct factors: (1) Understanding corruption as “grease in the wheels”; (2) Individual action can contribute to the curbing of corruption; (3) Corruption is a government-related issue. The main research question was whether the respondents’ attitudes towards corruption are related to the following variables: country of origin, their own corruption experience, perceptions of corruption as an obstacle for doing business and the general corruption prevalence trends. The results of the analysis of variance show that the country of origin strongly determines business people’s attitudes on corruption. Respondents with corruption experience tend to justify corruption as “grease in the wheels” more than “clean” respondents. Business people who believe that corruption is on the rise or that it poses a big obstacle for their business put greater emphasis on the government dealing with the issue of corruption than on individual or private anti-corruption initiatives. The findings provide useful policy recommendations for countries in the Western Balkans region to design a more entrepreneurship-friendly environment.corruption, business sector, attitudes and perceptions, corruption experience, Western Balkans

Corruption in Croatia: Perceptions Rise, Problems Remain

This paper examines perceptions of corruption in Croatia, its negative impacts to the development and anti-corruption measures in the context of the future accession of Croatia to the European Union. The main hypothesis of this paper is that there are high perceptions of corruption in Croatia, which is an obstacle to socio-economic development. Seizing corruption is a necessary criterion for the Croatian membership in the European Union, and the lack of effective implementation of anti-corruption policy measures makes the existing anti-corruption policy still inefficient. The corruption prevalence in Croatia is analysed from three different viewpoints. The first one examines international ranking of Croatia as a relatively highly corrupt country. This is followed by the analysis of recent survey results investigating the corruption perceptions of citizens. The third aspect considers the corruption perceptions of entrepreneurs in Croatia. Related findings point out the sectors and forms of highest corruption prevalence and the significance of corruption as an obstacle to the development of entrepreneurship. The comparison of the adopted anti-corruption measures with the EU recommendations indicates that their implementation requires more intense and continuous efforts, with political commitment being the essential factor of success. The anti-corruption policy recommendations emphasise the importance of seizing corruption for the general benefit of Croatia, and not only in the context of the future membership in the European Union

Corruption in Croatia: Perceptions Rise, Problems Remain

This paper examines perceptions of corruption in Croatia, its negative impacts to the development and anti-corruption measures in the context of the future accession of Croatia to the European Union. The main hypothesis of this paper is that there are high perceptions of corruption in Croatia, which is an obstacle to socio-economic development. Seizing corruption is a necessary criterion for the Croatian membership in the European Union, and the lack of effective implementation of anti-corruption policy measures makes the existing anti-corruption policy still inefficient. The corruption prevalence in Croatia is analysed from three different viewpoints. The first one examines international ranking of Croatia as a relatively highly corrupt country. This is followed by the analysis of recent survey results investigating the corruption perceptions of citizens. The third aspect considers the corruption perceptions of entrepreneurs in Croatia. Related findings point out the sectors and forms of highest corruption prevalence and the significance of corruption as an obstacle to the development of entrepreneurship. The comparison of the adopted anti-corruption measures with the EU recommendations indicates that their implementation requires more intense and continuous efforts, with political commitment being the essential factor of success. The anti-corruption policy recommendations emphasise the importance of seizing corruption for the general benefit of Croatia, and not only in the context of the future membership in the European Union

Ispitivanje korupcije u Hrvatskoj: povjerljivost ankete i povjerenje u institucije

In an attempt to explore the linkages between corruption surveys, underreporting corruption experiences and causes of reluctance to report corruption, this paper provides insight into solutions applied to mitigate the underreporting risks in surveying corruption experiences in Croatia. Based on the “Survey on use of public services and public integrity” conducted in Croatia in the summer of 2010, the issue of underreporting corruption is assessed here with a two-fold approach. The study first discusses the various aspects of the survey methodology applied, where the main concerns were the willingness of respondents to report corruption and their perceptions regarding risk of personal data misuse. Potential reluctance to admit involvement in corruption as a criminal act might be driven by a fear of subsequent surveillance or investigation. Further, we investigate the concerns expressed by respondents regarding the misuse of data, in particular with regard to protecting anonymity. The other issue arises from the direct survey results and refers to citizens’ attitudes and reasons for (not) reporting crime to official institutions. The analysis particularly focuses on reporting corruption experiences, both formally and informally. The results of the survey show a very high level of citizens’ opportunism and lack of public trust in institutions that might impede anti-corruption efforts in Croatia.Rad polazi od postojeće literature o anketama o korupciji, metodološkom problemu odbijanja odgovora o stvarnim iskustvima korupcije te o potencijalnim uzrocima neprijavljivanja korupcije. Studija opisuje konkretnu problematiku u anketnom ispitivanju korupcije i primijenjena rješenja kako bi se smanjio rizik davanja odgovora koji podcjenjuju stvarna korupcijska iskustva građana. Temeljem „Ankete o korištenju javnih usluga i poštenju u javnim službama“ provedenoj u Hrvatskoj u ljeto 2010. godine, u radu se problem neprijavljivanja korupcije razmatra s dva različita stajališta. Prvo se analizira spremnost anketiranih da potvrde svoje sudjelovanje u korupcijskom djelu, pri čemu odbijanje davanja odgovora može biti uzrokovano strahom od nadzora i praćenja ili kriminalističke istrage. U radu se ispituje i percipirani rizik zlouporabe osobnih podataka i mišljenje ispitanika o zaštiti anonimnosti. Drugo istraživačko pitanje izravno proizlazi iz rezultata ankete, a obrađuje stavove ispitanika i razloge neprijavljivanja kriminala službenim institucijama. Zasebno se analiziraju formalno i neformalno prijavljivanje slučajeva korupcije. Rezultati ankete pokazuju visoku razinu oportunizma građana i nedostatak povjerenja u institucije, što može predstavljati prepreku učinkovitoj provedbi antikorupcijske politike u Hrvatskoj

Public Attitudes Towards Surveillance and Privacy in Croatia

This paper investigates public attitudes towards surveillance and privacy in Croatia. It segments the respondents based on their views on surveillance and privacy, and examines differences between them with regard to their demographic characteristics. The empirical analysis is based on data obtained from a public opinion survey. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach alpha calculation, chi-square test, and cluster analysis. The factor analysis showed six distinct factors: (1) perceived surveillance effectiveness, (2) concern about being surveilled, (3) trust in privacy protection procedures, (4) concern about CCTV privacy intrusion, (5) concern about personal data manipulation, and (6) a need for surveillance enforcement. K-means cluster analysis indicated the following three groups of citizens: pro-surveillance oriented citizens, citizens concerned about being surveilled, and citizens concerned about data and privacy protection. Significant differences between the groups were found in age and education, while no significant differences exist in gender, employment status, and household income. The findings of this study support the existence of different groups of citizens regarding their attitudes towards surveillance and privacy.surveillance, privacy concern, public opinion, segmentation, demographic characteristics, Croatia

How corruption affects business results: The case of Croatia

The background of this paper is found in recent theories why corruption prevalence menaces the safety of business environment. In order to examine if exposure to corruption derogates business results of firms in Croatia we have tested the hypothesis that higher corruption perceptions of business leaders in small, medium and large firms in Croatia are associated with firms’ worse financial results. As a seminal research we measure corruption perceptions of business by employing unique data from three annual surveys conducted in more than one hundred firms in Croatia. The constructed index of corruption perceptions of business is used in the empirical analysis how higher corruption perceptions of firms in Croatia are affecting financial results in terms of total revenue per employee, net profit per employee and total sales per employee. The years of observation are 2002, 2003 and 2004. The extension of our research to three groups of small, medium and large firms in Croatia aims to separately examine the correlation between corruption perceptions indices and financial results for each group of firms. The preliminary results indicate that corruption is more affecting small firms in Croatia. Policy recommendations and lines of further research are discussed

Business, corruption and crime in Croatia ; the impact of bribery and other crime on private enterprise

Survey on business executives'/owners' experience of corruption and assessing corruption patterns by sector and business size would be a valuable source of data on corruption as an obstacle for doing business in our country. The results should serve to improve anti-corruption policy measures and incentive business climate in Croatia. Further use of data for advanced analysis and their international comparability would ensure the solid corruption statistics database and benchmarking indicators for the future. The target population surveyed in Croatia will be businesses from 4-6 main economic sectors and in three different business sizes, in terms of the number of employees. The net survey sample is 1500 repondents. Data will be collected by CATI or face-to-face CAPI assisted methods, depending on the results of the pilot survey. The fieldwork will be conducted by subcontracting market research agency. The main outputs of the project are: a database in the SPSS system, statistical tables per tabulation plan and survey report in English and Croatian. The report will be presented to the public and national stakeholders at the public launch event

How corruption affects business results: The case of Croatia

The background of this paper is found in recent theories why corruption prevalence menaces the safety of business environment. In order to examine if exposure to corruption derogates business results of firms in Croatia we have tested the hypothesis that higher corruption perceptions of business leaders in small, medium and large firms in Croatia are associated with firms’ worse financial results. As a seminal research we measure corruption perceptions of business by employing unique data from three annual surveys conducted in more than one hundred firms in Croatia. The constructed index of corruption perceptions of business is used in the empirical analysis how higher corruption perceptions of firms in Croatia are affecting financial results in terms of total revenue per employee, net profit per employee and total sales per employee. The years of observation are 2002, 2003 and 2004. The extension of our research to three groups of small, medium and large firms in Croatia aims to separately examine the correlation between corruption perceptions indices and financial results for each group of firms. The preliminary results indicate that corruption is more affecting small firms in Croatia. Policy recommendations and lines of further research are discussed

LOKALNA UPRAVA I RAZVITAK U HRVATSKOJ: JESMO LI IZGUBLJENI U TRANZICIJI?

The paper summarises major findings of the case of Croatia within the international research project Local government and development - What works and what does not? Lessons learned in Poland, Croatia and Ukraine. Based on a systematic analysis of statistical data and information, institutional development assessments and three different cases on local development strategies, this paper identifies the most important development factors and hindering constraints and derives policy recommendations for successful local economic development in Croatia.Autorice predstavljaju rezultate istraživanja na slučaju Hrvatske u okviru međunarodnog projekta Lokalna uprava i razvitak- što funkcionira, a što ne? Iskustva Poljske, Hrvatske i Ukrajine. Tri su područja analize obuhvaćena ovim radom: sustavna analiza statističkih podataka i informacija, analiza ostvarenog stupnja institucionalnog razvoja i analiza tri slučaja donošenja i implementacije razvojne strategije u Hrvatskoj. Rezultati analize ukazuju na najznačajnije čimbenike razvitka i ograničenja, a rad zaključno iznosi i preporuke mjera politike za uspješan lokalni razvitak u Hrvatskoj