the following factors have been attributed as causes of corruption:

 Greed of money, desires.

 Higher levels of market and political monopolization
 Low levels of democracy, weak civil participation and low political transparency
 Higher levels of bureaucracy and inefficient administrative structures
 Low press freedom
 Low economic freedom
 Large ethnic divisions and high levels of in-group favoritism
 Gender inequality
 Poverty
 Political instability
 Weak property rights
 Contagion from corrupt neighboring countries
 Low levels of education
 Lack of commitment to society
 Extravagant family

According to Hallak and Poisson (2007, pp. 40-41), the main factors that explain corruption in
education are:
On the benefits side:

 The high rate of return: Because people hope to get a well-paid job through educational
degrees, some people are willing to pay bribes or engage in other corrupt practices to improve
their records on paper or gain a formal qualification. Where school funding or educator
remuneration is tied to student performance, there are strong incentives for malfeasance
among educators and principals, be it cheating or illicit agreements to attract more students.
 Low salaries of public officials and educators: In some countries, the salaries of educators
do not support even a basic livelihood, or are perceived as unfairly low relative to the
workload - which may lead educators to use their position of power to extract payments and
other benefits. As in other sectors, officials and educators may have paid a bribe to gain their
position in the first place, so continued fraudulent acts are a predictable outflow.

On the costs side:

 Weak ethical norms and poor rule of law: In places where corruption is widely prevalent,
the moral resistance to engaging in corruption is substantially reduced. This factor makes it
more difficult to fight corruption in many sectors and countries, including in those
experiencing economic crisis or political transition. Moreover, if law enforcement is known to
be weak, then punishments and the possibility of detection are virtually absent, making it
worthwhile to take part in corruption..
On the detection side:

 The complexity of education and lack of transparent governance: The multiplicity of

goals of educational institutions and the over-centralization or decentralization of decision-
making processes often make institutional rules opaque to the beneficiaries and the general
public. Accountability is diffused across many beneficiaries of education and regulating
bodies, making it unclear to whom schools and universities truly answer.
 The size and distribution of education: Schools, staff and accompanying administrations
represent resources that are usually spread across the length and breadth of countries. This
makes tracking resources more difficult and oversight of potentially corrupt conduct more
complex.

https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-9/key-issues/causes-of-corruption-in-
education.html

Causes of corruption in Business

Greed for personal gain

One of the most common causes is selfishness to obtain as much personal wealth as possible. This is
often at the expense of other individuals, and even businesses. Individual gains can take the form of
money or power especially when giving bribes.

Lack of personal morals

This simply means people know what good behaviour is, but they choose to act badly. Greediness is
often combined with this factor, as it affects people’s moral compass.

Unethical behaviour at work may persuade a colleague to follow suit. For example, bribery, a person
taking credit for work they didn’t complete, abusing power to harass someone, or hiring someone who
is a close friend all set bad examples. As a result, this promotes toxic values that employees take in.

Low awareness of the issue

If employers fail to conduct employee ABC training, it is more likely they will commit an offence.
This is because staff members are unaware of the consequences of their actions. All employers have a
legal duty to train staff members.

In addition, if employees cant spot the signs of criminal activity, they cannot report it. Therefore,
corrupting behaviour goes unnoticed, and criminals get away with it. Furthermore, under ABC laws
like the Bribery Act 2010, failure to disclose information can be considered a criminal act.

Lack of transparency

If a country or business fosters an environment where corruption is accepted and commonplace,

people will offend more. This often comes in the form of underhand government deals, or threatening
press freedoms. Furthermore, this occurs in an organisation’s setting, whereby a lack of compliance
can promote bad behaviour.

Weak regulations and monitoring

Corruption is a threat to businesses and societies alike. It damages economies and the reputations of
organisations. Corruption means that a person has abused a public office of power, strictly for
individual gains. Corrupting behaviour can take the form of bribery, fraud and identity theft.

https://engageinlearning.com/faq/compliance/preventing-bribery-in-business/what-are-the-main-
causes-of-corruption/

There are a variety of factors at the country level that have an impact on the way in which
governments and their services function, which in turn influences the existence and prevalence of
public sector corruption. A non-exhaustive list of factors includes:
Country size

Research shows that countries that are geographically large and have a low population density can be
more prone to corruption because of the increased difficulties in monitoring public officials in
dispersed locations (Goel and Nelson, 2010).
Resource curse

The public sector monopoly over the distribution and allocation of natural resources rights allows
economic opportunities to be exploited for corrupt purposes. The website of the Natural Resource
Governance Institute, stresses that "[g]iven their highly concentrated and highly profitable nature, the
oil, gas and mining industries can generate the kind of political and private incentives that favor rent-
seeking and institutional (or state) capture". Indeed, data show that many resource-rich countries
suffer from poor governance and systemic corruption (Natural Resource Governance Institute, 2019).
Political instability

Political stability is associated with low corruption levels, whereas the probability of corruption is
higher in politically unstable environments (Lederman, Loayza and Soares, 2005). Lack of stability in
transitions to a newly elected government is particularly associated with public sector corruption.
Notably, partisan administration can be the cause of corruption in certain countries.
Wages

Low wages and the resulting poverty in the public sector are also believed to contribute to corruption
in some countries (Tanzi, 1998). For example, low income per capita countries are more known to
corruption.
Lack of rule of law

Lawlessnessor poor rule of law is an important government-level contributor to corruption. The

probability of corruption occurring might increase where the legal system is unable to provide
sanctions for officials that engage in corruption (La Porta and others, 1999; Treisman 2000). In
addition, corruption risks are higher in countries with less secure property rights, as corrupt means are
used to ensure the security of these rights, where the legal system is unable to do so (Dong and
Tongler, 2011).

Failure of governance

Shah (2006) argues that public sector corruption results from a failure of governance. Poor
governance can arise from low quality public sector management, a lack of accountability, poor
relations between the government and citizens, a weak legal framework, a lack transparency regarding
public sector processes, and poor dissemination of information. A lack of competence and capacity
due to inadequate training also contributes to failure of governance.
Conflicts of interest

Conflict of interest has been defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD, 2003) as "a conflict between the public duty and private interest of public
officials, in which public officials have private-capacity interests which could improperly influence
the performance of their official duties and responsibilities". An example of a conflict of interest
includes the "revolving door" situation, in which public officials obtain lucrative posts in the private
sector once they leave the public service, with the expectation that they will use their public sector
contacts to benefit the private company (Ferguson, 2017). The types of "private interests" that could
lead to a conflict of interest include objective things like a directorship in a company, but can also
include subjective ideological, political and personal interests that may improperly influence public
duties (Ferguson, 2017; Rose-Ackerman, 2014). The existence of a conflict of interest in and of itself
is not necessarily unlawful. What is unlawful, however, is the failure to disclose a conflict of interest
and/or the mishandling of it.

https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-4/key-issues/causes-of-public-sector-
corruption.html