Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether higher levels of transparency, accountability, and participation have a statistically significant association with corruption, and whether corruption is highly correlated with lower public service quality in the context of Vietnam's transition economy.


Design/methodology/approach
Using individual-level survey data from Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index, the research employs an ordered probit model to test whether greater transparency, accountability, and participation is associated with lower levels of corruption. Moreover, district-level data are used to test the relationship between corruption and quality of public services particularly in healthcare and primary education.


Findings
Results show that a higher level of transparency, participation, and accountability is associated with a lower level of corruption, and that corruption is negatively associated with public service quality.


Research limitations/implications
The use of cross-sectional data does not allow the establishment of causal relationships among variables.


Practical implications
The research suggests that fostering accountability to citizens and non-state sectors and promotion of genuine participation from these actors are critical for the future anti-corruption agenda.


Originality/value
In developing countries, whether corruption enhances efficiency of service provision is highly debatable. This research contributes to this debate by suggesting that corruption significantly decreases the quality of public service, and that improving local governance helps reduce corruption.

AbstractHow people make initial and collective sense under crises remains unanswered. This paper addresses this question using the control of COVID‐19 in Vietnam as a case study. Our results suggest that sensemaking under crises is influenced by an institutional propensity for prevention that has developed gradually over time. Local governments play a vital role in fostering collective sensemaking which enables concerted actions in epidemic control. However, biases are inherent in sensemaking, including a delay in access to vaccine and a violation of privacy. For policy makers, this study suggests that developing specific prevention policies and programs, building large‐scale coordination capacity, and promoting local initiatives are necessary for coping with epidemics. For theory development, the study explores how institutions condition sensemaking and specifies several mechanisms in which local authorities could facilitate collective sensemaking in crises.