Role of managerial traits in firm-level corruption: evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the link between behavioural and personality traits of firm representatives and bribery in the case study of Vietnam; second, to study whether corruption is associated to firm performance through managers’ personality traits. Design/methodology/approach This study uses novel data from micro, small and medium firms in Vietnam for investigating the relationship between behavioural and personality traits of representatives of firms and bribery. Stratified sampling method is employed to ensure an adequate number of firms in each province with different ownership types. Ordinary least squares and logistic estimation techniques are used in this analysis. Findings This paper finds that traits of risk loving and innovativeness are positively associated to the likelihood of paying bribe whereas managers’ internal locus of control is negatively related to the probability of paying bribe. This paper reveals that managers, who have risk loving characteristics and get engaged to bribe payments, are related to lower firm performances. Research limitations/implications Despite the fact that this paper provides robust and statistically significant empirical analysis, results from this paper are constrained with use of cross-sectional survey data, which has been conducted in 2015. Although this paper can provide strong correlations, it does not establish causal linkages and one should therefore be careful in interpreting the observed patterns as causal impacts. Originality/value The role of managerial personality traits in corruption interactions has not yet been explicitly proposed and empirically investigated. This paper attempts to fill this void by examining the relationship between managerial traits and corruption tendencies among SMEs in Vietnam.