Corruption as an obstacle for doing business in the Western Balkans: A business sector perspective

Abstract

In countries with a high prevalence of corruption, understanding attitudes towards corruption could help in designing effective measures to eliminate it as a barrier to doing business. Utilising original survey data from over 1800 business owners and managers in seven Western Balkans countries, this study explores businesspeople’s experiences and views on the ways that the business sector is dealing with corruption. A factor analysis produced three distinct factors: (1) understanding corruption as ‘greasing the wheels’; (2) individual action can contribute to curbing corruption; (3) corruption is a government-related issue. The results show that the country of origin strongly determines businesspeople’s attitudes towards corruption. Respondents with corruption experience tend to justify it as ‘greasing the wheels’ more than ‘clean’ respondents. Findings on the perceived role of private and government agents in curbing corruption enabled the study to suggest some specific policy recommendations.