Behavioural science
News & Blog
16 Jul 2024
BlogA new arrow in the quiver: making anti-corruption reform more effective and sustainable
Prevention, Research and Innovation
27 Jul 2022
NewsNew Working Paper on developing anti-corruption interventions based on a behaviour change approach
Prevention, Research and Innovation
2 Nov 2021
BlogBribery isn’t only an exchange of money: what new research tells us about how informal networks enable corruption and vice versa
Prevention, Research and Innovation
16 Jul 2021
BlogNew policy brief on how to reduce the social acceptability of wildlife trafficking
Green Corruption, Prevention, Research and Innovation
14 Apr 2021
BlogHow to enhance integrity during crises: lessons from behavioural science
Prevention, Research and Innovation
Publications
Research Case Study 5: Harnessing behavioural approaches against corruption
Social norms and behaviour change (SNBC) approaches are a promising complement to conventional anti-corruption strategies. Adopting a context-sensitive and nuanced approach is an essential ingredient for success.
We wanted to understand if and how behavioural approaches can promote anti-corruption outcomes, as well as conditions for success.
To do this we reviewed research from 2016–2022 on the use of behavioural approaches in anti-corruption practice. We also analysed our practical experience designing and piloting an intervention to tackle social norms of reciprocity which fuel bribery in health facilities in Tanzania.
Research case study 2: Leveraging informal networks for anti-corruption in East Africa
Citizens and business people may invest significant time and money in building informal networks with public officials to overcome public service delivery shortcomings and access business opportunities. Understanding these networks better can strengthen anti-corruption efforts.
This research case study gives a brief overview of our Public Governance team’s research in Uganda and Tanzania. Through interviews, the team explored when, how and why informal networks are built and used to access public services or business opportunities corruptly.
The research project described was carried out under the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), funded with UK aid from the UK government. All results are freely shareable under a Creative Commons licence.
Informal networks as investment: A qualitative analysis from Uganda and Tanzania
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Governance, this paper interprets informal networks as investments made by citizens and business people to cope with the public sphere. Informal networks often orchestrate corruption, connecting public and private actors. The paper aims to understand their key characteristics, scopes, and functional roles.
Ten mini case studies from Tanzania and Uganda are studied. The research applies narrative analysis to explore the experiences of citizens, entrepreneurs, and low-level public officials, who built informal networks as a problem-solving mechanism. It uses a grounded theory approach. The findings serve as working hypotheses about variables and patterns emerging from the bottom-up analysis.
The paper outlines:
- Whether there are distinct types of informal networks associated with particular types of corruption;
- How, why and by whom these networks are built;
- Whether different individuals play specific roles;
- The unwritten expectations and norms that govern such networks.
The results highlight critical implications for anti-corruption practice, showing, for example, how this can be strengthened by shifting the intervention unit from individuals to networks.
About this article
This peer-reviewed article is based on extensive field research and analysis conducted by the Basel Institute’s Public Governance team in Tanzania and Uganda. The research was funded by UK Aid under the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE) programme. See the links below for the open-access research outputs, including a full research report and two sets of case studies.
Corrupting the Environment: insights on corruption, the environment and illicit trade
This collection of insights on corruption, the environment and illicit trade emerges from the monthly Corrupting the Environment webinar series between December 2020 and August 2021.
A joint initiative of the Basel Institute on Governance and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the series brought together leading voices from the public and private sectors, academia and civil society. In lively panel discussions, they explored critical trends and shared recommendations for addressing the corruption that is destroying our planet and people’s opportunities for sustainable development.
The publications below are adapted from summaries published on the Basel Institute following each event.
Informal networks as investment in East Africa
This report presents findings from a research project entitled Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments” funded by UK Aid as part of the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE).
The project follows from a previous research project where the Basel Institute on Governance, in partnership with University College London and SOAS, researched informality and its relationship with corruption and governance in seven countries in East Africa and Central Asia. The findings from that research project suggested that corruption often takes place according to informal, unwritten rules. The findings from the seven countries supported the following observation:
“Corruption is most often not the result from the actions of a few, individual rotten apples operating in otherwise healthy governance systems; rather corruption is orchestrated by informal social networks that connect actors in the public and private realms and enable the pursuit of a variety of intransparent, often illicit, goals.”
In our current research project, we have aimed to understand how informal networks that are associated with different types of corruption are exactly articulated, operationalised and managed, with a view to distilling lessons of value to anti-corruption practitioners.
The present report sheds light on the functioning of informal networks in East Africa, based on evidence collected in Tanzania and Uganda. The report presents evidence, consisting of ten mini-case studies (six from Tanzania and four from Uganda) that describe informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud. The 10 cases are also analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice discussed.
