Bribing for Public Service: What Drives the Service Users?

ABSTRACT

With the data (N = 9718) from Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/18 of those who took public services in a year, this article examined the factors that drove service users to pay bribes to service providers. The result showed that the perception of service users that service providers comply with the rules; they are responsive to inform/listen/respond to the service users’ concerns; they simplify the process of the service; they receive adequate salary for their jobs; they have prior connections/networks to the service users have a negative effect on paying a bribe whereas the perceptions of service users that service providers deliver services to them on time; they require additional income, they deliver services in multiple attempts; they work in the land revenue office have a positive effect on paying a bribe. Therefore, it is high time to consider the factors for corruption-free service delivery.

KEYWORDS:

• Corruption
• bribe
• public service
• service users

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Nepal Administrative Staff College for providing them with the Nepal National Governance 2017/18 data sheet for this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).