Analyzing Citizens’ Propensity to Confront and Report Corruption: Evidence from Uganda

Abstract

Corruption as a phenomenon has attracted significant interest from researchers who mostly focus on the causes and underlying effects of corruption at the national and societal levels. Many interventions have also been designed to reduce corruption to a bare minimum but there is a dearth of literature looking at citizen’s intervention to address the problem. This study examined the attitudes of citizens towards corruption by looking at the factors that influence citizen’s willingness to report and confront corruption in Uganda. Drawing on data collected from the survey of 251 citizens in Uganda, this research found that corruption tolerance by citizens is low, but the willingness of participation in anti-corruption campaigns is not correspondingly high. However, low corruption tolerance alone does not explain why people don’t report corruption. Awareness of corruption and trust in government’s and civil society anti-corruption efforts and laws was also identified as a major influence to citizen’s willingness to confront and report corruption. In addition, higher confidence in the government’s anti-corruption strategies and laws leads to lower corruption tolerance and stronger willingness to confront and report corruption. The study suggests that a successful campaign of anticorruption must involve enhancing understanding of what constitutes corruption and building confidence in the Government’s strategy on anticorruption.