Public sector corruption plays an important role in a nation's development, and many low income countries (LICs) suffer chronic bureaucratic corruption. While there have been numerous studies addressing both the causes and consequences of corruption, the full range of causes remains unexplored, and consequences are becoming understood in new light with fresh data and expanded linkages. Specifically, the impact of religion and spirituality on public sector corruption had not previously been adequately researched and documented, and tracing the role of corruption on living standards through business starts data provides a novel perspective on this link. This dissertation is a macro-level, global study of public sector corruption, analyzing the impact of religion and spirituality on public sector corruption, and subsequently on living standards. Essentially this is a study of ethics in public service, reviewed through the lens of one ancient concept (religion) and an emerging new construct (spirituality). The primary conclusions and contributions of this dissertation are that: (1) religion has a direct and moderate causal impact on corruption, (2) spirituality has an inverse but weak causal impact on corruption and (3) public sector corruption has an inverse and strong causal impact on business starts, economic growth and living standards. All three of these primary findings have social, political, and economic policy implications.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-01172009-165745 |
| Date | 26 June 2009 |
| Creators | Leaman, James M |
| Contributors | Dr. Louis A. Picard, PhD, Professor, Dr. Nuno D.S. Themudo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dr. Richard A. Yoder, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Paul J. Nelson, PhD, Associate Professor |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-01172009-165745/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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