Abstract
Studying Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development is increasingly difficult because most advanced countries converge to similar network structures. However, developing countries still manifest meaningful variance in ICT development, affording theoretical elaboration on the nature of societal ICT processes. We examine the relationships between corruption, anti-corruption, interorganizational networks, and ICT development for 48 African countries. Previous studies observed that increased ICT development is associated with lower levels of corruption, although theory to explain this has yet to develop. In the context of interorganizational networks, we theorized that the degree of centralization-decentralization is a key variable in explaining ICT development. We found support for the proposition that there is less ICT development when corruption is high and interorganizational networks are more centralized. In contrast, there is greater ICT development as decentralization increases, coupled with more anti-corruption news. Nevertheless, media freedom was inconsequential regardless of the interorganizational network structure. Lastly, corruption was negatively related to economic growth.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam, I.O.: Examining E-Government development effects on corruption in Africa: The mediating effects of ICT development and institutional quality. Technol. Soc. 61, 101245 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101245
Ahmad, N., Brookins, O.T.: The impact of corruption on efficiency in developing economies. Int. Econ. Perspect. 1(2), 64–73 (2007)
Aladwani, A.M.: Corruption as a source of e-Government projects failure in developing countries: A theoretical exposition. Int. J. Inf. Manage. 36(1), 105–112 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.10.005
Albornoz, F., & Cabrales, A. (2013). Decentralization, political competition and corruption. J. Dev. Econ. 105(C), 103–111. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeedeveco/v_3a105_3ay_3a2013_3ai_3ac_3ap_3a103-111.htm
Andoh-Baidoo, F.K., Osatuyi, B., Kunene, K.N.: ICT Capacity as the Investment and use of ICT: Exploring its antecedents in Africa. Inf. Technol. Dev. 20(1), 44–59 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2013.804399
Asomah, J.Y.: Can private media contribute to fighting political corruption in sub-Saharan Africa? Lessons from Ghana. Third World Q. 41(12), 2011–2029 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2020.1806707
Aven, B.L.: The paradox of corrupt networks: An analysis of organizational crime at enron. Organ. Sci. 26(4), 980–996 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2015.0983
Baez-Camargo, C., Bukuluki, P., Sambaiga, R., Gatwa, T., Kassa, S., Stahl, C.: Petty corruption in the public sector: A comparative study of three East African countries through a behavioural lens. Afr. Stud. 79(2), 232–249 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2020.1803729
Bahoo, S., Alon, I., Paltrinieri, A.: Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda. Int. Bus. Rev. 29(4), 101660 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2019.101660
Barabási, A.-L., Pósfai, M.: Network Science (Illustrated edition). Cambridge University Press (2016)
Barreto, R. (2001). Endogenous corruption, Inequality and growth: econometric evidence (School of Economics Working Paper No. 2001–02). University of Adelaide, School of Economics. https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/adlwpaper/2001-02.htm
Bazzoli, G.J., Harmata, R., Chan, C.: Community-based trauma systems in the United States: An examination of structural development (1982). Soc. Sci. Med. 46(9), 1137–1149 (1998)
Becker, L.B., Vlad, T., Nusser, N.: An evaluation of press freedom indicators. Int. Commun. Gaz. 69(1), 5–28 (2007)
Ben Ali, M.S., Gasmi, A.: Does ICT diffusion matter for corruption? An economic development perspective. Telemat. Inform. 34(8), 1445–1453 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.06.008
Bernard, H.R., Killworth, P.D., Sailer, L.: Informant accuracy in social network data IV: A comparison of clique-level structure in behavioral and cognitive network data. Soc. Netw. 2(3), 191–218 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(79)90014-5
Bertot, J.C., Jaeger, P.T., Grimes, J.M.: Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Gov. Inf. Q. 27(3), 264–271 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.001
Bhattacharyya, S., Hodler, R.: Media freedom and democracy in the fight against corruption. Eur. J. Polit. Econ. 39, 13–24 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.03.004
Bhattacherjee, A., Shrivastava, U.: The effects of ICT use and ICT Laws on corruption: A general deterrence theory perspective. Gov. Inf. Q. 35(4), 703–712 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2018.07.006
Bjørnstad, A.L.: Exploring network organization in military contexts: Effects of flatter structure and more decentralized processes. Mil. Psychol. 23(3), 315–331 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2011.570595
Blaschke, S., Schoeneborn, D., Seidl, D.: Organizations as networks of communication episodes: Turning the network perspective inside out. Organ. Stud. 33(7), 879–906 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840612443459
Boffa, F., Piolatto, A., Ponzetto, G., a. M.: Political centralization and government accountability. Quart. J. Econ. 131(1), 381–422 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv035
Brenes, E.R., Ciravegna, L., Pichardo, C.A.: Managing institutional voids: A configurational approach to understanding high performance antecedents. J. Bus. Res. 105, 345–358 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.022
Brunetti, A., Weder, B.: A free press is bad news for corruption. J. Public Econ. 87(7), 1801–1824 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(01)00186-4
Charoensukmongkol, P., Moqbel, M.: Does investment in ICT curb or create more corruption? A cross-country analysis. Public. Organiz Rev. 14(1), 51–63 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-012-0205-8
Chen, S., Gao, Q., Peng, Q., Yang, H.: Government-decentralized power: Measurement and effects. Emerg. Mark. Rev. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2020.100769
Cooray, A., Schneider, F.: Does corruption throw sand into or grease the wheels of financial sector development? Public Choice 177(1), 111–133 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-018-0592-7
Cuervo-Cazurra, A.: Corruption in international business. J. World Bus. 51(1), 35–49 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.08.015
Culpepper, P. D. Quiet Politics and Business Power: Corporate Control in Europe and Japan. Cambridge University Press. (2010)
Danowski, J. A. Environmental uncertainty, group communication structure and stress. (1974a)
Danowski, J. A. (1974b). An information processing model of organizations: A Focus on Environmental Uncertainty and Communication Network Structuring. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234716021_An_Information_Processing_Model_of_Organizations_A_Focus_on_Environmental_Uncertainty_and_Communication_Network_Structuring
Danowski, J.A.: Group attitude uniformity and connectivity of organizational communication networks for production, innovation, and maintenance content. Hum. Commun. Res. 6(4), 299–308 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1980.tb00151.x
Danowski, J.A.: Identifying collaborative innovation networks: At the inter-departmental level. Procedia. Soc. Behav. Sci. 2(4), 6404–6417 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.04.050
Danowski, J.A., Cepela, N.: Automatic Mapping of Social Networks of Actors from Text Corpora: Time Series Analysis. In: Memon, N., Jennifer Jie, X., Hicks, D.L., Chen, H. (eds.) Data Mining for Social Network Data, pp. 31–46. Springer US, Boston, MA (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6287-4_3
de Maria, B.: Neo-colonialism through measurement: A critique of the corruption perception index. Crit. Perspect. Int. Bus. 4(2/3), 184–202 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1108/17422040810870079
Değerli, A., Aytekin, Ç., Değerli, B.: Analyzing information technology status and networked readiness index in context of diffusion of innovations theory. Procedia. Soc. Behav. Sci. 195, 1553–1562 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.190
DeMarzo, P., Vayanos, D., & Zwiebel, J. Persuasion Bias, Social Influence, and Unidimensional Opinions. Q. J. Econ., 118(3), 909–968. (2003) https://econpapers.repec.org/article/oupqjecon/v_3a118_3ay_3a2003_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a909-968..htm
Denardis, L.: The Global War for Internet Governance. Yale University Press (2014)
Dubbs, N.L., Bazzoli, G.J., Shortell, S.M., Kralovec, P.D.: Reexamining organizational configurations: An update, validation, and expansion of the taxonomy of health networks and systems. Health Serv. Res. 39(1), 207–220 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2004.00222.x
Dutta, S., & Lanvin, B. The Network Readiness Index 2019: Towards a Future-Ready Society (p. 310). (2019) Portulans Institute. https://networkreadinessindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Network-Readiness-Index-2019-New-version-March-2020.pdf
Funaki, Y., Glencorse, B.: Anti-corruption or accountability? International efforts in post-conflict Liberia. Third World Q. 35(5), 836–854 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2014.921433
Galbraith, J.R.: Designing Complex Organizations. Addison Wesley (1973)
Gao, C., Zuzul, T., Jones, G., Khanna, T.: Overcoming institutional voids: A reputation-based view of long-run survival. Strateg. Manag. J. 38(11), 2147–2167 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2649
Gilman, S.C.: To understand and to misunderstand how corruption is measured: Academic research and the corruption perception index. Public Integrity 20(sup1), S74–S88 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2018.1472974
Gulati, R., Gargiulo, M.: Where do interorganizational networks come from? Am. J. Soc. 104, 1439–1493 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1086/210179
Habib, S., Abdelmonen, S., Khaled, M.: The effect of corruption on the environmental quality in African Countries: A panel quantile regression analysis. J. Knowl. Econ. 11(2), 788–804 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-018-0571-8
Hanitzsch, T., Berganza, R.: Explaining journalists’ trust in public institutions across 20 countries: Media freedom, corruption, and ownership matter most. J. Commun. 62(5), 794–814 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01663.x
Hsiao, A., Vogt, V., Quentin, W.: Effect of corruption on perceived difficulties in healthcare access in sub-Saharan Africa. PLoS ONE 14(8), e0220583 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220583
Hu, Y., Ye, X., Shaw, S.-L.: Extracting and analyzing semantic relatedness between cities using news articles. Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci. 31(12), 2427–2451 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2017.1367797
Huntington, S.P.: Political Order in Changing Societies (The Henry L Stimson Lectures Series edition). Yale University Press (1986)
Ibarra, H.: Personal networks of women and minorities in management: A conceptual framework. Acad. Manag. Rev. 18(1), 56–87 (1993). https://doi.org/10.2307/258823
Jha, C.K., Sarangi, S.: Does social media reduce corruption? Inf. Econ. Policy 39, 60–71 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2017.04.001
Joseph, J., Gaba, V.: Organizational structure, information processing, and decision-making: A retrospective and road map for research. Acad. Manag. Ann. 14(1), 267–302 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0103
Katz, R., & Callorda, F. Economic contribution of broadband, digitization and ICT regulation: Econometric modelling for Africa (p. 34). ITU Publications. (2019) https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/pref/D-PREF-EF.BDT_AFR-2019-PDF-E.pdf
Kaufmann, D., Vicente, P.C.: Legal corruption. Econ. Polit. 23(2), 195–219 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0343.2010.00377.x
Kenis, P., & Oerlemans, L. The Social Network Perspective: Understanding the Structure of Cooperation. In S. Cropper, C. Huxman, M. Ebers, & P. Smith Ring (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations (pp. 289–312). Oxford University Press. (2008). htttps://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199282944.003.0011
Khanna, T., Palepu, K. G., & Bullock, R. J. Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution. Harvard Business Press. (2010)
Kociemska, H. Public–Private partnership for Sub-Saharan Africa (1st ed. 2019 Edition). Springer. (2019)
Lee, K., Choi, S. O., Kim, J., Jung, M. A study on the factors affecting decrease in the government corruption and mediating effects of the development of ict and e-government—a cross-country analysis. J. Open Innov.: Technol., Market, Complex, 4(3), 1–20. (2018). https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/joitmc/v4y2018i3p41-d167411.html
Leys, C.: What is the problem about corruption? J. Mod. Afr. Stud. 3(2), 215–230 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00023636
Mafukata, M.A.: Evolution of corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa - from Nkruma to Mutharika The 2nd: Case study of South Africa (2147–4478). Int. J. Res. Bus. Soc. Sci. 4(1), 87–112 (2015). https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v4i1.32
Markovic, J.: Contingencies and organizing principles in public networks. Public Manag. Rev. 19(3), 361–380 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2016.1209237
Martins, L., Cerdeira, J., Teixeira, A.A.C.: Does corruption boost or harm firms’ performance in developing and emerging economies? A Firm-Level Study World Econ. 43(8), 2119–2152 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12966
Mason, W., Watts, D.J.: Collaborative learning in networks. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109(3), 764–769 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110069108
Mauro, P.: Corruption and growth. Q. J. Econ. 110(3), 681–712 (1995). https://doi.org/10.2307/2946696
Mauro, P. The effects of corruption on growth and public expenditure. In: A. Heidenheimer & M. Iohnston (Eds.), Political Corruption- Concepts & Contexts (p. 14). Routledge. (2017). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315126647-31
McCombs, M.E., Shaw, D.L., Weaver, D.H.: New directions in agenda-setting theory and research. Mass Commun. Soc. 17(6), 781–802 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2014.964871
Méon, P.-G., Sekkat, K. Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of growth? Public Choice, 122(1), 69–97. (2005). https://econpapers.repec.org/article/kappubcho/v_3a122_3ay_3a2005_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a69-97.htm
Méon, P.-G., & Weill, L. Is corruption an efficient grease? World Development, 38(3), 244–259. (2010). https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v38y2010i3p244-259.html
Mouna, A., Nedra, B., Khaireddine, M.: International comparative evidence of e-government success and economic growth: Technology adoption as an anti-corruption tool. Transform. Gov.: People, Process Policy 14(5), 713–736 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-03-2020-0040
Mungiu-Pippidi, A.: Controlling corruption through collective action. J. Democr. 24(1), 101–115 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2013.0020
Nur-tegin, K., Jakee, K.: Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of development? New results based on disaggregated data. Q. Rev. Econ. Finance 75, 19–30 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qref.2019.02.001
Oliver, A.L., Ebers, M.: Networking network studies: An analysis of conceptual configurations in the study of inter-organizational relationships. Organiz. Stud. (1998). https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069801900402
Palaco, I., Park, M.J., Kim, S.K., Rho, J.J.: Public–private partnerships for e-government in developing countries: An early stage assessment framework. Eval. Program Plann. 72, 205–218 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2018.10.015
Pfeffer, J., Salancik, G.R.: The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective, 1st edn. Stanford Business Books, USA (1978)
Pratipatti, S., Gomaa, A. A longitudinal analysis of the impact of the indicators in the networked readiness index (NRI). J. Int. Technol. Inform. Manag. 28(2), 17–50. (2019) https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/jitim/vol28/iss2/2
Pring, C., Vrushi, J. Global Corruption Barometer: Africa 2019. Transparency International. (2019) https://www.transparency.org/files/content/pages/GCB_Africa_2019_Full_report_spread.pdf
Provan, K.G., Fish, A., Sydow, J.: Interorganizational networks at the network level: A review of the empirical literature on whole networks. J. Manag. 33(3), 479–516 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307302554
Provan, K.G., Milward, H.B.: A preliminary theory of interorganizational network effectiveness: A comparative study of four community mental health systems. Adm. Sci. Q. 40(1), 1–33 (1995). https://doi.org/10.2307/2393698
Rodriguez, P., Uhlenbruck, K., Eden, L.: Government corruption and the entry strategies of multinationals. Acad. Manag. Rev. 30(2), 383–396 (2005). https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2005.16387894
Saha, S., Ben Ali, M.S.: Corruption and economic development: New evidence from the Middle Eastern and North African countries. Economic Analysis and Policy 54, 83–95 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2017.02.001
Solis, J.A., Antenangeli, L.: Corruption is bad news for a free press: Reassessing the relationship between media freedom and corruption. Soc. Sci. Q. 98(3), 1112–1137 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12438
Starke, C., Naab, T. K., Scherer, H. Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access and governmental online service delivery on corruption. Int. J. Commun. 10(0), 21 (2016). https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5712
Stephan, U., Uhlaner, L.M., Stride, C.: Institutions and social entrepreneurship: The role of institutional voids, institutional support, and institutional configurations. J. Int. Bus. Stud. 46(3), 308–331 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.38
Thompson, C.G., Kim, R.S., Aloe, A.M., Becker, B.J.: Extracting the variance inflation factor and other multicollinearity diagnostics from typical regression results. Basic Appl. Soc. Psychol. 39(2), 81–90 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2016.1277529
Tommasi, M., Weinschelbaum, F.: Centralization vs. Decentralization: A Principal-agent analysis. J. Public Econ. Theory 9(2), 369–389 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9779.2007.00311.x
Van Zandt, T.: Decentralized Information Processing in the Theory of Organizations. In: Sertel, M.R. (ed.) Contemporary Economic Issues, pp. 125–160. Palgrave Macmillan UK, London (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14540-9_7
van Klyton, A.C., Rutabayiro-Ngoga, S., Liyanage, L.: Chinese investment in the Sierra Leone telecommunications industry: International financial institutions, neoliberalism, and organizational fields. Rev. Afr. Polit. Econ. 47(164), 220–237 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2019.1605591
Vidruska, R.: The digital economy and society index and network readiness index: Performance of latvia on European Union Arena. New Chall. Econ. Bus. Dev. 2016, 901–916 (2016)
Webb, J.W., Khoury, T.A., Hitt, M.A.: The influence of formal and informal institutional voids on entrepreneurship. Entrep. Theory Pract. 44(3), 504–526 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258719830310
World Bank Group. The World Bank Development Report- Digital Dividends (A World Bank Group Flagship Report, p. 359). The World Bank. worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016. (2016)
Xie, Q., Su, J.: The spatial-temporal complexity and dynamics of research collaboration: Evidence from 297 cities in China (1985–2016). Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 162, 120390 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120390
Yahaya, N.S., Mohd-Jali, M.R., Raji, J.O.: The role of financial development and corruption in environmental degradation of Sub-Saharan African countries. Manag. Environ. Qual.: an Int. J. 31(4), 895–913 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-09-2019-0190
Yan, B., Jian, L., Ren, R., Sidnam-Mauch, E., Monge, P. The paradox of interaction: Communication network centralization, shared task experience, and the wisdom of crowds in online crowdsourcing communities. Communication Research. (2020)
Zorina, A., Dutton, W.H.: Theorizing actor interactions shaping innovation in digital infrastructures: The case of residential internet development in Belarus. Organ. Sci. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2020.1389
Zouaoui, A., Al Qudah, A., Ben Arab, M.: World corruption perception index analysis. Res. J. Financ. Account. 8(24), 85–91 (2017)
Žuffová, M.: Do FOI laws and open government data deliver as anti-corruption policies? Evidence from a cross-country study. Gov. Inf. Q. 37(3), 101480 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2020.101480
Funding
We declare that there has been no funding for this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
We have declared that there is no competing interest in the publication of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Danowski, J., van Klyton, A., Peng, TQ.W. et al. Information and communications technology development, interorganizational networks, and public sector corruption in Africa. Qual Quant 57, 3285–3304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01508-4
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01508-4