Mapping colombian citizens views regarding ordinary corruption threat, bribery, and the illicit sharing of confidential information

Soc Indic Res DOI 10.1007/s11205-016-1366-6 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary Corruption: Threat, Bribery, and the Illicit Sharing of Confidential Information Wilson Lo´pez Lo´pez1 • Marı´a Alejandra Roa Bocarejo1 Diana Roa Peralta1 • Claudia Pineda Marı´n2 • Etienne Mullet3 • Accepted: 14 May 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract A few studies conducted in France, Latin America, China and Sub-Saharan Africa have examined the extent to which specific behaviors by politicians, state officials, professionals or simple citizens were considered by the public either as corrupt/intolerable or acceptable/tolerable These studies have shown a great diversity of positions among participants, ranging from ‘‘zero tolerability’’ to ‘‘non-zero tolerability’’, to high tolerance to favoritism, and to complete tolerability The present study analyzed Colombian lay persons’ views as a function of three separate factors characterizing acts of corruption: (a) the current status or position in society of the person who behaved in a corrupt way (politician, judge, entrepreneur or ordinary citizen), (b) the motive behind the act of corruption (nepotism or monetary gain), and (c) the means used for obtaining the underserved benefit (threatening the person, bribery or illicitly sharing of confidential information) As expected, four qualitatively different perspectives were identified The first one (60 % of the participants) was the expected Zero Tolerance view because all acceptability ratings were extremely low The second one (32 %) was called Never Very Tolerable because ratings, although always low, varied as a function of the means used: Threat and bribery were considered as more intolerable than use of information The third one (7 %) was called Depends on Means because the ratings were affected by the means used to a larger extent than in the preceding case The fourth one (1 %) was called Always Tolerable because in all cases, the ratings were high In no cases did acceptability depend much on the status of the person performing the corrupt act or of the motives behind the act Although only a small minority of participants agreed with the last two views, it is probably enough to create a climate of suspicion in the country Keywords Corruption Á Threat Á Bribery Á Politicians Á Entrepreneurs Á Colombia & Etienne Mullet etienne.mullet@wanadoo.fr Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota´, Colombia Fundacio´n Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Bogota´, Colombia Institute of Advanced Studies (EPHE), Paris, France 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al Introduction Corruption can been defined narrowly as ‘‘the misuse of public office for private gain’’ (Treisman 2000, p 399, see also Werlin 1973; Shleifer and Vishny 1993; Svensson 2005) or more broadly as ‘‘a form of antisocial behaviour by an individual or social group which confers unjust or fraudulent benefits on its perpetrators, is inconsistent with the established legal norms and prevailing moral ethos of the land and is likely to subvert or diminish the capacity of the legitimate authorities to provide fully for the material and spiritual well-being of all members of society in a just and equitable manner (Osoba 1996, p 372)’’ According to the first definition, the case of a Minister of Agriculture who distributed to large landlords credit originally intended to foment agricultural projects that were expected to benefit to small farmers was, knowing that these landlords contributed to his presidential campaign, undoubtedly a case of corruption (Latin America Public Opinion Project, LAPOP, Colombia 2011) The case of a mother with many children who offered to pay 10,000 pesos to an employee at the town hall in order to cut file and have a birth certificate without having to wait too long would, however, not be a case of corruption (Latin America Public Opinion Project, Colombia 2011) According to the second definition, both cases would be cases of corruption, although the later appears to be considerably ‘‘whiter’’ (Heidenheimer et al 1970) than the former, but also possibly more common It is the second definition that has been considered in the present study Since the mid-1990s, social sciences research on corruption has been mainly about: (a) the quantitative assessment of the degree of corruption in different countries (e.g., Leon et al 2013), (b) the examination of the economical, political, societal and cultural factors associated with corruption (e.g., Rose-Ackerman 1999, 2001), (c) the assessment, in given areas, of participation in corruption (e.g., Seligson 2002, 2006), (d) the assessment of citizens’ corruption perception levels in different countries (e.g., Song and Cheng 2012) and the measurement of its effect on citizens’ behaviors and level of satisfaction (Pellegata and Memoli 2015), and (e) the assessment of reporting practices of corruption among citizens (e.g., Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto 2008) The main objective of the present study differed from the objective of these previous studies: It was to explore and map lay people’s view regarding the tolerability/intolerability of a number of unethical behaviors performed by officials or entrepreneurs or ordinary citizens living in their country 1.1 People’s Views Regarding Specific Acts of Corruption Only a few studies have examined the extent to which specific behaviors by politicians, state officials, professionals or simple citizens were considered by the public either as corrupt/intolerable or acceptable/tolerable Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008) analyzed French people’s views regarding a representative set of acts of corruption gathered through intensive interviews They showed that 90 % of their participants considered as not acceptable or rarely acceptable the secret selling to a competing enterprise of a list of clients of one’s employer They were still 87 % to think so regarding the offer of 200 euros to a policeman in order to avoid a penalty, 50 % regarding the joining to a political party in order to obtain social housing, 46 % regarding the acceptance of a cruise holiday paid for by a client, 29 % regarding the use one’s network of political connections to help a friend to find a job, and 27 % regarding the asking to an elected official for a letter of recommendation in order to obtain a place at the kindergarten Overall, 61 % of the participants in this study were, in fact, highly tolerant to favoritism The Latin American Public Opinion Project, Colombia (2011) reported a study on a sample of Colombian adults showing that 96 % of respondents considered that a 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… representative who agree to receive a bribe of $15,000 from a company or a policemen who agree not to fine an imprudent driver who offer a bribe of 50,000 pesos colombianos are corrupt and must be prosecuted They were still 95 % to think so in the case of a corporate executive offering a bribe of $15,000 to a representative, 90 % in the case of a driver who offer to pay 50,000 pesos to a policemen for not being detained after an infraction, 56 % in the case of a politician who use his position to obtain public employment for his nephew who is unemployed, and 45 % in the case of a mother with many children who offer to pay 10,000 pesos to a civil servant at the town hall in order to cut file and have a birth certificate without having to wait too long Gong and Wang (2013), exploring Hong Kong students’ views, showed that a majority of them (the exact percentages were not reported) considered as corrupt persons or corrupt institutions: (a) government officials who utilize government cars to send children to school, (b) officials who tour foreign countries using public funds, (c) policemen who accept money from violators who wish to escape punishment, (d) businessmen who offer personal benefits to officials with the hope to have their project selected, (e) university professors who plagiarize, (f) school admission officers who recruit students who have failed the admission exam, and (g) pharmaceutical companies who offer to pay kickbacks to health professionals A minority of them, however, considered as corrupt professionals: (h) tourist guides who obtain commissions from shops as a result of tourists’ consumption, and (i) officials who agree to receive money and gifts for weddings or funerals In the study by Gong and Wang (2013), students were also asked to indicate their tolerance level regarding corruption in academia, business, and government Twenty-eight percent of them showed ‘‘zero tolerance’’ for corruption; that is, their ratings were zero in all three cases In contrast, % of them showed tolerance for corruption: Their mean score was closer to the ‘‘tolerable’’ than to the ‘‘intolerable’’ end of the scales used The remaining participants had a median score of (out of 10), showing limited, although ‘‘non-zero’’ tolerance for corruption Yu et al (2013) examining Taiwan lay citizens’ opinion showed that vote-buying by politicians during elections was perceived as a more serious act of corruption than lobbying by corporate executives and extra-paying (red envelopes) public officials Kpanake et al (2014) investigated Togolese people’s views regarding informal payments for healthcare They used a technique of scenarios, which were all combinations of three levels of the physician’s income (relatively well-paid, average, or underpaid); two levels of the patient’s wealth (wealthy vs poor); two levels of the frequency of the practice in the area (common vs rare); and three levels of the amount of payment requested ($50, $30 or $10) Lay people and health practitioners when asked to evaluate how acceptable it would be for a physician to request informal payments for treatment in each case Two contrasted positions were found A substantial minority of participants rejected the practice of informal payments, irrespective of circumstances In contrast, a majority of them were of the opinion that when patients were wealthy and physicians were underpaid, this practice was acceptable A similar diversity of positions regarding informal payment was also reported by Baji et al (2013) who examined Hungarian people’s views 1.2 The Present Study As already stated, the main objective of the present study was to map Colombian lay people’s view regarding a number of unethical behaviors performed by officials or entrepreneurs or ordinary citizens It was conducted in Bogota 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al Examining Colombian people’s views regarding corruption is of particular relevance because this country has always ranked high in the index of perception of corruption (Transparency International 2015), and many scandals involving top politicians have been reported in the media that have never led to any formal condemnation (e.g., New York Times 1995) The civil war that ravaged the country during 60 years was both consequence and cause of corruption The arbitrary expulsion of poor peasants from their lands by rich companies and land owners, the complete abandonment by indifferent governments of distant, rural areas far removed for major urban centers, the increasing gap between the poorest and wealthiest strata of society, the raising economic power of gangs of narcotic traffickers (and the associated illegal trade of weapons) have triggered the creation of the FARC and ELN rebel movements (among others) The ensuing guerilla has fueled drug trafficking, and the rise of paramilitary groups that were supposed to counteract rebellion Violence, often indiscriminate, and drug trafficking have in turn fueled up corruption at all levels of society Corrupt politicians, military, and civil servants have always appeared as unconvincing advocates of peace, which resulted in the civil war last more than half a century (Gonza´lez Gonza´lez 2014) In association with the reduction of poverty in rural areas, the improvement in efficiency of the judiciary and the consolidation of democracy, the fight against corruption must be one integral part of the current peace process for it has any chance of succeeding Colombian people’s awareness that there will be no enduring peace without minimal level of trust in government and companies, which supposes transparent governance, is also a necessary part of this process Among Colombians and especially among people living in Bogota, corruption only recently appeared as an increasing concern In 2011, it ranked third by violence and unemployment (LAPOP, Colombia 2011) In Bogota, 20 % of people identified corruption as the highest concern in the country People tend to perceive the current level of corruption in the country as very high: To the question ‘‘As a function of personal experience with corruption, you think that civil servants’ corruption is widespread? 81 % of people (83 % in Bogota) responded in the affirmative (LAPOP, Colombia 2011) Also, people have recently become more intolerant to corruption To the question ‘‘Given the current situation, you think justified to pay to obtain a service?’’, only 15 % responded by the affirmative (against 25 % in 2009) The present study differed from most previous studies in that it analyzed people’s views as a function of three separate factors characterizing acts of corruption According to Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008, p 26), ‘‘three elements are always relevant to citizens’ judgments of given acts: the type of actor involved (whether s/he is an insider or an outsider with respect to the political arena); the type of corrupt act; the presence or absence of a justification in terms of the ends the corrupt act was intended to serve’’ In the present study, the impact of each of these three factors on people’s judgments was assessed To attain this objective, a scenario technique of the kind used by Kpanake et al (2014) was used The scenarios that were created were obtained by orthogonal crossing of these three factors: (a) the current status or position in society of the person who behaved in a corrupt way (politician, judge, senior executive of a company or common citizen), (b) the motive behind the act of corruption (nepotism or monetary gain), and (c) the means used for obtaining the underserved benefit (threatening the person, bribery, or the illicit use of confidential information) The present study also differed from most previous studies in that, as already stated, it analyzed people’s views in terms of basic philosophical stands In other words, it was the structure in people’s judgments that what the focus of the analyses These stands were 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… sometimes evoked in previous studies but they had never been consistently explored as such This point will be more completely developed, with examples, in the next section 1.3 Corruption: A Conflict of Ethics As shown in previous studies, most people most of the time express intolerance to corruption when the consequences of corruption are perceived as severe (e.g., vote-buying by politicians during elections) As also been found, however, a minority of people in a minority of situations express surprisingly high levels of tolerance to corruption, above all when the consequences were perceived as not very severe (e.g., using one’s network of political connections to help a friend to find a job) To understand people’s reactions to corruption, invoking cultural or structural factors is, according to Treisman (2000), insufficient To fully understand this phenomenon and the diversity of reactions it produce among people, it is necessary to frame it in the larger context of human evolution; that is, as the result of a conflict between two kinds of ethics that separately developed during humanization, each one based on its own rationale (Fox 2011) The first societal structure in which we have developed and evolved is the extended family or tribe (Marshall Thomas 2006) Tribes offered protection in an environment where Homo had to defend itself against natural catastrophes (e.g., drought), threats from members of other species (e.g., predators), and other tribes’ attacks (e.g., to control land) Anything that allowed each tribe and its members to live better or simply to survive was good Bringing goods (e.g., food) from the external world into the extended family was good whatever the means that were used (concerted exchange with other tribes or bloody fighting with them) Failing to it was bad Commandments such as ‘‘Thou shalt not steal’’ or ‘‘Thou shalt not murder’’ were to be understood as prohibiting stealing and killing among tribe members (Walzer et al 2006) ‘‘Ethics’’, at this time, was defined in terms of tribe’s survival and growth This state of affairs has endured for thousands of years, and has, undoubtedly shaped human thinking and behavior (Fox 2011) In present days, most people live in much larger societies which codes of ethics have, as a result of diversification, considerably evolved (Besley 2006; Gintis et al 2005; McCoy and Heckel 2001) Bringing goods to family members through fighting with members of other families is no longer good but bad Failing to fight with people from other families in order to self-appropriate their goods is no longer bad but good In modern societies, politicians are expected to behave in the interest of all citizens, irrespective of ethnicity or group membership State officials and employees are expected to strictly apply the laws and rules elaborated by politicians, and to provide the same quality services to any citizen State officials and employees are accountable to politicians for their performance in office and for the integrity of their conduct, and politicians are, in the same way, accountable to citizens who, as voters, can put an end to their career Although the new ethics has hopefully superseded tribal ethics, the later has not disappeared: The two ethics have simply adjusted the one to the other In some cases both ethics converge in their demands Parents are naturally inclined to spend more time with their own offspring than with their neighbors’ ones, and to take care of them more intensely than to take care of other children There is nothing bad in that, as suggested in Gilligan’s (1982) ethics of care or Shweder et al.’ (1997) ethics of community In other words, tribal ethics, which demands that people take more care of their relatives than of unknown people, has kept a large domain of validity (as illustrated in Moral Foundations Theory, Haidt 2013) In other situations, ethical conflicts can emerge Suppose the case of a mayor of a small town that needs to recruit an employee According to ‘‘modern’’ ethics, 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al this mayor is expected to inform the public of the vacancy of the position, and to organize a public examination in order to select the best candidate Failing to so is bad According to tribal ethics, however, the mayor is expected not to inform anybody of the vacancy and to recruit his nephew who is currently unemployed Failing to so is bad Many cases of corruption result in fact from a conflict between the ancient, tribal ethics, that is, the one in which Homo have lived from time immemorial, and the new one, which is only slowly gaining momentum in modern society and has, in many places and domains, not completely superseded the old one (Persson et al 2013) Tribal ethics is, in current days, still very powerful because it has evolved Tribes now take the form of political parties, trade unions, or corporations They also take the form of nations, religious groups, and military alliances (e.g., NATO) But their basic character (the in-group versus outgroup distinction) has not changed We cannot be content with one-sided views regarding what is called corruption Considering that the mayor of the town in the above case is a rotten (corrupt) person is only part of the story because from his tribe’s viewpoint, this person, far from being considered as ‘‘rotten’’, is perceived as an affectionate uncle and a sensitive person, as a member of the extended family who has demonstrated that he is able to take care of his relatives Also, this person may simultaneously feel good for having helped his nephew and feel bed for not having respected the ‘‘modern’’ principle of justice; that is he may alternate between positive and negative feelings as a function of the perspective taken (Apter 2001) One famous example in history of leader who repeatedly oscillated between the two ethical stands was Pope Urban VIII who after having named cardinals his brother and two of his nephews repeatedly consulted the best theologians of the time to check whether these nominations were valid (von Ranke 1836, 2015) More generally, the mayor’ decision to recruit his nephew is not that different from certain decisions statesmen are led to take In a given country, most nationals; that is, most members of the national tribe, expect from their leaders that they take decisions that warrant them safety and well-being (closing borders, favoring national companies, downplaying environmental protection considerations), free of concern for people in other countries’ safety and well-being (Verwee and Van de Walle 2008) In most cases, perceived corruption result from the consideration that tribal ethics has been applied (e.g., recruiting a relative) in cases where most people expect modern ethics is applied (e.g., organizing a public contest) (Newell 2008) The inverse is also true There are no few cases where the application of modern ethics (e.g., signaling cases of abuses by the Police, providing health care to foreigners) is denounced as severe lack of solidarity with colleagues or with nationals or as political weakness by people who consider that tribal ethics is the only one appropriate in those cases (Ivkovic´ and Sauerman 2015; Lee et al 2013) 1.4 Hypotheses In view of the diversity of findings reported in previous studies, notably the ones by Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008) and Kpanake et al (2014), we expected to find several qualitatively different personal positions regarding the tolerability of the acts of corruption described in the realistic scenarios Firstly, we expected to find a group of participants who would always refer to modern ethics to judge of the acceptability/tolerability of the behaviors described in the scenarios This group would be the ‘‘zero tolerability’’ group found in the studies by Lascousmes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008), and Gong and Wang (2013) or the ‘‘never acceptable’’ group found in the study by Kpanake et al 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… (2014) In this expected group, all the behaviors described in the scenarios would be rated as completely intolerable Secondly, we expected to find a group of participants who would always refer to tribal ethics to judge of the acceptability/tolerability of the behaviors The possible existence of such a group is attested by previous findings reported in the LAPOP, and among them by the finding that % of participants considered that a representative who agree to receive a bribe of $15,000 from a company to support the company’s interest in future endeavors must not be prosecuted From a tribal perspective, these participants have simply considered that the corporate executive has done nothing else than to defend the company and its employees’ interest, which cannot be considered as bad in itself This second group is, however, likely to be small in size because in previous studies participants with such an extreme view were few Thirdly, we expected to find a group of participants in which the conflict between the two kinds of ethics is latent, although modern ethics would always tend to dominate tribal ethics This group would be similar to the ‘‘non-zero tolerability’’ group (67 % of participants) found in the study by Gong and Wang (2013) In this study, many responses varied from to on the to 10-point response scale, which means that, despite ratings were quite low, they significantly differed from zero In our view, it is an indication of a conflict of an ethical nature Fourthly, we expected to find a group of participants in which the conflict between the two kinds of ethics is also present although, in this case, tribal ethics would, at least in some cases, tend to dominate modern ethics This group would be similar to the ‘‘high tolerance to favoritism’’ group found by Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008), to the ‘‘tolerability’’ group (5 % of the participants) found by Gong and Wang (2013) and to the ‘‘depends on circumstances’’ group found by Kpanake et al (2014) As the scenarios were constructed by application of an orthogonal design, we were in a position to disentangle the effects of the three factors: current status or position in society of the person who behaved in a corrupt way, motive behind the act of corruption, and means used for obtaining the underserved benefit We expected that, overall, a corrupt act performed by a politician or a judge would be considered as less tolerable than the same act performed by an entrepreneur or an ordinary citizen because people holding a public charge are expected to apply the ethics of their charge; that is, modern ethics, whereas people without public charge are expected to be more entitled to behave in a way that favor their group (the corporation or the family) We also expect that, overall, acts of nepotism would be considered as more tolerable than acts aimed at gaining money because the former are more likely to benefit to the tribe as such Finally, we expected that, overall, the illicit use of confidential information would be considered as more tolerable than threat or bribery because its consequences are usually more benign Method 2.1 Participants Seven hundred and fifty people currently living in different areas of the city of Bogota, Colombia, were contacted by twelve research assistants trained in the application of the technique As in Bogota people are classified as a function of the quarter in the city in which they live, assistants were able instructed to interview people living in different 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al geographic areas of the city in order to gather a diversified sample (Owing to the current situation in the country we were not able to gather a large, fully representative sample of Colombians.) Four hundred thirteen (55 %) agreed to participate After an explanation of the study, written informed consent was obtained, and the survey was administered right away The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 69 years (M = 36.80, SD = 13.22) Detailed demographic characteristics of the sample are shown in the sixth column of Table 1, and corresponding statistics for the district of Bogota are shown in the right-hand column (Secretaria de Planeacion de Bogota´ 2005, 2008, 2012) The participants’ full anonymity was maintained 2.2 Material The material consisted of 24 vignettes composed according to a three within-subject orthogonal factor design: (a) the current status or position in society of the person who behaved in a corrupt way (politician, judge, entrepreneur or ordinary citizen), (b) the motive behind the act of corruption (nepotism or monetary gain), and (c) the means used for obtaining the underserved benefit (threatening the person, bribery or illicitly sharing of confidential information) An example of a scenario is the following: ‘‘Herman is a senator He wishes his nephew to get a civil servant position in the Ministry of Health His nephew is currently unemployed since years Fifty candidates have already been pre-selected for this position As Herman has a good friend among the people in the Ministry responsible for the final examination, he has been able to obtain information regarding the questionnaires that are going to be used during the process of selection Herman decides to communicate this information to his nephew His nephew used the information, succeeded in the competition, and got the position The question at the end of the story was ‘‘To what extent you think that, in these circumstances, the senator’s behavior is tolerable?’’ The response scale was an 11-point scale with a left-hand anchor of ‘‘Completely intolerable’’ (0) and a righthand anchor of ‘‘Fairly tolerable’’ (10) Cards with the stories were arranged by chance and in a different order for each participant All the participants answered additional questions about their age, gender, educational level, and political orientation 2.3 Procedure The site was either a vacant classroom in the local university or the participant’s private home Each person was tested individually The procedure followed Anderson’s (2008, 2013) recommendations for this kind of study The participants took 30–45 to complete the ratings They knew in advance how long the survey would last None of them complained about the number of vignettes they were required to evaluate or about the credibility of the proposed situations The study conformed to the ethical recommendations of the Colombian Society of Psychology; that is, as indicated early, full anonymity was respected and informed consent was obtained from all participants Results As in Kpanake et al (2014), a cluster analysis was performed on the raw data in accordance with Hofmans and Mullet’s (2013) recommendations K-means clustering was used It is a nonhierarchical centroid-based method (Euclidian distances) that uses all data points 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… Table Demographic characteristics of the whole sample and of each cluster Demographic characteristic Cluster Always Intolerable Total Never Very Tolerable Means used Bogota Always Tolerable Age: v2(6) = 15.21, p \ 02 18–25 years 53 (50) 40 (38) 11 (10) (2) 106 (26) 19 26–35 years 54 (53) 38 (38) (9) (0) 101 (24) 26 36–45 years 68 (65) 32 (31) (4) (0) 104 (25) 25 45? years 74 (73) 24 (23) (4) (0) 102 (25) 30 Gender: v2(2) = 68, ns Females 128 (60) 68 (32) 16 (8) (0) 212 (51) 52 Males 121 (60) 66 (33) 12 (6) (1) 201 (49) 48 Social class: v2(10) = 7.16, ns Very poor 32 (58) 19 (35) (7) (0) 55 (13) 11 Poor 51 (54) 36 (38) (7) (1) 95 (23) 39 Lower middle 78 (63) 38 (31) (5) (1) 123 (30) 36 Upper middle 39 (62) 18 (29) (10) (0) 63 (15) Well-to-do 25 (56) 16 (36) (9) (0) 45 (11) Wealthy 24 (75) (22) (3) (0) 32 (8) Educational level: v2 (8) = 8.65, ns Primary 21 (60) 12 (34) (6) (0) 35 (8) 11 Secondary 68 (57) 41 (34) (7) (2) 120 (29) 23 College 72 (55) 48 (36) 12 (9) (0) 132 (32) 45 Technical– technological 54 (69) 22 (28) (3) (0) 78 (19) University 34 (71) 11 (23) (6) (0) 48 (12) 12 20 (7) Political orientation: v2 (6) = 6.87, ns None 184 (60) 100 (33) (1) 306 (74) Green 11 (48) (35) (17) (0) 23 (6) Right 30 (59) 18 (35) (6) (0) 51 (12) Left 24 (73) (24) (3) (0) 33 (8) Total 249 (60) 134 (32) 28 (7) (1) 413 (100) Corresponding Statistics for the district of Bogota Columns 2–5, figures in parentheses are percentages in line Columns and 7, percentages are in column and is less susceptible than other techniques to outliers and the distance measure used Recent applications of this clustering technique in studies similar to the present one and conducted in Colombia can be found in Lo´pez-Lo´pez et al (2012, 2015) As we expected to find at least four qualitatively different clusters, a four-cluster solution was first tested Although the fourth resulting clusters were easy to interpret, more complex solutions were tested, until it was realized that no other solution was more satisfying than the initial one in terms of interpretability of the clusters The patterns of data that corresponded to the clusters are shown in Fig Separate ANOVAS were conducted on the data of each of the three main clusters, using a Current 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al 10 Politician Judge Sen Executive Lay People N = 28 Judgment N = 249 N=2 N = 134 Always Intolerable Never Very Tolerable Depends on Means Used Threat Bribery Information Threat Bribery Information Threat Bribery Information Threat Bribery Information Always Tolerable Fig Judged tolerability (y-axis) as a function of current status or position in society of the person who behaved in a corrupt way (curves), and means used for obtaining the underserved benefit (x-axis) Each panel corresponds to one cluster Position Motive Means, 9 design Owing to the great number of comparisons, the threshold value has, in each case, been set at 007, using the Bonferoni technique (.05/7) The first cluster (60 % of the participants) was called Zero Tolerance because in absolutely all cases, the ratings were extremely close to the left end of the response scale (M = 21, SD = 30) Although all values were very close the one to the other, the Means factor was significant, F(2, 490) = 27.64, p \ 001, g2p = 10 Threat (M = 17) and bribery (M = 18) were considered as still more intolerable than illicit use of confidential information (M = 29) The second cluster (32 %) was called Never Very Tolerable because the ratings, although always closer to the left end than to the right end of the response scale (M = 1.83, SD = 1.04) varied as a function of the means used As in the preceding case, threat (M = 1.12) and bribery (M = 1.53) were considered as more intolerable than use of information (M = 2.85), F(2, 266) = 139.62, p \ 001, but the differences between levels were larger, g2p = 51 In addition, an act of corruption performed by an ordinary citizen was considered as slightly less intolerable (M = 2.04) that the same act performed by an entrepreneur (M = 1.89) or a judge (M = 1.73) or a politician (M = 1.68), F(3, 399) = 10.92, p 001, g2p = 10 The third cluster (7 %) was called Depends on Means because, as in the preceding case, the ratings were affected by the means used but to a larger extent Threat (M = 48) and 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… bribery (M = 1.05) were still considered as quite intolerable but illicit use of information was not (M = 6.98), F(2, 54) = 288.85, p \ 001, g2p = 90 Finally, the fourth cluster, a very small cluster (less than % of the participants) was called Always Tolerable because in all cases, the ratings were much closer to the right end than to the left end of the response scale (M = 7.60, SD = 1.50) Table shows the relationship between demographic characteristics and personal position Younger participants were, more frequently than older ones, members of the Depends on Means cluster and, less frequently than them, members of the Always Intolerable cluster They were also the only members of the Always Tolerable cluster No other significant relationship was found An ANOVA was conducted on the data from the whole sample, using the same design The Status and Means factors were significant Overall, an act of corruption performed by an ordinary citizen was considered as slightly less intolerable (M = 1.03) that the same act performed by an entrepreneur (M = 98) or a judge (M = 91) or a politician (M = 90), F(3, 1227) = 9.38, p \ 001, g2p = 02 Threat (M = 53) and bribery (M = 71) were considered as more intolerable than the illicit use of information (M = 1.62), F(2, 818) = 1121.45, p \ 001, g2p = 22 Discussion As expected, qualitatively different positions regarding the tolerability/acceptability of different unethical behaviors performed by diverse categories of citizens were found A majority of participants adopted a zero tolerance position Even when the person performing the act was an ordinary citizen, the motive of the act was altruistic and the means used was benign in terms of consequences, judged tolerability was nil This result was consistent with previous findings by Gong and Wang (2013) and Kpanake et al (2014) although the percentage of participants expressing this position in the present study was seemingly higher than the percentages of participants reported in these two studies This result was also consistent with the most recent findings reported by the LAPOP, Colombia (2011) Most people in Bogota, a city of 10,000,000 inhabitants, clearly repudiated tribal ethics A very small proportion of participants expressed, in contrast, views that were consistent with tribal ethics They were male, young, relatively poor, less educated, and politically unengaged After the survey was completed, one of these two participants spontaneously expressed the view that ‘‘everything in society can be bought When you pay the price, you get looked after before everyone else You always can obtain what you want’’ This finding has methodological implications The large percentage of participants expressing a zero tolerance position was not the by-product of some hidden bias in the material used As demonstrated here, nothing prevented participants to use the tolerability end of the response scale if they were inclined to so This finding was also consistent with current observations regarding political life in the country Corruption does occur, and people behaving in a corrupt way not always perceive it is corruption (Latin America Public Opinion Project, Colombia 2011) Two groups of participants expressed a conflict of ethics In the first one, although none of the behaviors described in the scenarios were considered as really tolerable, participants discriminated among them In other words, and using Heidenheimer et al.’s (1970) terminology, some behaviors were viewed as black (threatening a person), other were 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al considered dark grey (offering money), and some behavior were seen just grey (using information) This finding was consistent with results reported by Gong and Wang (2013) Participants in this first group recognize that modern ethics must always prevail in the situations described in the scenarios but they cannot prevent themselves to express, at the same time, the repressed although not suppressed demands of tribal ethics One of the participants in this cluster spontaneously expressed the view that ‘‘when you are in charge, it’s always difficult to resist to friends’ and relatives’ demands or pressure Sometimes, it is quite impossible.’’ This statement was very similar to some participants’ statements reported by Persson et al (2013) in their study on corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example: ‘‘If you have an office but have not stolen—if you have not helped your family— they are actually going to curse you’’ In the second one, although the more consequential behaviors described in the scenarios were, in all cases, considered as quite intolerable, one was considered as tolerable: the illicit use of information This finding shows that, for these participants, the domain of validity of tribal ethics is one in which consequences can be seen as benign and/or when corruption is not easily traceable One of the participants in this cluster expressed the view that ‘‘sharing information is what people all the time It does not really hurt anybody.’’ This finding is consistent with findings reported by Lascoumes and Tomescu-Hatto (2008) Although, only % of participants agreed with this view, this small minority, in addition to the small minority of people who think that corruption is always tolerable, is probably enough to create a climate of suspicion in a country Finally, on a global level, it has been observed that tolerability is mainly a function of the means used to obtain the benefit, and does not depend on the status of the person performing the corrupt act or of the motives behind the act Ordinary citizens are no more exempt of good public or private conduct, and helping a family member using consequential means (e.g., threat) is never tolerated 4.1 Limitations The sample, although quite large, was a convenience sample of laypersons living in Bogota Generalization of the results to people in other parts of the country must be done with care The aim of the study was to characterize, based on previous findings, people’s positions regarding the acceptability of corruption; it was not to determine the precise percentages of people in the country who hold each of these views It would, however, be particularly interesting to examine, in future studies, the extent to which the proportions of people sharing the ‘‘always tolerable’’ and the ‘‘depends on means’’ positions differ across the country As stated early, Colombia has experienced much violence in the past Since the 1960s, a long-running armed conflict has opposed leftwing insurgents (the guerillas), the government army, and right-wing paramilitaries (Lo´pez-Lo´pez et al 2012) Violence and corruption tend to work hand-in-hand (Friedrich 1972) Given the regional aspect of the conflict, and the association between corruption and violence, the percentage of people holding one or another of the four positions regarding corruption is likely to vary from one part of the country to the other In some way, working toward the eradication of corruption in specific areas where it is still prevalent and people is still too frequently tolerating it would amount to also working for a lasting peace A second potential limitation may reside in the use of realistic vignettes As suggested by Gamelin et al 2006), this kind of methodology is robust mainly because the examination of individual patterns of responses allows the researcher to detect whether participants have answered in a way that can be considered as internally coherent or not As 123 Mapping Colombian Citizens’ Views Regarding Ordinary… indicated above, this kind of methodology has already been successfully used in other situations in which a significant part of the population has been affected by violence and corruption A third limitation resides in that the surveyors did not systematically ask further questions to elucidate the reasons, no doubt personal, familial or cultural, for the participants’ responses Future studies should examine how strongly and considerately citizens hold their views about corruption Future studies should also examine whether the participants who hold the ‘‘always tolerable’’ position have expressed their true opinion or simply misinterpreted the material Finally, a fourth limitation resides in that, although the cluster analysis demonstrated significant differences among four groups of respondents, it does not itself directly support the assumption that these differences in tolerance for corruption were associated to tribal ethics As tribal ethics can be globally defined as in-group favoritism (e.g., in evaluation of people or allocation of resources), it would be important to examine the link between ingroup bias tendency and tolerance for corruption In-group favoritism could, for example, be assessed using tools such as the Third-Party punishment test (Fehr and Fischbacher 2004) by comparing participants’ decisions taken in an in-group context (rewardingpunishing a friend) to decisions taken in an out-group context These measures could be related to different kinds of measures of tolerance for corruption, including the current scenarios 4.2 Implications Fighting against corruption cannot be anything else than a long term educational project (United Nation Office on Drug and Crime 2015) As early as possible, children, at school and in their families, must be sensitized to the issue of ethics in public behaviour Keeping children and young adolescents blind to the most pressing issues in society, under the pretext of protecting them, is probably the best way to have them indefinitely perpetuate Young people might be explained that taking care of vulnerable family members and, as often as possible, rendering assistance to friends who are in need of help, are good, moral practices each time the effect of help and assistance is limited to the close circle of relationships Young people might also be explained that each time this kind of help and assistance occurs at the detriment of somebody else; that is, someone outside the close circle of relatives, it may be bad practice; that is, it may be a case of favouritism or nepotism or intimidation or bribery, and so on Vivid examples can be used to have it understood by young people: Helping a niece to prepare for an exam by offering her free lessons of English is good but showing her a translation of the text that is going to be used in the exam is bad; a responsible aunt is not allowed to that, even if truly affectionate This example is a naive one only in appearance; it allows deep analysis of the foundations of ethics As most participants in the study share the view that the only coherent attitude to corruption is zero tolerance, implementing such a program at school should not be met with strong parents’ resistance In the meantime, and considering that what can be expected from the justice system and from the politicians is currently limited, the free media seems to remain the only credible protagonist in the fight against corruption Reporting all known cases of corruption, and having them known to the largest audience possible might be one of the priority objectives of the free media, national and international Intellectuals also, in association with the free media, can play a non-negligible role in sensitizing public opinion (Gonza´lez Gonza´lez 2014) 123 W Lo´pez Lo´pez et al References Anderson, N H (2008) Unified social cognition New York: Psychology Press Anderson, N H 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Views. .. 2012) and the measurement of its effect on citizens? ?? behaviors and level of satisfaction (Pellegata and Memoli 2015), and (e) the assessment of reporting practices of corruption among citizens. .. association between corruption and violence, the percentage of people holding one or another of the four positions regarding corruption is likely to vary from one part of the country to the other In some