Nghiên cứu sinh Nguyễn Phương Anh bảo vệ luận án tiến sĩ

Vào 16h00 ngày 11/07/2022 tại P501 Nhà A2, Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân tổ chức lễ bảo vệ luận án tiến sĩ cho NCS Nguyễn Phương Anh, chuyên ngành Kinh tế học (bằng tiếng Anh), với đề tài "Social status, social norms and bribe-giving behaviors of citizens in Vietnam".
Thứ hai, ngày 06/06/2022

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DISSERTATION

Dissertation title: Social Status, Social norms and Bribe-giving behaviors of citizens in Vietnam 
Specialization:    Economics                    Specialization code: 9310101
PhD candidate: Nguyen Phuong Anh               
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Quang Canh; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Ngoc Linh 

Original contributions on academic and theoretical aspects

            This dissertation contributes to the literature, suggesting a suitable framework to explain bribe-giving behaviors among citizens in different social groups and social norms, and thus provides effective implications for anti-corruption issue in Vietnam. The contributions of the dissertation to the academic and theoretical literature are threefold.

            Firstly, it focuses on applying the bargaining power framework and institutional theory to understand how social factors, including socioeconomic status and norms, affect bribe-giving of citizens under the Vietnam-specific culture. Accordingly, this study not only views bribes as informal costs that citizens must pay for accessing public services; it also views bribe-giving as a norm in the society. The new contribution is that this dissertation extends the bargaining power framework to explain the bribe-giving of the poor and unemployed in comparison to the low educated people. In corrupt transactions, the higher a citizen’s bargaining power has, the fewer bribes he/she pays. The research also extends the moderating effect of the bargaining power to explain the effect of social status on individuals’ bribe-giving behaviors in anti-corruption communities. 

            Secondly, from perspective of institutional theory, social norms on corruption related to culture strongly engage with the bribe-giving activities of citizens. Hence, the institutional approach has been much more alive and inspiring to explain the bribe-giving behaviors, and by applying it, the dissertation has provided further explanations on the individuals’ bribery behaviors to access public services. 

            Thirdly, this study is among the pioneer on the bribe-giving from individual perspectives; thus, its empirical results shed light on the anti-corruption agenda for Vietnam and other transitional economies.

Recommendations derived from the findings of the dissertation 

            Based on the findings, this research has proposed some implications for policy makers about anti-corruption measures in Vietnam as follows: 

            (1) Improving citizens’ bargaining power over public officials by educating and raising anti-corruption awareness, willingness and actions among citizens, especially young generations 
            (2) Building an anti-corruption and corruption-reporting culture, developing transparency and simplification of administrative procedures 
            (3) Encouraging participation of other stakeholders, media and social organizations
            (4) Strengthening the effectiveness of law enforcement, monitoring and evaluations