The Handbook of Public Sector Communication

4Transparency and Corruption in the Public Sector

Katerina Tsetsura and Vilma Luoma‐aho

Transparency has become an essential concept globally through the international crises around information leaks. Transparency International results show that lack of transparency appears to be a global trend, despite the fact that research has proven the different benefits of transparency for societies (Transparency International, 2014). Globally, nontransparency, and its manifestations corruption, bribery, and propaganda are seen as undesired traits for public sector organizations. The battle against nontransparency and corruption is challenging, as such processes and practices are strongly rooted in societies and power structures, and as systems they often maintain themselves despite interventions and improvement efforts.

For public sector organizations that serve the citizens, transparency is understood as a vital part of democracy. How transparency is valued and understood depends not only on the societal setting, but also on the degree of democracy apparent and enabled in that setting (Charron, Lapuente, & Rothstein, 2013; Kumlin & Rothstein, 2005, pp. 339–365). Public sector organizations in their practices often reflect the existing challenges of the society within which they are embedded. Fundamentally transparency is related to the deeper concept of trust apparent within a society. In fact, Fukuyama (1995), p. 7 claims that “a nation's well‐being, as well as its ability to compete, ...