CAN CIVIL SOCIETY CURB CORRUPTION IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT? A comparative study of the conditional effect of societal accountability in EU regions

Abstract

Public procurement involves large sums of public funds and is major component of public sector fiscal activity. For this very reason, procurement is vulnerable to corruption, as it presents both motive and op-portunities for corruption. The broader corruption literature has pointed to civil society as a key set of actors in monitoring and detecting corruption in the public sector, but whether it can and does so in procurement processes remains an open question. This study takes on this question, exploring claims put forth in previous research that the ability of civil society to bring corrupt officials to account is contingent on contextual factors. The study examines both the unconditioned relationship between civil society strength and corrup-tion in procurement, as well as the relationship conditional upon levels of transparency, meritocracy, and local media in 175 EU regions. The results suggest that relationship between civil society strength and cor-ruption in procurement is not monotonic, but, counter to findings in previous research, that the effect seems to exist where conditions are less favourable, rather than more favourable. Civil society exhibits a negative association with procurement corruption in regions with comparatively lower transparency and meritocracy. The results suggest that institutions not only affect the ability of civil society to demand accountability, but also its willingness to do so.Keywords: civil society, public procurement, corruption, procurement corruption, societal accountability, EU regions, contextual conditions