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Corruption: Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

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DOI: 10.1007/s11948-014-9569-1 · Source: PubMed

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Sci Eng Ethics
DOI 10.1007/s11948-014-9569-1

ORIGINAL PAPER

Corruption: Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators

or Both?

M. Pecujlija • I. Cosic • L. Nesic-Grubic • S. Drobnjak

Received: 14 March 2014 / Accepted: 10 June 2014

 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract This study was conducted in Serbian companies on licensed engineers and
in its first part included a total of 336 licensed engineers who voluntarily completed the
questionnaires about their ethical orientation and attitudes toward corruption and in
the second part 214 engineers who participated in the first survey, who voluntarily
evaluated their company’s business operations characteristics. This study has clearly
shown that there is a direct significant influence of the engineer’s ethical orientations
and attitudes toward corruption on their evaluation of the characteristics of their
respective companies regarding business operations. This research also clearly shows
that only engineers with a strong deontological orientation, low ethical subjectivity,
and strong readiness to fight corruption, low corruption acceptance and high aware-
ness of corruption can successfully fight corruption, improve the business operations
of their companies and make beneficial changes to society. Otherwise, they should be
considered as corruption perpetrators, not just as its victims.

Keywords Corruption
Ethics
Job satisfaction
Business operations

Introduction (Verba volant, scripta manent1)

The Royal Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with the Engineering Council

and a number of the leading professional engineering institutions, has created a

1
‘‘Spoken words fly away, written words remain’’.

M. Pecujlija (&)
I. Cosic
L. Nesic-Grubic

Faculty of Technical Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, Novi Sad, Serbia
e-mail: pecujlija@gmail.com

S. Drobnjak
MoIS, Belgrade, Serbia

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

Statement of Ethical Principles to which it believes all professional engineers and

related bodies should subscribe.’’
Also, the Royal Academy of Engineering states that: ‘‘Professional Engineers
work to enhance the welfare, health and safety of all whilst paying due regard to the
environment and the sustainability of resources. They have made personal and
professional commitments to enhance the wellbeing of society through the
exploitation of knowledge and the management of creative teams.’’ One of the
aspects of this statement is that Professional Engineers should adopt the highest
standards of professional conduct, openness, fairness and honesty. They should
avoid deceptive acts, take steps to prevent corrupt practices or professional
misconduct, and declare conflicts of interest, reject bribery or improper
influence…’’
The main purpose of this paper is to show that engineers are not just victims of
corruption, they should also be considered as corruption perpetrators (like
managers). In addition, this paper strives to show that there is direct link between
the engineers’ ethical orientation coupled with his/her attitude toward corruption
and their company‘s business operations working characteristics. According to
Basart and Serra (2013), it seems to be a frequent practice in academic papers to
transform any analysis of professional ethics into a study of ethics of the respective
professional. Whenever this transformation occurs in engineering, the outcome is
that engineering ethics becomes engineers’ ethics. They noticed that due to the fact
that this shift is so subtle and common it quite often goes unnoticed. The intention of
this paper is clear: to examine the relations between the engineers’ ethical
orientations coupled with their attitudes toward corruption with their company’s
business operations characteristics. So, this paper deals with the interaction between
the ethics purported by engineers and the ethical environment these engineers
experience when working for their company.2

Abusus optimi pessimus3

This research follows Collins et al. (2009) idea that corrupt behaviour may become
accepted practice within organizations and that corruption may become institution-
alized in firms and rationalized by organization members (Anderson and Jap 2005).
Collins et al. (2009) states that social relations influence companies through
managers’ actions as well as the behaviour of the rest of the employees in company
(Adler and Kwon 2002). Individuals develop personal relationships with others
through mutual interaction, which Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) describe as the

2
Basart and Serra (2013) wrote: ‘‘Engineering is more than what engineers do in their work. While
working there is always a private or a public organization by whom the engineer is employed. This
organization is a more or less complex entity where many stakeholders, interests, and boundaries
(external as well as internal) interrelate. Suppliers also play a role as another organization with an
analogous structure. Laws and public regulations establish what is allowed and what is forbidden. Finally,
the result of his or her work is delivered and acts upon the client or society who had previously
commissioned, under certain conditions, a specific product or service’’.
3
‘‘The corruption of the best is the worst’’.

123
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

‘‘personal positioning’’ of an individual. The positioning of individuals within their

families, business organizations or other relationships creates identification with a
given group, which leads to sharing the same norms, building of trust, while
expectations or obligations are formed to provide support to the rest of the group
(Uzzi 1997). Literature in the field of management emphasizes the importance of
top managers and their social relationships to the strategic choices of the business
organization (Baumer 2007). Understanding of interpersonal interaction is crucial to
understanding the causes of criminal behaviour (Sutherland and Cressey 1974).
Collins also writes (2009) that the need for obtaining official approval from state
institutions in order to receive potentially profitable contracts for public works and
procurement has long been recognized as a generator of corruption (De Soto 2000).
The establishment of formal and informal procedures for issuing various permits
can be initiated by bureaucrats, who want to be paid for their position, in order to
obtain the issuance of the required permit. Additionally, some companies may
attempt to use corruption and bribery in an attempt to avoid or speed up the issuance
of a permit (Martin et al. 2007). In any case, for corruption to occur, there are some
negotiations involved to a certain degree, as well as the interaction between the state
and a company. Researchers support such a characterization of corruption. It is
proven that the amount of time that managers spend in discussions with government
officials is precisely proportional to the volume of corrupt transactions. This is along
the lines of Basart and Serra (2013) claims that the quality of engineers work, the
degree of responsibility they are willing to take, and the commitment to good
service, is influenced by the elements named above. As they claim, engineers are not
a singularity inside engineering; they exist and operate as a node in a complex
network of mutual relationships with many other nodes.

Corruptio optimi cuiusque pessima4

According to Rabl and Kuhlmann (2011), the model of corrupt activity (in this case
engineer‘s corrupt activity) includes the following components and relationships:
1. Desire to achieve a personal or professional goal
2. Impact of the expected positive and negative emotions
The level of desire depends on the expected positive and negative emotions
regarding the achievement of the goal. When considering whether to act or not,
people take into account the emotional consequences of achieving, as well as failing
to achieve the desired goal. These emotions have the power of motivation (Perugini
and Bagozzi 2004) and encourage decision-making as part of a general process of
self-regulation. The power of the expected emotions associated with achieving or
failing to achieve a goal influences the desire for the goal in both cases (Bagozzi
et al. 2003).

4
,,The best things, when corrupted, become the worst‘‘.

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

3. Intention to achieve a personal or professional goal

The desire to achieve a personal or professional goal must be converted into the
intention. This transition from indulgent state of deliberation into a solid sense of
commitment is described through the metaphor ‘‘Crossing the Rubicon’’ (Heck-
hausen 1987) and occurs in the phase prior to action, as stated in the Rubicon Model
of Action Phases (Gollwitzer 1990; Heckhausen 1987). Compared to intentions,
desires are understood as something less feasible by the one who is deciding, less
associated with action, and carried out over a longer period of time (Perugini and
Bagozzi 2004).
4. Influence of goal feasibility
People consider how difficult it is to achieve particular goals. They investigate
whether they can achieve these goals through their own actions, whether the
contexts of their surrounding circumstances are mitigating or aggravating factors, as
well as whether they will have the necessary resources or opportunities at their
disposal (Gollwitzer 1990). Several empirical findings have proven the existence of
this linear function between the difficulty of achieving a goal and the performance,
which stops when a subject reaches the limits of his abilities, when it is very difficult
to achieve the goal.
5. Desire to achieve a personal or professional goal through corrupt action
When an intention regarding the goal is formed, plans are developed on how to
achieve it. In our case, one of the ways of doing this via corrupt activity. In the
Model of Effortful Decision Making and Enactment (Bagozzi et al. 2003), the desire
to enact is caused by the goal intention. If there is the significant intent to achieve
the personal or professional goal, it can be assumed that this will result in a certain
desirability of resorting to corrupt action.
6. Influence of attitude and subjective norms
According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour the stronger intention of an
individual to decide on the behaviour leads to attitudes and subjective norms more
favourable in relation to the given behaviour. Bagozzi et al. (2003) find that
attitudes and subjective norms influence intentions only to the extent to which they
lead towards the desire to act. The desires function as mediating variables between
the attitude and subjective norm on one hand, and the intention on the other
(Perugini and Bagozzi 2001).
7. Intention to achieve a personal or professional goal through corrupt action
For non-routine goals, the important components of the Rubicon Model are the
goal intention and the implementation intention. While expressing the goal
intention, the commitment of an individual making a decision to achieve a selected
goal, is formed as a consequence of a conscious process in which all of the available
possibilities are individually assessed in terms of their desirability and feasibility,
the implementation intention is the selection of an implementation plan, which
considers and shapes the details regarding when, where, how and for how long to

123
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

perform an activity aimed at achieving a goal, in the implementation of decisions

(Bagozzi et al. 2003). Similar to the formation of the goal, intention from the desire
to achieve a goal described in the previous text, the desire for implementation
results in implementation intentions after ‘‘Crossing the Rubicon’’ and refers to the
intensity and the extent of the tendency towards the particular way of achieving the
goal (Bagozzi et al. 2003).
8. Influence of perceived behavioural control
Whether an implementation intention will be formed depends on the anticipated
difficulties. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1991) states the perceived
behavioural control as a concept that refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of a
certain behaviour, which implies taking into account past experiences, as well as the
anticipated limitations and obstacles. It is used to explain behaviour in which people
have incomplete control over their will. When it comes to corrupt activities, it can
be assumed that there is an incomplete control of the will, because it is influenced
by outside factors, such as the probability of being caught (Carrillo 1999) and the
severity of prescribed punishment. Moreover, the perceived behavioural control
depends on the transaction costs that occur before, during and after the corrupt
relationship (Lambsdorff 2002).
9. Corrupt action
According to the Model of Action Phases whether the intention that occurs in the
phase prior to action, turns into action in the action phase, depends on the strength
of the will (Buchan 2005). The more committed the persons are to achieve the goal;
the more likely they are to be actually engaged in appropriate actions. The studies
conducted by Brandstatter et al. (2001) show that implementation intentions lead to
immediate initiation of action directed towards achieving a goal when confronted
with the given situation or opportunity.
In order to to examine the relations between the engineers’ ethical orientations
coupled with their attitudes toward corruption (predictors of their corrupt activity)
with their company’s business operations characteristics, we state these research
hypotheses (Fig. 1):
H1 There is the significant influence of the engineers’ moral orientation on the
business operations characteristics of their companies.
H2 There is the significant influence of the engineers’ attitude towards corruption
on business operations characteristics of their companies.

Research

Sampling and Data Collection

In the first part of the study the link to the survey was sent by e-mail to licensed
engineers from more than 200 companies in Serbia (their e-mail addresses were
obtained from the Serbian Chamber of Engineers). The number of usable returned

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

Fig. 1 Research model. Note:

Moral: Engineers ethical
orientations. Corrupt: Engineers
attitudes toward corruption.
WC: Business operations

surveys was 336 giving us an effective response rate of 59 %. The study includes
the total of 336 engineers, who voluntarily completed the questionnaires used in the
study (Ethical Orientation, and Attitudes Toward Corruption). In the second part of
this study we asked these participants (336 engineers who completed survey) to
evaluate their firms’ business operations characteristics. The number of usable
returned surveys was 214 giving us an effective response rate of 64 %. That way we
avoided cross-sectional data (Podsakoff et al. 2003). One of the issues of greatest
concern for this research was whether the responses gathered are truthful or not. The
sensitive nature of the subject of corruption could cause respondents to give socially
acceptable, rather than truthful, responses. Having in mind that we have just sent a
link that provided for total anonymity of respondents. The control questions were
also included in each questionnaire.

Measures

Ethical Orientations

An Ethical Orientation Questionnaire (EOQ) (Pecujlija et al. 2011) consists of the

eight Likert-type items, where each item of the questionnaire refers to one particular
ethical orientation. The basic idea of the questionnaire is that all of the included
ethical orientations are simultaneously present in every respondent, and that
differences among people in ethical orientations precisely derive from those
simultaneous differences. This instrument is quite reliable considering its alpha
coefficient (0.83). Considering the initial idea of the research on the simultaneous
presence of the ethical orientations of different intensities in the respondents, the
EOQ obtained results were subjected to the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The
engineers‘ ethical orientation is reflected in the simultaneous effects of two factors:
OBLIGATION FOR MORAL ACTION (deontological aspect of engineers‘
morality) and SUBJECTIVITY as reflection of engineers‘ real ethical norms
that they claimed in their real life (see ‘‘Appendix’’: Tables 2 and 3).

123
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

Attitudes Towards Corruption

The Questionnaire on the attitudes towards corruption consists of the 26 Likert-type

items relating to the Model of Corrupt Activity. The questionnaire on the
respondents’ attitudes towards corruption is an ad hoc research instrument relating
to the respondents’ attitudes towards corruption, their own corrupt behaviour, as
well as the social attitudes towards corruption (ethical climate), alpha = 0.84. The
intention was to reduce these 26 items to the very essence of the engineers’ attitudes
towards corruption, thus the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied again.
Considering the content of the projected Questionnaire items (see ‘‘Appendix’’:
Tables 4 and 5) first extracted factor was named THE AWARENESS OF
CORRUPTION. This factor should be treated as the cognitive aspect of the
engineer’s attitude toward corruption. Given the content of the ten Questionnaire
items projected onto the second extracted factor, this factor was named THE
READINESS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION (the engineers‘ will). Considering the
content of the Questionnaire items that project onto the third extracted factor, this
factor was named THE ACCEPTANCE OF CORRUPTION (engineers‘ emotional
reaction to existing corruption).

Business Operations Characteristics

The questionnaire on the performance and output value assessment is an ad hoc

research instrument, which refers to the engineers’ assessment of the following
characteristics of the system in which they are employed: Quality, Effectiveness,
Work Capability, Performance and Efficiency.5 This instrument is highly reliable
considering its alpha coefficient (0.92).

Results

We used the variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach (Kock

2010) to test our hypothesized model (Fig. 1), where the engineers‘ ethical
orientations coupled with their attitudes toward corruption directly effects the
business operations characteristics of their companies. The hypotheses were
examined through investigation of the path coefficients and the total effect sizes
(Cohen 1992) of the constructs in the final model.

5
PERFORMANCE are the effects of work per unit of the time, QUALITY is a degree of how good the
product is, as a result of work. The measure of quality in industrial systems is determined by the product’s
function, the accuracy of its dimensions and shape, as well as the degree of customer satisfaction and the
similar parameters. EFFECTIVENESS is a complex indicator of the system quality, in the terms of the
ability to perform the goal function, within a given period of time, and in the given environmental
conditions. EFFICIENCY represents the ratio of the output value units against of the input value units. An
efficient enterprise may not necessarily be an effective one, simply because it can be effective in activities
that are not of the essential importance for it. WORK CAPABILITY represents the potential capacity of
the participants in the work process. The degree of utilization of the potential capacity is subject to the
effects of legal limitations, established work mode, and satisfaction of the work participants and their
position in the work process.

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

In this case, the fit indices were satisfactory (APC = 0.224, p \ 0.001;
ARS = 0.360, p \ 0.001; AVIF = 2.729), suggesting the data is a good fit with
the proposed model. In addition, AVIF is based on the variance inflation factors
(VIFs) calculated for each latent variable in the relation to all of the other latent
variables, revealing if there is multicollinearity among variables in the model. The
findings (Fig. 2), depicting standardized path coefficients showed that all predicted
paths show significance, for the proposed model. Hypothesis 1 predicted that all two
components of an engineer’s ethical orientations would have positive effects on
companies’ business operations characteristics. This path from ethical orientation
(Moral) to business operations (WC) had a significant respective p value (b = 0.18,
p \ 0.01) and the effect size appeared to be medium (0.05). The significant path
coefficient was also associated with the relationship between the engineers attitudes
toward corruption (Corrupt) and business operations characteristics (b = -0.27;
p \ 0.01). Cohen’s f-squared effect size coefficient value for this path coefficient
was 0.08, suggesting that the hypothesized effect was also relevant (Cohen 1992).
This finding supported the second hypothesis, suggesting that the engineers’
attitudes toward corruption significantly contribute to their companies’ business
operations. A minus in front of this path coefficient means that engineers are aware
of the sad fact that without corruption nothing is possible. So we can say that
corruption became an integral part of their companies’ business operations
characteristics.
Detailed analysis (Table 1) shows that the following variables have a statistically
significant impact on the engineer‘s assessment of the QUALITY: the obligation of
ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.29 p = 0.00), subjectivity of ethical norms (Beta =
-0.15 p = 0.00) and the readiness to fight corruption (Beta = -0.22 p = 0.00).
The obligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.247 p = 0.000) and readiness to
fight corruption (Beta = -0.195 p = 0.001) are statistically significant predictors
of the engineer‘s assessment of the EFFICIENCY. Table 1 clearly shows that the
significant predictors of the engineer‘s assessment of the WORK CAPABILITY are
the obligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.205 p = 0.000) and the readiness to
fight corruption (Beta = -0.200 p = 0.001). The following variables have a
statistically significant impact on the assessment of the PERFORMANCE: the
obligation of ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.33 p = 0.00), subjectivity of ethical
standards (Beta = -0.20 p = 0.00) and the readiness to fight corruption (Beta =
-0.27 p = 0.00). The EFFECTIVENESS significant predictor is the engineers
obligation for ethical behaviour (Beta = 0.20, p = 0.00).

Discussion (Labor Omnia vincit improbus6)

The results show that the engineers‘ ethical orientation coupled with their attitudes
towards corruption, have a real impact on their assessment of the business
operations characteristics of their companies.

6
Steady work overcame all things, Vergilius.

123
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

Fig. 2 SEM results. Note:

Moral: Engineers ethical
orientations. Corrupt: Engineers
attitudes toward corruption.
WC: Business operations

If we observe each characteristic separately, we can see, when speaking of

QUALITY, that the obligation for ethical behaviour is proven to be the
significant predictor in the assessment of this business operations characteristic.
This result suggests that only strong and clear moral principles can be a reliable
barrier to the engineer‘s corrupt behaviour (simply, their strong deontological
orientation). One very interesting finding is that the lower the readiness of our
respondents to fight corruption, the higher is their assessment of this business
operation. This is a seemingly contradictory finding, but it basically shows how
important a proper ethical climate is within the companies and in society, in
general.
The statistically significant predictors in the assessment of the EFFICIENCY,
PERFORMANCE and the WORK CAPABILITY are almost identical to the
predictors of the QUALITY.
Discussing the impact of corruption on the EFFECTIVENESS the situation
appears to be much simpler than when it comes to other business operations
characteristics. Considering that the working system with pronounced efficiency
does not necessarily have to be effective, and that the EFFECTIVENESS is
discussed through the operational readiness of a system, as well as its reliability and
flexibility, it is very indicative that the statistically significant predictor of this
business operation is only the obligation for ethical behaviour. Based on the
obtained research results, we can say:
1. The engineers ethical orientations coupled with their attitudes towards
corruption represents the immediate indicators of their companies business
operations characteristics;
2. If engineers express a high degree of acceptance of the corruption that indicates
a poor ethical climate in their societies, companies, their moral disengagement
or all three;

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

Table 1 Business operations predictors

Coefficientsa

Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. Collinearity

coefficients coefficients statistics

B Std. error Beta Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) 4.49 .21 20.79 .00

Obligation .14 .02 .29 5.84 .00 .77 1.29
Subjectivity -.07 .02 -.15 -3.07 .00 .78 1.28
Readiness to fight corruption -.10 .02 -.22 -4.06 .00 .67 1.47
Dependent variable: quality
1 (Constant) 3.49 .19 18.28 .00
Obligation .10 .02 .24 4.62 .00 .77 1.29
Readiness to fight corruption -.07 .02 -.19 -3.42 .00 .67 1.47
Dependent variable: efficiency
1 (Constant) 3.69 .17 20.62 .00
Obligation .07 .02 .20 3.77 .00 .77 1.29
Readiness to fight corruption -.07 .02 -.20 -3.46 .00 .67 1.47
Dependent variable: work capability
1 (Constant) 4.18 .25 16.19 .00
Obligation .21 .02 .33 7.47 .00 .77 1.29
Subjectivity -.13 .02 -.20 -4.71 .00 .78 1.28
Readiness to fight corruption -.18 .03 -.27 -5.87 .00 .67 1.47
Dependent variable: performance
1 (Constant) 4.05 .31 13.05 .00
Obligation .07 .03 .12 2.10 .03 .77 1.29
Dependent variable: effectiveness

3. If engineers possesses a low level of the readiness to fight corruption (so the
engineers cannot be just declarative ethical) this suggests to us that we treat
them not just as the victims of corruption, but as corruption perpetrators as well;
4. ‘‘An Ideal Engineer’’ has to have a strong deontological orientation, low ethical
subjectivity, strong readiness to fight corruption, low corruption acceptance and high
awareness of corruption. Only this kind of the engineer is able to improve the business
operations characteristics of their company and make beneficial changes to society.

Conclusions, Limitations and Directions for Further Research (Faber est suae
quisque fortunae7)

Considering the size of the respondent sample, its demographic characteristics, as

well as the companies that are the subjects of our research, we must be very cautious

7
,,Every man is the artisan of his own fortune’’.

123
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

in the generalization of the obtained results. The obtained results represent

subjective assessments of our respondents, it is, above all, necessary to deepen the
research methodology in order to make measurements of the system’s business
operations characteristics as objective as possible, so that the results of future
research are more reliable as well. Likewise, it is necessary to conduct similar
research on a much more differentiated sample of companies and engineers (not just
licensed), and to clearly operationalize the presence or absence of both individual
and systemic corruption.
To conclude this paper, the following words by Spier and Bird (2014) best fit:
‘‘Science and Engineering Ethics encourages behaviours that do not simply rely on
compliance with the ‘‘letter of the law’’, but which go beyond that level to pave the
way for the implementation of modes of being which people aspire to achieve in the
interest of improving their societies.’’
But one question still remains: how does one create the ‘‘ideal engineer’’ (one
with strong deontological orientation, low ethical subjectivity, strong readiness to
fight corruption, low corruption acceptance and high awareness of corruption)?

Acknowledgments The authors thank the editor and the anonymous referees for their valuable
comments and suggestions on a previous version of this paper.

Appendix

See Tables 2, 3, 4, 5.

Table 2 The Ethical Orientations Questionnaire Eigenvalues

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction sums of squared Rotation sums of squared
loadings loadings

Total % of Cumulative Total % of Cumulative Total % of Cumulative

variance (%) variance (%) variance (%)

1 1.93 24.20 24.20 1.93 24.20 24.20 1.91 23.90 23.90

2 1.85 23.12 47.32 1.85 23.12 47.32 1.87 23.42 47.32
3 .89 12.45 59.77
4 .81 10.14 69.92
5 .77 9.63 79.55
6 .65 8.14 87.69
7 .54 6.76 94.45
8 .44 5.54 100.00
Extraction method: principal component analysis.

From the Table 2, it can be seen that the two factors were obtained with the eigenvalues higher than 1. It
is interesting to note that the eigenvalue of the third factor is almost 1, its value is 0.89, but considering
the given criteria it was not taken into account, although if we did, we would have obtained a much higher
percentage of explained variance of the observed phenomenon. On the other hand, primary goal is to
observe the stable factor structure of the phenomenon in the research

123
123
Table 3 The Ethical Orientation Questionnaire rotated factors
Component

1 2

Moral is that which is good for me .23 .38

I believe that it is necessary to do to others what you would like them to do to you .80 -.17
It is sufficient to abide by the law in order to be moral -.16 .77
It is necessary to do good no matter what consequences it may have for me .54 .15
A moral procedure is one that also considers the interests of others .66 -.14
Morality is a very subjective category, and a matter of personal taste -.17 .73
Moral is that which does more good than harm .26 .65
There exists a universal moral truth that we should all abide to .58 .30
Extraction method: principal component analysis.
Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization.

Considering the content of the projected Questionnaire items onto the first extracted factor, this factor is named THE OBLIGATION FOR MORAL ACTION. According
to the content of the projected Questionnaire items onto the second extracted factor, this factor is named THE SUBJECTIVITY
Through the principal components method and the criterion of taking into account only those factors which have a characteristic root greater than 2, three factors were
singled out. This increased strictness of the extraction criterion is meant to single out a strong factor structure of the observed phenomenon, despite the fact that the
obtained model loose a little on its explanatory power
M. Pecujlija et al.
 Table 4 The attitudes toward corruption Questionnaire Eigenvalues
Component Initial eigenvalues Extraction sums of squared loadings Rotation sums of squared loadings

Total % of variance Cumulative (%) Total % of variance Cumulative (%) Total % of variance Cumulative (%)

1 5.14 19.77 19.77 5.14 19.77 19.77 4.73 18.19 18.19

2 2.87 11.05 30.83 2.87 11.05 30.83 3.13 12.04 30.24
3 2.16 8.32 39.16 2.16 8.32 39.16 2.31 8.91 39.16
4 1.88 7.24 46.40
5 1.18 4.56 50.96
6 1.14 4.39 55.35
7 1.06 4.10 59.46
8 .91 3.50 62.96
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

9 .88 3.40 66.36

10 .86 3.30 69.67
11 .72 2.77 72.44
12 .69 2.68 75.12
13 .67 2.60 77.73
14 .64 2.46 80.19
15 .60 2.33 82.53
16 .56 2.16 84.70
17 .54 2.11 86.81
18 .53 2.07 88.89
19 .48 1.84 90.73
20 .42 1.64 92.38
21 .40 1.53 93.92
22 .37 1.43 95.35
23 .34 1.31 96.67

123
 Table 4 continued

Component Initial eigenvalues Extraction sums of squared loadings Rotation sums of squared loadings

Total % of variance Cumulative (%) Total % of variance Cumulative (%) Total % of variance Cumulative (%)

123
24 .31 1.19 97.87
25 .29 1.11 98.98
26 .26 1.01 100.00
Extraction method: principal component analysis

There are three obtained factors with the eigenvalues higher than 2
M. Pecujlija et al.
Engineers are Victims, Perpetrators or Both?

Table 5 The attitudes toward Corruption Questionnaire rotated factors

Component

1 2 3

Corruption represents the biggest obstacle to the development of our society .07 .43 .39
In a poor society, only the one accepting should be held responsible .05 .39 .05
I consider it acceptable to give gifts to those who help me -.08 .03 .39
Corruption is equally present in all countries .01 .21 .45
Corruption is justified if it allows for faster resolution of major projects of .17 .70 -.05
society or an organization
Corruption is viewed negatively only by people who are not in a position to -.00 .39 -.08
either give or accept bribes
The penalties for corruption need to be much harsher -.00 .58 .34
Corrupt transactions in the majority of cases cannot be proven .13 -.11 .46
Corruption is the best indicator of the deterioration of values and moral .15 -.12 .56
principles of a society
People who work on exposing corruption should be provided with protection -.02 -.06 .62
Many people need to turn to their own jobs, rather than pay attention to who is .04 .51 .37
bribing whom, cheating and similar
Corruption is a completely normal phenomenon in countries that are in -.15 .52 .17
transition
The media exaggerate when they point to the harmful effects of corruption .13 .58 -.04
There are few people who have not succumbed to some form of corruption -.09 -.09 .44
Corruption is traditionally characteristic of our mentality .04 .10 .54
In our country, corruption is slightly present .22 .70 .04
Overall social attitude towards bribery and corruption .29 .40 -.13
The degree of development of an anti-corruption attitude within an .59 -.04 -.05
organization
The preventive measures undertaken by the management of an organization in .70 -.07 .03
the fight corruption
The ethical standards of the employees .76 .07 .05
The height of the stipulated penalties for initiators of bribery and corruption .77 .19 -.03
The ability to obtain information on the work of the responsible persons within .71 .24 .01
an organization/institution
Own professional development .56 -.05 .13
Social conditions of securing an existence solely through work .58 .18 -.07
The attention devoted within your organization to suppressing corruption .79 .09 .01
The attitude towards the occurrence of corruption in the environment in which .77 .08 .09
you work
Extraction method: principal component analysis
Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization

Considering the content of the projected Questionnaire items (Table 5) onto the first extracted factor, this
factor was named AWARENESS OF CORRUPTION. Given the content of the ten Questionnaire items
projected onto the second extracted factor, this factor is named READINESS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION.
Considering the content of the Questionnaire items that project onto the third extracted factor, this factor
is called ACCEPTANCE OF CORRUPTION

123
 M. Pecujlija et al.

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