Does a Russian Corrupt Official Have Conscience? Peculiarities of Ethical Decision-Making by Russian Civil Servants

Abstract

The article examines the ethical prerequisites for the corrupt behavior of public officials from the point of view of ethical ideology and intradepartmental culture. Basing on a series of focused expert interviews and using the model of ethical decision-making by Sh.D. Hunt and S.J. Vitell, the study analyzes the motivations for antisocial behavior that determine the involvement of officials performing functions that are most likely to cause corruption. The authors suggest and prove that Russian officials prone to corruption have a reasonable opinion in favor of an ideology that is a compromise between the harm from the legal consequences of the considered ethical issue and the potential benefits. They are convinced that ethical decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis. Their ethical consciousness is characterized by a high degree of relativism, which supports personal moral standards and rejects universal moral principles together with postulates of the ethical code of public servants.