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As a consequence of the proposal of the Carbon Neutral and Carbon Peak policy in 2020, the Chinese Government is paying more attention to developing sustainability performance. This study aims to assess the direct influence of country-level and corporate anti-corruption measures on environmental, social and governance (ESG) and its three dimensions, besides ascertaining the moderating role of firm size.

This study used the system generalized method of moments on a sample of 820 Chinese listed firms from 2012 to 2021.

The findings show that country-level and corporate corruption negatively affect ESG performance. Corporate anti-corruption measures have a more pronounced positive influence on the sustainability performance of small firms than large firms due to the limited resources, lower political position and weaker refusal power of small firms.

The study has great implications for governments, corporate boards and ESG rating agencies. Government and corporate boards should mitigate the risks of country-level and corporate corruption to attain sustainable development goals. Rating agencies should add country-level and corporate corruption into the ESG evaluation system.

Some empirical results have proven that anti-corruption measures help reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, but few evidence shows how country-level and corporate corruption affect ESG and its three dimensions.

From 2000 to 2021, the Malaysian corruption perception index demonstrated a declining tendency, identifying Malaysia as a highly corrupt nation. Corruption in the nation has become a social cancer that has impacted the workplace and political climate. Using Dewey’s (1937) theory of education and social change, this paper argues that anti-corruption education is a tool for reforming the corruption culture of a nation. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to explore and understand the current anti-corruption education in Malaysian educational institutions.

The results of this study were derived from a qualitative content analysis of 20 Google News articles, an interview with the sole implementation agency, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and a literature assessment of MACC publications. Due to a dearth of preceding study and journal publications on the topic, this type of qualitative content analysis of news has been applied in prior studies.

The results indicate that anti-corruption education has been implemented in the primary, secondary and higher education institutions in Malaysia. Nonetheless, the concept and implementation are inadequate, superficial and insufficient. The analysis advises more inclusive techniques for delivering anti-corruption education for social transformation.

Prior research has focussed on laws and regulations to prosecute the corrupt, but has underrated the ability of education to alter the corruption culture. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first journal paper, written on anti-corruption education in Malaysia. This study sets the way for further anti-corruption education studies in the future. This line of research will provide insights for the nation’s policymaking, which aims to create a nation free of corruption and capable of sustaining itself.

This study aims to examine the association between anti-corruption corporate disclosure and earnings management practices by bringing evidence from a developed market.

The study uses data from non-financial FTSE 100 Shares in 2016 and 2017. This study develops a disclosure index to capture the anti-corruption disclosures and run pooled, fixed effects and generalized methods of moments regression models to explore the anti-corruption disclosure–earnings management association. This study also disentangles discretionary accruals into positive and negative, use adjusted discretionary accrual computation and take a more conservative view on discretionary accruals computation as an additional analysis.

The results show a negative and significant association between anti-corruption disclosure and earnings management practices. When disentangling discretionary accruals (overvalued/positive and undervalued/negative), the authors found that higher anti-corruption disclosures were negatively associated with positive discretionary accruals, but not associated with negative discretionary accruals. The additional analysis confirmed the previous results, showing that anti-corruption disclosures are perceived as a substantive practice, rather than a mere disclosure practice for legitimacy reasons.

This study contributes to debate on the symbolic versus the substantive uses of anti-corruption disclosures in the UK context.

This paper embarks on revealing the main factors behind the intentions of youth in Lithuania to get involved in bribery.

A questionnaire survey of 432 respondents served as a source of primary data. The structural equation modelling – partial least squares techniques was employed as a main research tool.

It was revealed that youth in Lithuania display a high value congruity with their counterparts in Western Europe and a relatively reluctant to offer bribes. It can be stated that youths’ positive attitude towards some shadow economy activities is a forced response to government failures, rather than an intrinsic motivation created by cultural legacy or psychological issues.

It is one of the first scientific attempt to investigate reasons behind the formation of the positive attitude towards bribery and intentions to get involved in bribery among the youth.

Health sector corruption constitutes a pervasive challenge and a major obstacle to the equitable enjoyment of the right to health by exacerbating health inequalities within societies, while often eroding public trust primarily amid public health crises that threaten human security. The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of advancing right to health considerations in national legislative and regulatory responses against health sector corruption.

This paper builds on existing evidence, with focusing attention on international standards that are relevant to the topic under discussion. The literature research included publicly available reports, peer-reviewed studies and other documents primarily of human rights bodies at the United Nations level.

Advancing right to health considerations in national responses against health sector corruption offers comprehensive guidance for the deployment of a strong regulatory anti-corruption framework for action by the governments as part of their health rights obligations. Essentially, the implementation of such a national framework for action, encompassing accountability, participatory decision-making and transparency, constitutes a necessary and an important step towards maintaining well-functioning health systems and a robust social pressure for continued political commitment with the ultimate goal the provision of equitable access to quality health services at all times.

By using a rights-based approach, the paper identifies a national framework for state action consisting of legal obligations and tools towards guiding governments, while at the same time empowering civil society groups to demand the implementation of core human rights principles of transparency, participation and accountability within health system governance. It provides insights for the future development, reinforcement and/or reform of national law, policies and practices towards minimizing and eradicating vulnerabilities to health sector corruption.

Factors of production (labour, land, capital), technology and technical progress are usually cited as the main sources of economic growth and development. However, there are a number of other factors that have a significant impact on the possibilities and extent of their use or their further improvement and development. These factors undoubtedly include the institutional environment, within which corruption is also a consideration. In this chapter, attention will be focused on the various institutional variables that are used to assess the quality of a country's institutional environment, including corruption. A number of studies have shown that a quality institutional environment and low levels of corruption are prerequisites for long-term economic growth. Using an analysis of individual indicators of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs), published annually by the World Bank, supplemented by the Corruption Perception Index (published by Transparency International), we look at where Czechia has moved over the last decade or two in terms of institutional quality and corruption.

This study aims to investigate the impact of liquidity creation (LC) on the profitability and stability of banks while considering the moderating role of corruption.

Panel data from 23 conventional banks and five Islamic banks in Pakistan spanning from 2008 to 2021 were used for analysis. The study used fixed effect and random effect models, along with the generalized method of moments estimation to ensure robustness of the results.

The study reveals a negative relationship between LC and banking profitability, but a positive association with banking stability. Additionally, corruption is found to play a moderating role in the relationship between LC, profitability and stability in the banking sector of Pakistan.

The findings have practical implications for bank managers and investors, emphasizing the negative relationship between LC and profitability in Pakistan. Moreover, the study highlights the significant impact of corruption on bank performance, which can guide policymakers in formulating strategies to strengthen the banking sector and prevent financial turmoil in the future.

This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by examining the moderating role of corruption in the relationship between LC, profitability and stability in both conventional and Islamic banks.

Understanding the interplay between transparency, accountability and e-procurement and their collective contribution to anti-corruption efforts in public procurement is crucial for developing effective strategies and policies. This research seeks to investigate whether e-procurement plays a significant role in enhancing transparency and accountability and subsequently reducing corruption risks in the public pharmaceutical procurement system.

The study employed a cross-sectional questionnaire survey to gather data from 274 procurement personnel and pharmacists working in 28 government-owned hospitals in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The collected data were then analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Hayes PROCESS macro to test the study hypotheses.

The study findings revealed a negative and significant relationship between transparency and procurement corruption (ß = −0.117, p < 0.008). Moreover, accountability negatively and significantly affects procurement corruption (ß = −0.162, p = 0.006). Furthermore, the findings indicate that, at a high degree of e-procurement system implementation, transparency and accountability have a stronger impact on procurement anti-corruption measures.

Policymakers and decision-makers should implement robust mechanisms that enhance transparency, accountability and anti-corruption efforts. These may include providing clear and accessible information on procurement processes, efficient mechanisms for monitoring and reporting procurement irregularities and continuous improvement of e-procurement systems. By incorporating these measures and nurturing collaboration amongst procurement stakeholders, it becomes possible to foster a procurement environment characterised by integrity, fairness, accountability and reduced corruption.

Whilst previous studies delved into exploring the effect of transparency and accountability on procurement anti-corruption, the novelty of this study is the inclusion of e-procurement as a moderating variable in the relationship between transparency, accountability and anti-corruption. By so doing, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge regarding anti-corruption measures and offers valuable practical insights for policymakers and professionals aiming to enhance transparency, accountability and ethical conduct within the public pharmaceutical procurement system.

The media is described as a fourth estate of the realm due to its ability to frame and shape discussions on governance and provide a stimulus for fighting corruption. But is the media really an effective tool for fighting corruption? This question arises due to the possibility of the media being used for propaganda, biased reporting and media owners’ and journalists’ engagement in corruption. The current study addresses the question by exploring the relationship between the media and corruption from the perspectives of Ghanaian justice and anti-corruption officials.

The study adopts a qualitative approach by interviewing justice and anti-corruption officials across three administrative regions in Ghana.

The results show that while justice officials describe the media as a medium for accusing officials unjustifiably and exaggerating the scale of corruption, anti-corruption officials believe the media helps to fight corruption. In addition to uncovering and exposing public officials’ corruption, the media is also a double-edged sword characterised by intra-vigilance: the media hold “their own” (i.e. journalists fighting corruption) accountable through criticism and exposure of wrongdoings.

The double-edged nature of the media can strengthen and enhance the fight against corruption because anti-corruption actors and journalists will be cautious as misjudgements or errors committed will not be overlooked or concealed by the media. Therefore, anti-corruption agencies in Ghana can collaborate with the media to uncover and expose corruption committed by public officials and even journalists or media owners.

This study is the first in Ghana to explore the relationship between the media and corruption from the perspectives of justice and anti-corruption officials. The approach, frameworks and methodology adopted in this study can be applied in similar studies in other countries on the African continent and beyond.