A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Business Administration in Corporate Management (MBA-CM) of Mzumbe University
Globally, corruption is acknowledged as a serious problem that hinders development
of all economic and social sectors and its consequences are noticeable in many
countries, particularly in public sector within developing countries. The purpose of
the study was to assess the influence of administrative corruption on performance of
public service using Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) as a case. The research was
guided by three specific objectives; to investigate if corruption is a source of
professionalism failure and lead to poor performance in public service, to analyse the
contribution of professionalism and ethics in promoting public service performance,
to determine other barriers of performance in public service. The methodology of the
study was case study research design where both qualitative and quantitative
approaches were used. The target population was staff of PSPF and the sample was
60 respondents. Questionnaires and interview were used in collecting data. Findings
were presented using content analysis (direct quotation from respondents) and
quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS and results presented in tables.
Findings show that corruption leads to poor performance in the public service as it
negatively affects public sector effectiveness. Examples of how effectiveness of
public service performance is affected by corruption; undermining of the laws and
regulation, lack of commitment and accountability, delay of service provision and
reduced effectiveness of public policies. Furthermore, it was noted that
professionalism and ethics make daunting contribution to good public service
performance because the enhancement of performance in the public service largely
depends on well-grounded ethical practices by the public servants. Additionally,
findings based on the third objective revealed that barriers of performance in public
service were manager-related factors, organization factors, employee-related factors
and work-related factors.