Exploring the Impact of Individual Characteristics Associated with Government Officials on the Severity of Real Estate Corruption

Hongxia Zhang, Yan Song, Chaosu Li, Qi Liu, Huatai Cui, Chen Zeng, Zhongcheng Wang, Qian Zhang, Yanan Li and Yiling Rong
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Hongxia Zhang: Department of Management, Hubei University of Education, Wuhan 430205, China
Yan Song: Department of City Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Chaosu Li: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Qi Liu: College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Huatai Cui: School of Economy, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Chen Zeng: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Zhongcheng Wang: Department of Management, Hubei University of Education, Wuhan 430205, China
Qian Zhang: Department of Management, Hubei University of Education, Wuhan 430205, China
Yanan Li: College of Management, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China
Yiling Rong: Changzhou Urban Planning Compilation and Research Centre, Changzhou 231002, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: In China, corruption by government officials in the field of real estate has increased at an unprecedented pace, which poses a huge threat to social sustainability. To date, scholars have primarily focused on the macroscopic determinant factors of corruption such as state intervention and economic competition; however, much less is known about the microscopic determinant factor of corruption. In this study, we use an analytical model to evaluate how individual characteristics of government officials involved in corruption cases influence and predict the scale of corruption in these cases. Based on data collected from 135 cases, the results show that age is not a key factor that affects the severity of real estate corruption; however, characteristics associated with amounts of power and levels of involvement in corruption significantly affect the severity of real estate corruption. Therefore, we propose the following countermeasures: (1) take into account the micro determinants of real estate corruption, (2) focus supervision on officials in charge of departments, key position managers, and top leaders, (3) reform the governance of each phase of real estate development and governmental involvement, and (4) enhance auditing during officials’ tenures and limit the possibility of promoting officials who have participated in corruption.

Keywords: urban governance; corruption; social sustainability; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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