the potential of e-procurement technology for reducing corruption

1

Click here to load reader

Upload: kishor

Post on 11-Feb-2017

215 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: The potential of e-procurement technology for reducing corruption

Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2012 273

Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The potential of e-procurement technology for reducing corruption

Arjun Neupane* and Jeffrey Soar School of Information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Kishor Vaidya Faculty of Information Sciences and Engineering, University of Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia and Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper discusses a theoretical background for an anti-corruption strategy through the principal-agent theory, and explores the potential of public e-procurement for reducing corruption in public procurement. It explores risk factors of corruption in relation to the roles of government, agent, and briber. The Anti-corruption potential of public e-procurement includes the reduction in monopoly of power, information asymmetry, corruption fees, and corruption services. In the paper we also discuss case study examples from Denmark, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh in India. These indicate the potential of e-procurement for greater transparency and efficiency. The discussions suggest that the anti-corruption capabilities of public e-procurement have many benefits, particularly, in terms of enhancing accountability, effectiveness and transparency in government procurement, to combat corruption.

Keywords: e-procurement; transparency; accountability; corruption.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Neupane, A., Soar, J. and Vaidya, K. (2012) ‘The potential of e-procurement technology for reducing corruption’, Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.273–287.

Biographical notes: Arjun Neupane is a PhD candidate at School of information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Toowoomba, Australia. He received his Master of Information technology from the USQ, Australia. His research interests are electronic procurement, business information system, ICT4D, and software engineering.