Abstract:
Perceived corruption is a variable that has been studied by various researchers. Despite these researches, factors that really predict the above variable have not been adequately researched on. In order to clarify some of these concerns, this study, which adopted an ex-post facto research design, was designed to investigate the social factor, media factor and political factor on perceived corruption among civil servants in Osun state, Nigeria. Two hundred participants were chosen from selected civil servants in Osun state through simple random sampling. Their ages ranged between 24 and 49 years with mean of 19.21 years (SD= 12.25). Three research hypotheses and two research questions were tested using multiple regression analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. A structured questionnaire consisting of demographic section, and measures of social factor, media factor and political factor on perceived corruption were used to collect data. The findings revealed that there was significant positive relationships between social factor (r = 0.520, P<.05), media factor (r = 0.460, P<.05) and political factor (r = 0.579, P<.05) showed positive correlation with perceived corruption. The three variables jointly accounted for 59% variance in predicting perceived corruption among the participants. The independent variables made positive relative contribution to perceived corruption in the following order: Political factor contributed most to the prediction of perceived corruption among participants in Osun state (? = .399, t = 5.140, P<.05), media factor (? = .249, t = 3.261, P<.05) and followed by social factor (? = .199, t = 4.241, P<.05) had relative contribution to perceived corruption among the participants. Based on this, there is need to increase counselling services in public and private organisation so as to reduce corruption practices among civil servants. Employees should be guided and taught how they can boost their esteem through adequate guidance in organizational system. Employer should bridge up the communication gaps between them and their staffs. This will help them in choosing right staff that would help their social life and assist them in channelling their behaviour.
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