Thai university students understand what corruption is, but are likely to resort to unethical conduct to achieve their goals, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study found.
The UN Development Programme sponsors a "Refuse to Be Corrupt" group at Khon Kaen University, but reported Monday that students would happily follow a corrupt path to get ahead.
The survey shows that while between 70-80% of students understand what is meant by integrity and corruption, 62.8% believe it is normal to use personal connections to achieve their goals and 68.1% of them would pay a bribe to get ahead.
The study was carried out between September and October among 1,255 students from UNDP-partner universities, including Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani.
Erin Gallegos, the author of the survey and a Peace Corps fellow at the College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, presented the students with hypothetical scenarios which she asked to classify them as either "acceptable" or "corrupt".
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Students need examples of systems that work to fight corruption, Ms Gallegos told reporters Monday, ahead of today's UN International Anti-Corruption Day.
"If students see in place systems that punish corruption and unethical behaviour and reward integrity, they will be more likely to follow them," she said.
When the students were asked why they did not report bribes or solicitation for bribes, 26.8% said they would do nothing because they believed no action would be taken against the offenders. Another 41.2% said they would report the actions if the offender would be punished.
Another 26.7% of students said they would report unethical behaviour if they could do it anonymously, 18.3% said they would report if there was more public information on procedures, while 13.7% said they would cooperate if no reprisals could be guaranteed.
Ms Gallegos said she believes students are more likely to be influenced by anti-corruption and integrity-promoting measures at their universities than at the national level.
"Of course, the political conversation will affect students and give them ideas, but I think that what they actually experience day-to-day has the biggest impact,'' she said.
Ms Gallegos said that she and the UNDP believe that education plays a very important role in closing the gap between students' beliefs and their behaviour.
"This will need to go beyond simple moral education — the difference between right and wrong — and really convince students that it is their social responsibility to stand up against corruption," she said.
Khwanpadh Suddhi-Dhamakit, a UNDP programme analyst, said Thai citizens must first understand they are a part of the corruption problem before the government can make real inroads against it.
Most people think about politicians, police and civil servants when thinking about corruption, but don't recognise their own participation in the process, Mr Khwanpadh said.