Exploring social marketing options for conducting anti-corruption campaign in Indonesia

Social marketing has been widely used to promote social change for the benefit of individuals and society. It has been established as an evidence- and insight-based approach to a social campaign that focuses on changing people’s behaviour. As it has recorded much success in campaigning behaviour change in the case such as public health campaign, pro-environment, smoking and drinking problem and many more. Social marketing is then believed can be a promising approach for an anti-corruption campaign.This PhD research aims to develop a model of intervention for an anti-corruption campaign in Indonesia. It focuses on the possibility of normalising the value system to build barriers to corruption and developing an intervention model using social marketing approaches.According to the literature on anti-corruption movement, values have been given much attention to reducing corrupt behaviour. Even though values are relatively stable, however, it may change across time and situation. One factor that can influence the change is social norms, as individuals learn from their environment. In the context of corruption, individuals learn how society expects them to behave (injunctive norms) and what most people do in society (descriptive norms). In a place where corruption is systemic, the everyday corrupt practices can be found common that people will not fear to violate the rules as many people do the same.The research is interested in examining the interplay between values and social norms in corrupt behaviour. In particular, it seeks evidence on the relationship between social norms to corrupt behaviour and the influence of values in that relationship.The thesis adopted a mixed-method approach by implementing three-stage of studies. Each study provided valuable input to inform the next, albeit in conjunction with other relevant literature. The research focused on young adults in Indonesia as the target audience. It started with Study 1, which was a qualitative study. It aimed to explore the types of common corruption the young adults perceive and find early evidence of whether values act as an inhibitor to corrupt acts. The findings of the study with 13 participants informed that bribery, nepotism and gratification are among the common corrupt practices in everyday activities. It is also informed early evidence that values act as an inhibitor to corrupt behaviour.Study 2 was to continue the research by testing the model of relationships between values, social norms and corrupt behaviour. It was a quantitative study by surveying 554 young adults. The study was to examine the relationships between the social norms and predicted behaviour to corruption. It was also to test whether values act as moderators to the relationship between social norms and predicted behaviour to corruption.The findings of Study 2 informed that social norms influence people's tendency to do small-scale corrupt practices. Moreover, the values of Conformity-rules and Universalism-nature influence the relations between descriptive norms and predicted behaviour.The research findings suggest that developing and running an anti-corruption campaign in Indonesia requires a combination of personal and social factors. It shows that values are essential in limiting people’s behaviour towards everyday corruption. However, another factor, descriptive norms, is evidently also strong in terms of its influence on people’s behaviour in this context.Therefore, addressing the findings in the previous two studies and supported by secondary research, Study 3 developed ten proposed concepts that aim to seek evidence on the potential use of social marketing options for the campaign. Concept testing was conducted by focus group discussions involving five groups from 33 young adults as participants. The proposed concepts were tested to assess their acceptability and feasibility.Looking at the problem of corruption in Indonesia, it may resemble a collective action problem. It thus shows that collective action from many people in society is needed. The problem will not go away with only one or a few persons avoid corruption, but it needs many people. It shows that corruption is nationally patterned; thus, a substantial change in societal norms is required, which will take time and considerable effort. Every element and actor need to work together simultaneously to effectively tackle and eradicate corruption in the country. Therefore, the research argues that the combination of multifaceted campaigns based on an ecological model is crucial to the success of anti-corruption campaign. A model is built by emphasising norms changing campaigns by utilising the values (Conformity-rules and Universalism-nature) that moderate the tendency of people behaving corruptly in a common corrupt situation.Collectively, the findings in this research have led to several contributions for both knowledge and practice. It enriches the development of the conceptual framework of behavioural change with the potential use of social marketing approaches for the anti-corruption campaign. The research also provides valuable input to the policymaker / anti-corruption programme initiator in conducting an anti-corruption campaign targeting the young adults in Indonesia