École d'études politiques School of Political Studies Programme d'administration publique Public Administration Program DOCTORAL THESIS When Anti-Corruption Initiatives Meet the Culture of Wasta: The Case of Public Sector Reforms in Jordan By MOHAMMED AL-SALEH Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Public Administration in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa Research Supervisor: Eric Champagne PhD Associate Professor, University of Ottawa School of Political Studies 120 University Room # 6081 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N1 Defense Committee: Christian Rouillard PhD Frank Ohemeng PhD Full Professor, University of Ottawa Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa School of Political Studies School of Political Studies 120 University Room # 7027 120 University Room # 7024 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N1 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N1 Noomane Raboudi PhD Bessma Momani PhD (External) Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa Associate Professor, University of Waterloo School of Political Studies Department of Political Studies 120 University Room # 7022 200 University Ave W, Hagey Hall, Room # 315 Ottawa, ON K1N 6N1 Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Mohammed Al-Saleh, Ottawa, Canada, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ...........................................................................................................................................II INDEX OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................................. IV INDEX OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ IV ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................ V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. THESIS’ GOAL, OVERVIEW AND STRUCTURE ...................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM ........................................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................. 18 3.1. LITERATURE REVIEW ON CONTEXTUAL CONCEPTS: CORRUPTION AND WASTA .................................................. 18 3.1.1. The Concept and Phenomenon of Corruption .......................................................................................... 18 3.1.2. The Concept and Phenomenon of Wasta .................................................................................................. 27 3.1.3. Section Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 46 3.2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON THEORETICAL CONCEPTS: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP .................. 47 3.2.1. Specifics of Organizational Culture and Leadership ............................................................................... 48 3.2.2. Organizational Culture ............................................................................................................................ 50 3.2.3. The Relevance of Organizational Culture to Public Administration Studies ........................................... 56 3.2.4. Organizational Climate as Different from Culture .................................................................................. 57 3.2.5. Organizational Change and Leadership .................................................................................................. 59 3.2.6. Leadership and Organizational Culture .................................................................................................. 64 3.2.7. Corruption as Culture .............................................................................................................................. 69 CHAPTER 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................................................................................... 75 4.1. SCHEIN MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE .............................................................................................. 75 4.2. THE THREE LEVELS OF CULTURE ..................................................................................................................... 77 4.3. CRITICS OF THE MODEL .................................................................................................................................... 81 4.4. RELEVANCE OF SCHEIN’S MODEL ..................................................................................................................... 83 4.5. CHAPTER SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 5. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................. 88 5.1. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH .................................................................................................................................. 89 5.2. CASE STUDY APPROACH ................................................................................................................................... 91 5.3. JORDAN AS A CASE STUDY ............................................................................................................................... 94 5.4. PARTICIPANT SELECTION CRITERIA .................................................................................................................. 96 5.5. SAMPLING ....................................................................................................................................................... 101 5.6. DATA COLLECTION PROCESS .......................................................................................................................... 102 5.6.1. Achievement of Representative Sample .................................................................................................. 103 5.6.2 Saturation Justification ........................................................................................................................... 103 5.6.3 Sample Justification ................................................................................................................................ 104 5.6.4 Language and Context of the Interviews ................................................................................................. 105 5.7. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWING ................................................................................................................ 105 5.8. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL ...................................................................................................... 109 5.9. AN INDUCTIVE-ABDUCTIVE GROUNDED-THEORY ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 110 5.10. CODING OF INTERVIEW DATA ........................................................................................................................ 112 5.11. MAIN THEMES IDENTIFIED ............................................................................................................................ 114 5.12. DESK REVIEW ............................................................................................................................................... 117 ii 5.13. METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES ................................................................................................................. 119 5.13.1. Conducting Fieldwork Abroad ............................................................................................................. 119 5.13.2. Sampling Dilemma ............................................................................................................................... 120 5.13.3. Gaining Participant Trust .................................................................................................................... 121 5.14. CHAPTER SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER 6. RESULTS ANALYSIS PART 1: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON WASTA AND ON ANTI-CORRUPTION INTERVENTIONS .......................................................................................................... 124 6.1. 7250BC – 1921AD ......................................................................................................................................... 125 6.2. 1921 – PRESENT .............................................................................................................................................. 128 6.3. ANTI-CORRUPTION IN THE ARAB WORLD ....................................................................................................... 133 6.4. JORDANIAN ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION AND ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW ................................................