Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2012-06-13 Attitudes of Public Relations Professionals in Ukraine Toward the Problem of Bribery Liliya Velbovets Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Velbovets, Liliya, "Attitudes of Public Relations Professionals in Ukraine Toward the Problem of Bribery" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3262. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3262 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Attitudes of Public Relations Professionals in Ukraine Toward the Problem of Bribery Liliya Velbovets A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Robert Wakefield, Chair Sherry Baker Loy Clark Callahan Department of Communications Brigham Young University June 2012 Copyright © 2012 Liliya Velbovets All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Attitudes of Public Relations Professionals in Ukraine Toward the Problem of Bribery Liliya Velbovets Department of Communications Master of Arts in Mass Communications Ukraine, just as many other countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, is suffering from the problem of bribery. The public relations field in Ukraine is not immune to corruption, and bribery between public relations professionals and journalists is a well-known phenomenon. In the current qualitative study, the goal was to explore the attitudes of Ukrainian public relations professionals toward bribery and to create a guide for doing business in Ukraine. Through a semistructured survey, the researcher obtained the perceptions of Ukrainian public relations professionals toward bribery, including the definition of bribery, the differentiation between bribery and traditional gift giving in Ukrainian culture, assumptions regarding the situations in which bribery occurs, and the magnitude of the problem in Ukrainian society. The analysis of the responses showed a dual nature in the public relations professionals’ attitudes toward bribery. The participants defined bribery as a negative action; however, they believed that bribery occurs regularly even though the participants indicated they had not personally participated in bribery transactions. The participants also reported that bribery occurs between public relations firms and clients. The participants also shared some positive attitudes toward bribery, indicating bribery is a method of achieving goals in business. Additionally, the participants indicated bribery is more common in smaller cities than in large cities, such as the capital. The findings of the study indicate that public relations education and professional training need to include an emphasis on ethical behavior, ensuring public relations professionals in Ukraine have a better understanding of the importance of ethics in the public relations profession. Keywords: Ukraine, bribery, international public relations ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Robert Wakefield and two committee members Dr, Sherry Baker and Dr. Loy Clark Callahan for the continuous support in my MA study and research, for their patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Their guidance, encouragement, insightful comments, and hard questions helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Kevin Stoker for all the support and encouragement in the beginning of my master’s degree and Megan Stoker for inspiring me to go for my Master’s and being a great friend and an example. I would also like to thank the wonderful families of Murrie, Kuzmich and Rowland for helping me make BYU education a reality. I will be forever grateful for their love and support. I would like to thank my family: my parents Galyna and Nikolay Velbovets for making education a matter of priority and sacrifice and supporting me during all my life. The special thanks goes to the professionals in Ukraine who took the time of their busy schedules to respond to my questions. iv Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures............................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review.......................................................................................................... 6 Public Relations from an International Perspective............................................................ 7 Ukraine................................................................................................................................ 9 Culture............................................................................................................................... 12 Language........................................................................................................................... 13 Public Relations in Ukraine .............................................................................................. 16 Ukrainian Public Relations Organizations: Differing Ethical Philosophies..................... 22 Defining Bribery in Ukrainian Society............................................................................. 26 Ukrainian Bribery: A Result of Corruption ...................................................................... 29 Other Causes of Bribery.................................................................................................... 33 A Bribe or a Gift? ............................................................................................................. 38 Chapter 3: Research Method......................................................................................................... 40 Research Questions........................................................................................................... 40 Research Objective ........................................................................................................... 41 Qualitative Research Method............................................................................................ 42 Study Sample ....................................................................................................................44 Data Collection .................................................................................................................45 Chapter 4: Results......................................................................................................................... 49 Profiles .............................................................................................................................. 49 v Analysis of the Findings ................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussion ............................................................................................. 65 Education .......................................................................................................................... 65 Defining Bribery ............................................................................................................... 66 Bribery Initiation............................................................................................................... 68 Attitudes Toward Bribery ................................................................................................. 70 Regional Attitude Differences .......................................................................................... 73 Client Bribery.................................................................................................................... 74 Appropriate Gifts .............................................................................................................. 75 Standing Up to Bribery ..................................................................................................... 77 Bribery Influence Model................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 6: Conclusions................................................................................................................. 80 Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 83 References..................................................................................................................................... 85 Appendix A: Recruitment Letter ..................................................................................................93 Appendix B: Questionnaire........................................................................................................... 94 Appendix C: Responses ................................................................................................................ 97 vi List of Tables Table 1. Survey