Identifying and managing integrity risks is crucial for responding effectively and efficiently to threats from corruption and other integrity violations at organisational level. The methodologies for integrity risk management are straightforward and comply with international standards. However, the implementation of these methodologies in day-to-day practice is often challenging. A behavioural perspective can help explain why those who are supposed to identify, assess and manage risks may not take the right decisions or act as expected.
Romania has made significant progress in several areas of integrity policies. For example, the Romanian government has developed a corruption risk management methodology that must be implemented by all central public institutions. Concerned with ensuring the methodology truly reduced corruption risk, and not just focusing on formal compliance with the normative framework, the Ministry of Justice and the OECD carefully looked at the process through a behavioural lens. What behaviours are required for a successful implementation of the corruption risk management methodology? What barriers and biases could lead to suboptimal results? What capacities, opportunities and motivations are required so that public officials can -- and want to -- manage integrity risks beyond a mere “tick-the-box” exercise?
This report contributes to OECD work to help countries effectively implement the OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity. In addition, this report builds on the OECD report on Behavioural Insights for Public Integrity: Harnessing the Human Factor to Counter Corruption and applies OECD´s BASIC methodology to identify and better understand the behaviours underlying the implementation of Romania´s current corruption risk management methodology. The project is part of a broader support by the OECD focusing on three at-risk sectors: health, education and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Based on this analysis, the report presents tailored behavioural approaches and recommendations to improve the uptake and impact of corruption risk management in Romania.
The report was reviewed by the OECD Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) on 13 November 2023. It was approved by the Public Governance Committee on 18 December 2023 and prepared for publication by the Secretariat.
The action was funded by the EEA / Norway Grants and implemented by the OECD.