SARSCOV‐19 amidst corruption: Does the civil society matter? – An empirical study

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Vincent Ekow Arkorful,Benjamin Kweku Lugu,Susana Mamley Charway,Vincent Ansah Arkorful
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2825

RESEARCH ARTICLE

SARSCOV-19 amidst corruption: Does the civil

society matter? –An empirical study

Vincent Ekow Arkorful

1

| Benjamin Kweku Lugu

2

| Susana Mamley Charway

3

|

Vincent Ansah Arkorful

4

1

Department of Government and International

Studies, Hong Baptist University, Kowloon,

China

2

College of Education, University of Alabama,

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

3

Department of Business Administration,

Catholic Institute of Business and Technology,

Accra, Ghana

4

Department of Geography and Rural

Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Correspondence

Vincent Ekow Arkorful, Department of

Government and International Studies, Hong

Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon,

Hong Kong, China.

Email: saintvincentino@gmail.com

The pandemic outbreak has dealt consequences on global engagements and struc-

tures. With the ongoing search for pandemic-mitigating measures and the excesses

(notably corruption) erupted in its wake, concerns have been raised about the decline

in public trust, transparency and satisfaction –particularly in Ghana. This situation

has spurred multilevel governance discussions regarding pandemic management.

Ensuingly characterising policy makers' propositions in this regard is the civil society's

salience as a control valve to governance deficits like corruption. Therefore,

transcending the anecdotal claims on civil society's efficacy, this study takes a state-

society perspective to probe its relevance in fostering trust, transparency and satis-

faction, relative to corruption-stricken pandemic governance. The current study

engages the general systems theory as a conceptual lens. The structural equation

modelling technique was used in analysing data (n=519) gathered through the ques-

tionnaire survey approach. Though results of data analysis affirmed the negative

effects of corruption on trust, transparency and satisfaction, the civil society received

affirmation as an enhancer of trust, transparency and satisfaction. In view of these

study findings, implications and future research suggestions are delimited.

KEYWORDS

citizens' trust, civil society, corruption, COVID-19, Ghana, transparency and satisfaction

1|INTRODUCTION

Incontrovertibly, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has posed sub-

stantial challenges to not only public health structures, but also, indi-

viduals, households and populations, as well as the entirety of global

economies and corporate governance structures (Arkorful, 2022a;

Arkorful, Lugu, Shuliang, 2021; Tuffour et al., 2021). With the pan-

demic outbreak and the increasing mortality and morbidity cases, in

addition to being described as a virulent virus with inestimable ramifi-

cations on social structures in both developed and developing polities,

COVID-19 is also reported as the 21st Century's pandemic with life-

threatening consequences (Arkorful, 2022b). As of 27 May 2022,

there had been 525,467,084 confirmed cases of COVID-19 including

6,285,171 deaths (World Health Organisation, 2021). Given the rami-

fying effects of COVID-19, governments and other stakeholders have

come under intense pressure to incept effective countervailing man-

agement structures and measures. As a result, mechanisms including

mask wearing, social distancing, contact tracing and mobility restric-

tions have been enforced.

Profoundly, these arrangements have been in place–prior to, and

even after vaccine discovery (i.e., Pfizer-BionNTech, Gamaleya

Sputnik V, AstraZaneka, Moderna, Sinovac, Johnson and Johnson

etc.). To this end, the urgency to augment and further sustain inroads

made thereof, has necessitated the procurement of items including

test kits, ventilators, and other personal protective equipment. How-

ever, the procurement process and other related pandemic manage-

ment endeavours have spurred unintended consequences giving rise

to irregularities and malfeasance across both developed and develop-

ing countries (Bellows, 2020; Bradley et al., 2020). These irregularities

come in many forms including awarding contracts to political cronies,

Received: 19 August 2021 Revised: 29 November 2021 Accepted: 27 May 2022

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2825

J Public Affairs. 2023;23:e2825. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of15

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2825