Sight beyond sight : Foreseeing corruption in the Indonesian government through behavioral analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper, which is based on the author’s study, is to explore the potential use of behavioral analysis in predicting corruption among public officials in Indonesia as part of the corruption prevention measures. Design/methodology/approach This study examines major corruption cases in Indonesia in the past three years through reports from various institutions regarding fraud-related issues to gain a better understanding of corrupt leaders in Indonesia and how to predict their occurrence by means of observing and analyzing visible behavioral red flags. Findings The author establishes that in addition to the financial perspective, corruption can be detected and thus prevented by means of behavioral observation and analysis. The discussions in this paper suggest that bad leadership is a major cause of corruption in the Indonesian Government. However, a main reason corrupt leaders are elected into office is because the people failed to recognize them in the first place and accidentally voted for them. Among the signs of bad leadership visible enough for the people to see is the so-called “narcissism” which has four core dimensions: authority, self-admiration, superiority and entitlement. The four core dimensions are often visible in leader candidates in Indonesia which should have been early warning signs of bad leadership which may lead into, among others, corruption. Furthermore, the need for excessive compensation, exposure and power has been a common trait in many corruption offenders in Indonesia and each can be associated with the four core dimensions of narcissism. It is because of such a need that pressure/motivation to commit fraud among Indonesian public officials occurred. Society’s awareness of the signs of narcissism will help them decide who will become their future leaders and diminish the risk of corruption in the country. Research limitations/implications This study is self-funded. Therefore, due to the limited resources available, the discussions and analysis on visible behavioral red flags of corruption in this study are built upon secondary data from agencies such as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the Constitutional Court (MK), the Supreme Audit Board (BPK) and the election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu). For future studies, primary data from the public regarding their opinions toward the past, present and future leadership in Indonesia will offer a more accurate view into visible behavioral red flags of corruption. Practical implications This paper contributes to the development of corruption prevention strategy in Indonesia by empowering the society to monitor potentially corrupt leaders so as to prevent them from controlling the country. Originality/value This paper demonstrates how the seemingly small and insignificant behavioral clues may become effective tools to predict and prevent the occurrence of corruption in the future.