Determinants of Corruption Impact on Firms and Their Behavior. Analysis of Microdata

This article explores the phenomenon of corruption that has become common in the entrepreneurial sphere in countries around the world. Cases of corruption in this sphere include paying bribes for gaining privileges over competitors, reduction of the time required for issuing binding documents for business and so on. An available body of literature on corruption in entrepreneurship does not provide sufficient insight into the nature and structure of the phenomenon. This article attempts to fill these existing gaps by establishing a relationship between the characteristics of Russian firms and their perception of corruption. Using a rich set of data on questionnaires from representatives of Russian enterprises, it was found that the bigger obstacle are taxes, financing and obtaining permits for firms, the greater obstacle is corruption for them and the more often they have to pay bribes; that firms with a sufficient number of competitors are more likely to resort to bribery; there is a positive correlation between corruption and the receipt of state contracts; and that the growth of the firm reduces corruption.