Nepotism, favoritism and cronyism and their effects on organizational trust and commitment: The case of the service sector in Albania

Abstract

Nepotism, Favoritism and Cronyism are not anymore new business phenomena; nowadays they are seen with particular interest as the business world is shrinking every day more towards a “global village”. As business becomes increasingly globalized, it is crucial to understand how cultural attitudes and perceptions toward nepotism, favoritism and cronyism vary among different countries and sectors. It is of great importance to understand the effect such practices have in the way employees behave towards the organizational culture and strategical goals which are translated into trust and commitment. The service industry is among the most important sectors providing income in small states. There exists a complex nature of the service sector which results in quite considerable difficulties in establishing professionalism and institutionalization in these workplaces. And one of the main reasons is that in small states employees tend either to be related or to know each other personally. It is claimed that nepotism, favoritism and cronyism are likely to occur more frequently as several external factors like socio-cultural, economic, educational, and political structures encourage people to support their close relatives or friends. Albania too is one of these countries in which similar practices are present in both the public and private service sectors. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the business climate in Albania in respect to the perception of employees on nepotism, favoritism and cronyism phenomena and their impact on organizational trust and commitment. Due to the fact that the service sector has constituted the main driving force of Albania’s economic growth throughout the prolonged and difficult transition period I considered the study upon various challenges of this sector of essential importance and a contribution to the process of diagnosing problems and formulating reforms for further development of my country. In order to get a clearer idea of the situation we will try to gather data from both; the public and private sector. Along these lines of thought, the study aims to make a concrete observation through statistical means upon perceived nepotism, favoritism and cronyism and their impact on organizational trust and commitment in several service industry organizations operating in Albania.