Systemic Review of Scientific Studies on Administrative Corruption in Iran

Although corruption is not a new phenomenon and is as old as human social history, but the body of knowledge and research on corruption is produced and developed in the past three decades. Corruption as an interdisciplinary field is studied in economics, law, management, political science, social science and psychology. This paper attempts to do a systemic review in order to understanding the scientific knowledge about administrative corruption in Iran and identify research gap in the field. So, a sample of 29 selected research based on the form, manner and content criteria selected and examined. The results show that administrative (41%) and economical (24%) researches are more than others. There for, corruptionmostly is considered as a sign of problem in state administration or an effective variable on economic variables and not as social problem. Most studies were don with quantitative methods and techniques. Despite the weakness in identifying the causes of corruption, only 7 percent of the studies have been searching for the causes of corruption. Although, recommendations are different and present in three levels of international, national and organizational. Regard to the corruption complexity, multi-level and combined method and theories are needed.