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.
