Favoritism Practices, Nepotism, and Corruption in Public Administration: Impacts on Employment, Meritocracy, Efficiency, and Institutional Trust. An Institutional and Governance Perspective in Transitional Public Sectors

This study try to examines the impact of favoritism, nepotism and corruption in the public administration of Kosovo, focusing on their consequences on employment, meritocracy, institutional efficiency and citizen trust. Illustration on theoretical and empirical literature, the research identifies how nepotistic practices and corrupt behaviours undermine meritocracy, institutional efficiency and public trust. The qualitative analysis and secondary data, the study addresses the extent to which family and clan favoritism influences decision making processes in the public administration and the economy. The results show that nepotism and corruption reduce employee motivation and performance, distort recruitment and promotion processes, and erode citizen trust in state institutions. Besides the prevalence of these practices hinders economic development by discouraging foreign investment and innovation. The study provides evidence based recommendations for strengthening merit based employment, implementing anti corruption laws, and increasing institutional transparency. In essence, this research contributes to understanding how entrenched systems of nepotism and corruption hinder sustainable governance and socio economic progress in transitional societies.