lubrication payment
nounEtymology By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction is portrayed as lubricating machinery (e.g., oiling the gears, greasing the wheels); in this regard, compare also social lubricant.
1
Business, Ethics, Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences Euphemistic, Idiomatic A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.
- A lubrication payment is a small payment to low-level business people or government officials to "grease the wheels" of business.1995, Mark E. Mendenhall et al., Global Management, →ISBN, page 145:
- Lubrication payments are made with requests for a person to perform a task faster or more efficiently, whereas subornation is an act of asking officials to neglect their duties or do something illegal.2001, Y. H. Wong, Thomas K. Leung, Guanxi: Relationship marketing in a Chinese context, →ISBN, page 105: