Nepotism, favoritism, cronyism, and corruption have been criticized as unprofessional behavior. While preventive legal measures against preferential treatment are enacted in developed countries, in developing countries such practices are still part of everyday life. Although the phenomenon of preferential treatment is considered a form of corruption that occurs in the process of political decision-making, it is also one of the biggest problems of public bureaucracy. The spread of favoritism and nepotism in various countries in recent years has begun to affect areas that undermine the social and economic health of the nation. The term nepotism in Latin got its name for a nephew or grandson. It is interrelated with the English word nephew, derived from Old French from Latin, which defines nepotism as a bias towards siblings and other relationships by assigning them employment because of their connection rather than because of their skills. Corruption is generally defined as an abuse of public authority, and political corruption is defined here as corruption in which political decision makers are involved. Corruption and nepotism are often two words that characterize civil servants in the Republic of Croatia, but also the entire civil service system. The topic of this paper is nepotism and corruption, and the aim is to define and explain these two forms of unprofessional behavior. Also, for the purposes of this paper, a survey was conducted in which citizens will examine the impact of nepotism and corruption on their trust in officials.