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Results of SEM analyses. Results of structural equation modeling, describing direct and indirect paths; based on pooled data by N = 622 respondents (n = 1,242 observations); ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
Source publication
Bribery is a complex phenomenon rooted in both individual motives and the greater institutional context. Experimental research into causal mechanisms that drive bribing behavior is still scarce. To date, there is no empirical evidence on how the society-regarding motivational survey measure of Public Service Motivation (PSM) and the other-oriented...
Citations
... al., 2024). Interpersonal variables, such as personal control and reciprocity (Su et al., 2023) and social value orientation (De Waele et al., 2021), may justify and encourage participation in corrupt behavior in pursuit of personal benefits. In turn, group variables, such as descriptive norms (Zhao et al., 2019), ethical and organizational culture (Resende et al., 2024;Zahari et al., 2022), and meritocratic ideologies (Tan et al., 2017), may influence corrupt behavior, as individuals tend to adapt their behavior to group norms, even when these involve immoral or illegal actions. ...
Background
Corruption, as a psychosocial problem, impacts institutional stability and interpersonal trust. From a psychological perspective, the study of this phenomenon has focused on analyzing corrupt behavior. However, empirical evidence on the measurement of corrupt behavior remains limited due to its covert nature. An alternative strategy is to assess corrupt intent, as it allows inferring behavioral patterns without resorting to direct observation of these acts.
Objective
The aim of this study was to construct and validate the Corrupt Intention Scale (CIS), taking the theory of planned behavior as a framework.
Methods
We conducted a multiple study with a total of 1, 488 Peruvian adults. Multivariate statistical techniques such as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used.
Results
We found that the CIS presented evidence of internal structure validity for a 12-item model grouped into three correlated factors. It showed measurement invariance with respect to sex, convergent validity and satisfactory reliability.
Conclusion
The CIS presents psychometric properties that support its use to measure corrupt intent, and can be used in evaluation, research and prevention contexts. In a global context where corruption remains a critical challenge, reliable and valid measures strengthen the basis for future research and mitigation programs.
... As depicted in Figure 3, the top five causes of corruption according to survey's respondents were: According to the responses received, it can be said that the causes of corruption are mostly economic and ethical, suggesting that they may be more influential than other non-economic reasons (Anti-Corruption Commission, 2016). In past studies about corruption, people are often motivated to commit corrupt acts due to their economic interests or ethics (De Waele et al., 2021;Letki et al., 2023). For instance, poverty is widely considered as one of the major factors that leads to corruption since individuals who lack financial resources can easily get involved in such practices to survive. ...
... Besides, morality has a significant impact on how individuals perceive dishonesty within public offices (De Waele et al., 2021;Letki et al., 2023) . Furthermore, respondents pointed out other factors such as poor leadership, poor law enforcement coupled with greed posed by public service once appointed become influential causes too. ...
This study investigates the causal relationship between the factors identified in the 2016 National Corruption Perception Survey Report and corruption levels in Namibia. By analysing data from 2000 to 2022, the Toda-Yamamoto VAR Granger causality test was employed to investigate the impact of greed, poor leadership and law enforcement, poverty (working poverty), and poor pay (compensation to employees) on corruption levels. The results revealed statistically significant causal linkages between greed, poor leadership and law enforcement, and poverty. Poor pay, however, showed no significant causal influence on corruption. These findings highlight the necessity of tackling issues such as equal income distribution, poverty, and governance inadequacies in anti-corruption initiatives. Targeted measures based on empirical evidence can effectively reduce corruption and increase transparency in governance. Additionally, conducting more recent corruption surveys in Namibia could yield up-to-date perceptions that could be adopted in similar country-specific studies elsewhere.
... This study experimentally investigates whether such an FLE arises for arguably the most visible and well-studied form of corrupt behavior in workplace settings: bribery (Robertson & Nichols, 2017). We use the composite Likert scale from De Waele et al. (2021) and Weißmüller and De Waele (2022) to build a measure of 'workplace bribery susceptibility (WBS)', which captures individuals' willingness to accept a bribe. We validate this measure for the bribery acceptance setting through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and detail theoretical underpinnings for each component of the measure. ...
... Pre-empting the Materials and Methods section, we briefly discuss our measure to clearly and precisely introduce our definition of WBS. We construct our WBS measure from participants' responses to each of our vignettes, specifically using the same four-item Likert scale used to measure willingness to bribe (WTB) in De Waele et al. (2021) and Weißmüller and De Waele (2022). However, in contrast to these prior measures, our Likert items elicit participants' beliefs concerning the acceptance of the bribes in our vignettes, rather than the offering of such bribes (more details are provided in the Materials and Methods section). ...
... We expand on the contributions of De Waele (2022) andDe Waele et al. (2021), and clarify the theoretical value of this scale for measuring bribery susceptibility, by detailing behavioral theoretical underpinnings for each of WBS' four scale components. First, eliciting the perceived likelihood of accepting a bribe effectively elicits intentions of unethical activity. ...
Theory and evidence from the behavioral science literature suggest that the widespread and rising use of lingua francas in the workplace may impact the ethical decision-making of individuals who must use foreign languages at work. We test the impact of foreign language usage on individuals’ susceptibility to bribery in workplace settings using a vignette-based randomized controlled trial in a Dutch student sample. Results suggest that there is not even a small foreign language effect on workplace bribery susceptibility. We combine traditional null hypothesis significance testing with equivalence testing methods novel to the business ethics literature that can provide statistically significant evidence of bounded or null relationships between variables. These tests suggest that the foreign language effect on workplace bribery susceptibility is bounded below even small effect sizes. Post hoc analyses provide evidence suggesting fruitful further routes of experimental research into bribery.
... Six studies evaluated corrupt act (Abbink et al., 2002;Alatas et al., 2009;Barr & Serra, 2009;Gneezy et al., 2019;Guerra & Zhuravleva, 2021;Köbis et al., 2015), six evaluated perceptions of corruption (Bai et al., 2014;Chaparro et al., 2021;Leite et al., 2020;Lin et al., 2022;Park & Blenkinsopp, 2011;Tan et al., 2016), three evaluated attitudes toward corruption (Orellana & Bossio, 2021;Tu et al., 2020;Wang & Sun, 2016), five evaluated the propensity for corruption (Agbo & Iwundu, 2015;De Waele et al., 2021;Guerrero-Martelo et al., 2018;Leong & Lin, 2009;Yang & Chen, 2023), and four evaluated corrupt intent (Julián & Bonavia, 2020b;Li et al., 2006;Mazar & Aggarwal, 2011;Putri et al., 2021). ...
... Seven studies explicitly defined the corruption construct (Bai et al., 2014;Chaparro et al., 2021;Julián & Bonavia, 2020b;Köbis et al., 2015;Park & Blenkinsopp, 2011;Putri et al., 2021;Tu et al., 2020), while six defined the dimension of corruption as their object of measurement (Bai et al., 2014;De Waele et al., 2021;Lin et al., 2022;Putri et al., 2021;Tu et al., 2020;Yang & Chen, 2023). Nine articles mentioned the conceptual or theoretical foundations of their instruments. ...
... Seven studies used corruption scenarios as tests (Bai et al., 2014;De Waele et al., 2021;Guerrero-Martelo et al., 2018;Julián & Bonavia, 2020b;Li et al., 2006;Mazar & Aggarwal, 2011;Putri et al., 2021), whereby, through narrative cases or dilemmas, situations involving signs of corruption, mainly bribery, were described. Then, participants were instructed to answer questions about the focal case as if they were in that situation. ...
Corruption is a psychosocial problem that has important implications for different areas of society. In psychology, this problem is usually studied through corrupt behavior. The aim of this study is thus to analyze the tests used to evaluate corrupt behavior from a psychological perspective. A systematic review was conducted following the standards of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) 2020 statement of relevant studies published from 2000 to 2023 in Scopus, ScienceDirect and the Web of Science. We have therefore included empirical studies published in Spanish and English, synthesized their information using thematic analysis, and presented these results in a summary table. Specifically, we reviewed 696 articles and 63 relevant full-text articles, and 24 of these studies met the inclusion criteria. Accordingly, we have found that corrupt behavior has been evaluated through three types of tests: surveys, corruption scenarios, and bribery games. The main properties of these tests also vary according to the adopted theoretical framework, domain evaluated, rigor of evaluation, and sample characteristics. These findings can be used to determine the choice of a particular instrument or in the construction of another if the existing instruments are deemed inappropriate.
... (Shepherd, 2016). De Waele, et al (2021) pointed out that Bribery is a 'complex phenomenon' rooted in both individual and group dynamics. But the psychology of the bribe in all contexts, is simple: 'you do for me, and I do for you' (Shepherd, 2016). ...
... Cited byDe Waele De (2021) ibid. ...
A paucity of qualitative research into corruption inherent in international law contexts sets the basis of this thesis. There is an abundance of strategic advisory documents, reports, whitepapers, company compliance policies, yet these promote a mere superficial awareness of the problem. Therefore, in this thesis the debate around even defining corruption is disentangled and clarified. Other gaps identified in current academic approaches to countering corruption includes understanding applicable predicate crimes that underpin money laundering which are ubiquitously intwined with corruption. Equally, this thesis contains a theory-led conceptual account of the interface of how ‘naturally occurring’ situational business scenarios that go askew, feeds corruption risk. This imbues with the part of the thesis that dichotomises ethics and language issues; when crime is engineered from nothingness leading to criminality, often by notional business-aggressive behaviours of leaders and actors committing financial crimes with a bizarre perception of the said conduct being part of business. In that sense, the language and modes of business dialogues are examined. Implicit in this thesis also is an assessment of how far some national courts are influenced politically, or more poignantly, indefensibly create political influence, even to the point of incentivizing graft corruption, or corruption among financial institutions. A review of the enforcement variables of ‘organized crime’ in corruption is considered a must-include, especially in the light of recent government-level international corruption scandal that no less created belittlement of human-kind. Thereafter, a review of applicable substantive and procedural laws that focus on intersections of international public law, and nuances of private law and national criminal laws. This section probes the fractious debate between law enforcement and regulatory functions. Evidential and standards and burdens of proof are examined. The conclusions present why global corruption remains as an ever-evolving problem.
... PSM is argued to energize high-PSM people to selfsacrifice for the benefit of what is seen as the nation's public interest. Recently, the literature turned to potential dark sides of PSM, too (see, e.g., Schott & Ritz, 2018;de Waele et al., 2021;Weißmüller et al., 2020). In this paper, we study whether or not PSM may be associated with in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination. ...
... Similarly, PSM has been found to be related to a lower likelihood to act against the common good, an example being bribery (Gans-Morse et al., 2019). But however intuitive this might be, given the very definition of PSM, intriguing evidence goes against this intuition, suggesting that we need further work to deepen our understanding of the oftentimes subtle consequences of PSM, including the dark sides (van Loon et al., 2015;Meyer-Sahling et al., 2019;Olsen et al., 2019), two revealing examples being the justification of unethical behavior (Ripoll & Schott, 2020) and accepting bribes (de Waele et al., 2021). ...
... They find that a survey measure of PSM is positively related to self-reported blood donation behavior, but not with the actual act of really donating blood. Second, in their vignettes study, de Waele et al. (2021) find that PSM is positively associated with pro-social rulebreaking, which is a manifestation of a 'dark side' of PSM, as high-PSM civil servants may be more likely to act against the interest of their organization to discriminate in favor of clients they perceive as deserving their support. ...
We seek to offer a threefold contribution to extant knowledge regarding the effect of public service motivation on the actual behavior of individual citizens. First, theoretically, we examine the role of public service motivation as a potential antecedent of in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination in an inter-country context through a configurational lens. Second, empirically, we contribute to the state of the art by conducting an incentivized donation study in which Chinese participants have to decide about giving away real money to poor students in the Chinese province Yunnan and/or neighboring country Myanmar. Third, methodologically, we analyze the impact of bundles of potential conditions promoting donation by applying fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, next to classic probabilistic regression.
... In the literature on prosocial and altruistic behavior, many scholars use an ideal-typical binary categorizationpro-self vis-à-vis prosocialto characterize individuals' behavior in social contexts (De Cremer & van Lange, 2001;Weißmüller et al., 2022). Typically, pro-self people will knowingly or subconsciously work toward the realization of their personal goals with little or no regard to other peoples' goals, whereas their prosocial counterparts will consider the goals of others as central factors to consider while pursuing their own goals, attaching more importance to the well-being of a community or society as a whole (De Waele et al., 2021). ...
Theory suggests that selfless prosocial behaviors originate from motives grounded in tangible, motivational, and psychological resources, which can be activated to stimulate volunteering and charitable giving. This study investigates how individuals’ social capital may serve as such a resource; it explores the peculiar role of the strategic pursuit of relationships to predict individuals’ likelihood of engaging in prosocial behavior. Based on survey responses by n = 779 German citizens actively engaged in nonprofit hobbyist communities, we find that individuals with higher social capital are more likely to donate their incentive for study participation to charity. However, individuals who maintain relationships for strategic reasons are significantly less likely to donate. These results enhance our understanding of social capital as a conditional resource for prosocial behavior, highlighting practical implications for fundraising, and help practitioners better understand donor motivation and the relevance of networks and social capital for charity.
... The attitudinal effect of high PSM is stronger if supported by a trait-driven "multiplier" of a pro-other SVO. That is, if an individual indicates she or he is motivated to serve the public interest (including a general motivation to selfsacrifice for the sake of others' benefit), then this motivational attitude would be further boosted in case that the individual is characterized by the other-regarding trait of SVO as well (Waele et al., 2021). For this reason, this research is mainly based on the perspective of occupational values. ...
At present, civil servant positions have become the main employment target of many college students in China, and there is a deep motivation behind this phenomenon. This research conducted an empirical study on college students in 2022 with 566 valid data by using the convenience sampling method. The occupational values scale, political efficacy scale, and the willingness to apply for civil servants scale were used. Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and common method deviation were performed by SPSS 26.0 to test the reliability of each scale and the discriminant validity of variables. In addition, the structural equation model and bias-corrected bootstrap were used to explore the influence of occupational values on college students’ willingness to apply for civil servants and analyze the mediating role of political efficacy. The results show that: (1) The dimensions of career stability, prestige value, and public service motivation of occupational values have significant positive impacts on college students’ willingness to apply for civil servants, among which public service motivation has the most significant impact. (2) Occupational values have significant positive impacts on college students’ political efficacy. (3) Political efficacy has a significant positive impact on the college students’ willingness to apply for civil servants. (4) Political efficacy plays a partial mediating role in the transmission path of occupational values and willingness to apply for civil servants. These findings further clarify the logical relationship between occupational values and civil servants’ willingness, providing a theoretical basis and practical reference for college educators to implement college students’ career education.
... Based on an in-depth analysis of the research questions and aims of each of the 55 papers, the review uncovered various themes that were investigated by the PSM experiments. There seem to be two main lines of research which are present more often than others in the experimental PSM literature; social desirability bias with three (4) articles (e.g., Kim & Kim, 2016;Kim & Kim, 2017;Ward, 2019) and prosocial behaviour also with three (3) articles ( (Ki, 2021); individual risk judgment (Weißmüller, 2021); social desirability bias (Kim & Kim, 2016a); personality traits (Bromberg & Charbonneau, 2020); employer branding (Weske et al., 2020); PSM and discriminatory prosocial rule-breaking behaviour . Several other themes appeared in the experimental PSM research reviewed as shown in Appendix. ...
This paper provides a systematic review of empirical experimental studies in PSM from 1992 to 2022. The paper adopted a systematic review methodology by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A comprehensive search was conducted in sixteen public administration journals, via a systematic search using major online databases. The findings show that there has been a growing interest in the use of experimental designs in PSM studies over the last five years even though the growth has not been consistent. The findings uncovered that most experimental PSM studies involved surveys, laboratory, and field experiments. The paper contributes to the burgeoning PSM literature by systematically analysing in-depth the characteristics of experiments, which were then used to make recommendations to advance the field of experimental PSM.
... Bribery is a specific form of corruption, along with other types such as abuse of power, breach of competition and environmental law, business cartels, collusion, deception, document forgery, fraud, embezzlement, extortion, insider trading, or money laundering, tax offences (Ozgun 2020). As highlighted by the latest research, bribery is a problem that cannot be mitigated easily in many states around the world since it generates very high social costs and overcomes the sense of fairness (De Waele, Weißmüller & van Witteloostuijn 2021). With respect to the legal field, it is categorized as a "white-collar crime" (Strader 2017), a concept introduced by Sutherland (1940), who is deemed to be the "founding father of white-collar crime scholarship" (Friedrichs 2007, p. 163). ...
Bribery is a specific form of corruption that assumes the voluntary giving of value for the purpose of influencing official duty for obtaining private benefits. According to the "sand the wheels" hypothesis, bribery is detrimental to economic development, investment and growth in the long run since it hinders fair competition and weakens the credibility of government institutions. Though it is categorized as a nonviolent "white-collar crime", the costs of bribery for the overall society are much higher than it may appear. As a consequence, the spread of bribery across world countries is regularly monitored. Part 1 introduces the topic and gives a brief review of the literature. Part 2 discusses the different approaches used to identify acts of bribery. Part 3 discusses how various studies assess the bribery risk for many countries, and provides some rankings. Part 4 is a continuation of Part 3, and provides tables that rank the 25 least corrupt countries. 2
