The relationship between culture and corruption: a cross‐national study

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) project national cultural dimensions of values and practices and the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Design/methodology/approach

Most empirical research on culture dimensions and corruption is based on Hofstede's dataset of culture conducted more than 25 years ago. Evidence from a more recent dataset of culture dimensions is needed before current generalizations can be made. The GLOBE project is based on the perceptions of 18,000 individuals.

Findings

The results provide empirical support for the influence of uncertainty avoidance values, human orientation practices, and individual collectivism practices on the level of corruption after controlling for economic and human development, which, in turn, adds to the efforts to build a general theory of the culture perspective of corruption.

Research limitations/implications

The findings offer valuable insights on why cultural values and cultural practices should be distinguished as they relate to corruption.

Practical implications

International policy makers as well as managers at multinational corporations can benefit from the findings of this research study.

Originality/value

The research reported is among the first to investigate the issue of corruption from the perspective of national cultural values and practices.

Citation

Seleim, A. and Bontis, N. (2009), "The relationship between culture and corruption: a cross‐national study", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 165-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930910922978