Corruption and the Concept of Culture: Evidence from the Pacific Islands

Behavioral Determinants of Corruption. A Cross-Country Survey

“…Under these characteristics, Collier (2002) has developed an "interdisciplinary theory of the causes of corruption" starting from the use the institutional choice analytic frame. Nevertheless, the studies regards the behavioral determinant of corruption acts still need deepening and ideas about culture still seem useful in understanding how people recognize and respond to a corrupt behavior (Larmour, 2008). This research comes to fill such a gap in behavioral economic literature of corruption by analyzing the influence of some behavioral factors provided by culture, tax morale, trust, religion or happiness on the level of corruption.…”

Relationship between collectivism and corruption in American and Chinese books: A historical perspective

“…Both institutional factors such as government regulation, corruption detection, legal punishment, and salaries, etc., (Dong & Torgler, ) and non‐institutional factors such as culture, beliefs and norms, etc., (Gong & Wang, ; Huang, Zheng, Tan, Zhang, & Liu, ) have impacts on corruption. Furthermore, the beliefs and norms often play more important roles than objective institutional factors (Larmout, ). Previous research demonstrates that cultural factors such as power‐distance (Husted, ) and the social capital of strong bonds (Pena‐López & Sánchez‐Santos, ) can impact corruption.…”

The Good Cause: Theoretical Perspectives on Corruption

“…It entails 'denial of universal morality', as Rod Aya puts it (2009: 1), and to its adherents this is a matter of principle, not circumstances. 'Placing morality beyond culture (...) is no longer possible', Clifford Geertz writes for instance (2000: 45-46 Not surprisingly, cultural relativist perspectives on corruption are strongly criticized by scholars and activists alike (Larmour 2008). The Executive Summary of the Transparency International's Source Book, for instance, speaks of the 'myth of culture' and notes that 'any understanding of corruption begins by dispelling the myth that corruption is a matter of 'culture'' (Pope 2000: xix).…”