Corruption and cheating: Evidence from rural Thailand

Arbeitspapier

This study tests the prediction that perceived corruption reduces ethical behavior. Integrating a standard "cheating" experiment into a broad household survey in rural Thailand, we find clear support for this prediction: respondents who perceive corruption in state affairs are more likely to cheat and, thus, to fortify the negative consequences of corruption. Interestingly, there is a small group of non-conformers. The main relation is robust to consideration of socio-demographic, attitudinal, and situational control variables. Attendance of others at the cheating experiment, stimulating the reputational concern to be seen as honest, reduces cheating, thus indicating transparency as a remedy.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DIW Discussion Papers ; No. 1917

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡
• Subject: corruption ; cheating ; individual characteristics ; lab-in-the-field experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hübler, Olaf ; Koch, Melanie ; Menkhoff, Lukas ; Schmidt, Ulrich
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/227765
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET