The Impact Of Anti-Corruption And Corruption Punishment Norms On Bribery

Corruption is a worldwide problem and a common concern across multiple disciplines.Due to high social sensitivity and personal privacy of corrupt behaviors,it has long been difficult to be explored systematically and scientifically within the psychological framework.However,K(?)bis et al.(2015,2017)recently explored the occurrence and evolution process of individuals’ corruption(bribery)by using self-developed corruption game paradigm,thus making it possible to explore corrupt behaviors in the laboratory.These two studies provided valuable insights into severe corruption;however,ambiguous corruption(minor forms of corruption)prevails in real life as well.Yet,it remains unclear whether the prevalence of corruption has a different impact between individuals’ minor and severe forms of corruption and what is the underlying psychological mechanism.In addition,not only the prevalence of corruption but also the frequency of corruption getting punished varies in the real world.Therefore,can the frequency of punishment(i.e.,corruption punishment norm)for corruption also predict people’s ambiguous and severe corruption? Taking bribery as the subject,three experiments were conducted to explore the different impacts of anti-corruption norms and corruption punishment norms on ambiguous and severe corruption and their psychological mechanisms,in attempt to deepen the theoretical understanding of the relationship between anti-corruption strategies and corrupt behaviors.Specifically,Experiment 1 compared the different effects of anti-corruption norms on ambiguous and severe corruption,and the mediating effect of the perception of corruption;Experiment 2 investigated the different impacts of corruption punishment norms on ambiguous and severe corruption;and Experiment 3 explored the predictive effect of corruption beliefs on ambiguous and severe corruption.The main conclusions are as follows:1.Anti-corruption norms can systematically weaken people’s perception of actual corruption,and curb their corrupt behaviors in the context of ambiguous and severe corruption.2.Corruption punishment norms have a significantly better suppressive effect on ambiguous and severe corruption,than anti-corruption norms.3.Anti-corruption norms and corruption punishment norms have a better inhibitory effect on severe corruption,than ambiguous corruption.4.People’s belief of corruption tolerance can effectively predict their corrupt behaviors.In specific,the higher people perceive corruption tolerance is,the more likely they resort to corrupt behavirors;people’s tolerance of ambiguous corruption is significantly higher than that of severe corruption.The conclusions of the present study do not only help to deepen the theoretical understanding of corruption’s psychological mechanism,but also have guiding value for the development of anti-corruption practices.