IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v135y2021icp496-507.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does ICT development curb firms’ perceived corruption pressure? The contingent impact of institutional qualities and competitive conditions

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Qingji
  • Kuper, Paul
  • Choi, Yun Hyeong
  • Choi, Seong-jin

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how Information & Communication Technology (ICT) development can contribute to a reduction in firms’ perceived corruption pressure. Based on survey data of 39,796 firms from 76 countries spanning 2007 to 2016, we demonstrate that ICT development can significantly curb the firm-level prevalence of illegal payments to regulatory officials. We also find that the relationship between ICT development and perceived corruption pressure is a function of various aspects of institutional and competitive environments: its impact is strengthened when institutional quality (i.e., checks and balances, and the protection of private property rights) is higher, whereas it is weakened when competitive conditions (i.e., liability of foreignness, and informal competition) are against firms. Implications for theory and policy are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Qingji & Kuper, Paul & Choi, Yun Hyeong & Choi, Seong-jin, 2021. "Does ICT development curb firms’ perceived corruption pressure? The contingent impact of institutional qualities and competitive conditions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 496-507.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:135:y:2021:i:c:p:496-507
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321004732
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.062?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baron David P & Agus Harjoto Maretno & Jo Hoje, 2011. "The Economics and Politics of Corporate Social Performance," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-48, August.
    2. Guy L. F. Holburn & Bennet A. Zelner, 2010. "Political capabilities, policy risk, and international investment strategy: evidence from the global electric power generation industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(12), pages 1290-1315, December.
    3. Haiyang Li & Yan Zhang, 2007. "The role of managers' political networking and functional experience in new venture performance: Evidence from China's transition economy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 791-804, August.
    4. Joshua C. Hall & Robert A. Lawson, 2014. "Economic Freedom Of The World: An Accounting Of The Literature," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(1), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Yingqi Wei & Xiaming Liu & Chengang Wang, 2008. "Mutual productivity spillovers between foreign and local firms in China," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 32(4), pages 609-631, July.
    6. Bill McEvily & Akbar Zaheer, 1999. "Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(12), pages 1133-1156, December.
    7. Luo, Yadong & Han, Binjie, 2009. "Graft and business in emerging economies: An ecological perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 225-237, July.
    8. Whetten, David A., 2009. "An Examination of the Interface between Context and Theory Applied to the Study of Chinese Organizations," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 29-56, March.
    9. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    10. Baron, David P. & Agus Harjoto, Maretno & Jo, Hoje, 2011. "The Economics and Politics of Corporate Social Performance," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 1-46, August.
    11. Michael A Sartor & Paul W Beamish, 2018. "Host market government corruption and the equity-based foreign entry strategies of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 346-370, April.
    12. R. Pathak & Gurmeet Singh & Rakesh Belwal & R. Smith, 2007. "E-governance and Corruption-developments and Issues in Ethiopia," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-208, September.
    13. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-3, January.
    14. Pervez Zamurrad Janjua & Ghulam Samad & Nazakat Ullah, 2019. "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Economic Growth in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 58(3), pages 225-237.
    15. Bennet A. Zelner, 2009. "Using simulation to interpret results from logit, probit, and other nonlinear models," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(12), pages 1335-1348, December.
    16. Pierre-Guillaume Meon & Friedrich Schneider & Laurent Weill, 2011. "Does taking the shadow economy into account matter when measuring aggregate efficiency?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(18), pages 2303-2311.
    17. Daniel Kaufmann & Aart Kraay & Massimo Mastruzzi, 2004. "Governance Matters III: Governance Indicators for 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 18(2), pages 253-287.
    18. James E. Alt & David D. Lassen, 2008. "Political And Judicial Checks On Corruption: Evidence From American State Governments," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 33-61, March.
    19. Valentina A. Assenova & Olav Sorenson, 2017. "Legitimacy and the Benefits of Firm Formalization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 804-818, October.
    20. Klaus Uhlenbruck & Peter Rodriguez & Jonathan Doh & Lorraine Eden, 2006. "The Impact of Corruption on Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 402-414, June.
    21. Shahjahan Bhuiyan, 2010. "E-Government in Kazakhstan: Challenges and Its Role to Development," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 31-47, March.
    22. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2006. "Who cares about corruption?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 807-822, November.
    23. Aparna Mathur & Kartikeya Singh, 2013. "Foreign direct investment, corruption and democracy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 991-1002, March.
    24. Luo, Yadong, 2008. "The changing Chinese culture and business behavior: The perspective of intertwinement between guanxi and corruption," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 188-193, April.
    25. Crittenden, Victoria L. & Crittenden, William F. & Ajjan, Haya, 2019. "Empowering women micro-entrepreneurs in emerging economies: The role of information communications technology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 191-203.
    26. Hollyer, James R. & Rosendorff, B. Peter & Vreeland, James Raymond, 2015. "Transparency, Protest, and Autocratic Instability," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(4), pages 764-784, November.
    27. Jamie Collins & Klaus Uhlenbruck & Peter Rodriguez, 2009. "Why Firms Engage in Corruption: A Top Management Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 89-108, June.
    28. Ghauri, Pervez N. & Rao, P.M., 2009. "Intellectual property, pharmaceutical MNEs and the developing world," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 206-215, April.
    29. Yanjing Chen & Mahmut YaÅŸar & Roderick Rejesus, 2008. "Factors Influencing the Incidence of Bribery Payouts by Firms: A Cross-Country Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 231-244, January.
    30. Cheng, Chih-Yang & Chien, Mei-Se & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2021. "ICT diffusion, financial development, and economic growth: An international cross-country analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 662-671.
    31. Seong-Jin Choi & Nan Jia & Jiangyong Lu, 2015. "The Structure of Political Institutions and Effectiveness of Corporate Political Lobbying," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 158-179, February.
    32. Lily H. Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu, 2017. "Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2446-2477.
    33. Acemoglu, Daron & Verdier, Thierry, 1998. "Property Rights, Corruption and the Allocation of Talent: A General Equilibrium Approach," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(450), pages 1381-1403, September.
    34. Colin C. Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2020. "Evaluating the impacts on firm productivity of informal sector competitors: results of a business survey in South-Eastern Europe," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 41(4), pages 524-538.
    35. Timothy Besley & Stephen Coate, 2003. "Elected Versus Appointed Regulators: Theory and Evidence," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(5), pages 1176-1206, September.
    36. Akie Iriyama & Rajiv Kishore & Debabrata Talukdar, 2016. "Playing dirty or building capability? Corruption and HR training as competitive actions to threats from informal and foreign firm rivals," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2152-2173, October.
    37. Yadong Luo, 2006. "Political behavior, social responsibility, and perceived corruption: a structuration perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 747-766, November.
    38. Oana Branzei & Samer Abdelnour, 2010. "Another day, another dollar: Enterprise resilience under terrorism in developing countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(5), pages 804-825, June.
    39. Ken G. Smith & Curtis M. Grimm, 1987. "Environmental variation, strategic change and firm performance: A study of railroad deregulation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(4), pages 363-376, July.
    40. Yujin Jeong & Jordan I. Siegel, 2018. "Threat of falling high status and corporate bribery: Evidence from the revealed accounting records of two South Korean presidents," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 1083-1111, April.
    41. Brian T. McCann & Mona Bahl, 2017. "The influence of competition from informal firms on new product development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(7), pages 1518-1535, July.
    42. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Preuss, Lutz & Ohana, Marc, 2018. "Developing country firms and the challenge of corruption: Do company commitments mirror the quality of national-level institutions?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 26-39.
    43. Khoury, Theodore A. & Peng, Mike W., 2011. "Does institutional reform of intellectual property rights lead to more inbound FDI? Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 337-345, July.
    44. Jeffrey T. Macher & John W. Mayo, 2015. "Influencing public policymaking: Firm-, industry-, and country-level determinants," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(13), pages 2021-2038, December.
    45. Duanmu, Jing-Lin, 2011. "The effect of corruption distance and market orientation on the ownership choice of MNEs: Evidence from China," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 162-174, June.
    46. B. Mathias & Sean Lux & T. Russell Crook & Chad Autry & Russell Zaretzki, 2015. "Competing Against the Unknown: The Impact of Enabling and Constraining Institutions on the Informal Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 251-264, March.
    47. Kolstad, Ivar & Wiig, Arne, 2009. "Is Transparency the Key to Reducing Corruption in Resource-Rich Countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 521-532, March.
    48. Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol & Murad Moqbel, 2014. "Does Investment in ICT Curb or Create More Corruption? A Cross-Country Analysis," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 51-63, March.
    49. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-1, July.
    50. Choi, Seong-jin & Jiménez, Alfredo & Lee, Jeoung Yul, 2020. "The impact of political capabilities and political markets on firms' decision to lobby," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(4).
    51. W. J. Henisz, 2000. "The Institutional Environment for Economic Growth," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, March.
    52. Glass, Amy Jocelyn & Saggi, Kamal, 2002. "Intellectual property rights and foreign direct investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 387-410, March.
    53. Colin C. Williams & Abbi M. Kedir, 2019. "Explaining cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal sector competitors: lessons from the World Bank Enterprise Survey," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 677-696, September.
    54. Cosmina Lelia Voinea & Hans Kranenburg, 2018. "Feeling the Squeeze: Nonmarket Institutional Pressures and Firm Nonmarket Strategies," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 705-741, October.
    55. Ralf Barkemeyer & Lutz Preuss & Marc Ohana, 2018. "Developing country firms and the challenge of corruption: Do company commitments mirror the quality of national-level institutions?," Post-Print hal-02390172, HAL.
    56. Cassandra E DiRienzo & Jayoti Das & Kathryn T Cort & John Burbridge, 2007. "Corruption and the role of information," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(2), pages 320-332, March.
    57. Christopher Baughn & Nancy Bodie & Mark Buchanan & Michael Bixby, 2010. "Bribery in International Business Transactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 15-32, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fang, Mingyue & Nie, Huihua & Shen, Xinyi, 2023. "Can enterprise digitization improve ESG performance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Lee, Jeoung Yul & Park, Byung Il & Ghauri, Pervez N. & Kumar, Vikas, 2024. "Corruptive practices, digitalization, and international business," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    3. Wang, Zhen & Tang, Pei, 2024. "Substantive digital innovation or symbolic digital innovation: Which type of digital innovation is more conducive to corporate ESG performance?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 1212-1228.
    4. Afolabi, Joshua Adeyemi, 2023. "Advancing digital economy in Africa: The role of critical enablers," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Jiménez, Alfredo & Hanoteau, Julien & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2022. "E-procurement and firm corruption to secure public contracts: The moderating role of governance institutions and supranational support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 640-650.
    6. Lu, Hongyu & Cheng, Zhao, 2024. "Digital inclusive finance and corporate ESG performance: The moderating role of executives with financial backgrounds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Lee, Jeoung Yul & Jiménez, Alfredo & Choi, Seong-jin & Choi, Yun Hyeong, 2022. "Ideological polarization and corporate lobbying activity: The contingent impact of corruption distance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 448-461.
    8. Choi, Seong-jin & Liu, Huilong & Yin, Jun & Qi, Yunfei & Lee, Jeoung Yul, 2021. "The effect of political turnover on firms’ strategic change in the emerging economies: The moderating role of political connections and financial resources," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 255-266.
    9. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Purnama, Muhammad Yusuf Indra & Sharma, Susan Sunila, 2024. "Digitalization and firms' debt maturity: Do financial constraints and uncertainty matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiangyong Lu & Seong-jin Choi & Alfredo Jiménez & Secil Bayraktar, 2023. "Bribery in emerging economies: an integration of institutional and non-market position perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 205-242, March.
    2. Lee, Jeoung Yul & Jiménez, Alfredo & Choi, Seong-jin & Choi, Yun Hyeong, 2022. "Ideological polarization and corporate lobbying activity: The contingent impact of corruption distance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 448-461.
    3. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Dieleman, Marleen & Hirsch, Paul & Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Zyglidopoulos, Stelios, 2021. "Multinationals’ misbehavior," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    4. Choi, Seong-jin & Jiménez, Alfredo & Lee, Jeoung Yul, 2020. "The impact of political capabilities and political markets on firms' decision to lobby," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(4).
    5. Wu, Yan & Yang, Yong & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2023. "Corruption, the digital sectors, and the profitability of foreign subsidiaries in emerging markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Qi, Guoyou & Zou, Hailiang & Xie, Xuemei & Meng, Xiaohua & Fan, Tijun & Cao, Yuanhe, 2020. "Obedience or escape: Examining the contingency influences of corruption on firm exports," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 261-272.
    7. Chengguang Li & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2022. "The impact of corruption on market reactions to international strategic alliances," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 187-202, February.
    8. Kano, Hirokazu & Iriyama, Akie, 2023. "Host country corruption and MNE location choice: The view of institutional pluralism," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    9. Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & García-Muiña, Fernando E., 2021. "Digitalization level, corruptive practices, and location choice in the hotel industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 176-185.
    10. Kouznetsov, Alex & Kim, Sarah & Wright, Chris, 2019. "An audit of received international business corruption literature for logic, consistency, completeness of coverage," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(4).
    11. Xuemei Xie & Guoyou Qi & Kevin Xiaoguo Zhu, 2019. "Corruption and New Product Innovation: Examining Firms’ Ethical Dilemmas in Transition Economies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 107-125, November.
    12. Ling Liu & Jose Godinez & John Henley & J. Mauricio Galli Geleilate, 2023. "Corruption distance and the equity-based foreign entry strategies of multinational enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(4), pages 492-510, December.
    13. Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol & Murad Moqbel, 2014. "Does Investment in ICT Curb or Create More Corruption? A Cross-Country Analysis," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 51-63, March.
    14. Rekha Rao-Nicholson & Liudmyla Svystunova, 2020. "Assessing the Role of Host Country Human Rights Protection on Multinational Enterprises’ Choice of Investment Strategy," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 177-209, April.
    15. Michael A. Sartor & Paul W. Beamish, 2020. "Integration-oriented strategies, host market corruption and the likelihood of foreign subsidiary exit from emerging markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(3), pages 414-431, April.
    16. Lee, Jeoung Yul & Park, Byung Il & Ghauri, Pervez N. & Kumar, Vikas, 2024. "Corruptive practices, digitalization, and international business," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    17. Demirbag, Mehmet & McGuinnness, Martina & Wood, Geoffrey & Bayyurt, Nizamettin, 2015. "Context, law and reinvestment decisions: Why the transitional periphery differs from other post-state socialist economies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 955-965.
    18. Noman Shaheer & Jingtao Yi & Sali Li & Liang Chen, 2019. "State-Owned Enterprises as Bribe Payers: The Role of Institutional Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 221-238, September.
    19. repec:pdn:wpaper:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. White, George O. & Boddewyn, Jean J. & Galang, Roberto Martin N., 2015. "Legal system contingencies as determinants of political tie intensity by wholly owned foreign subsidiaries: Insights from the Philippines," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 342-356.
    21. Getachew, Yamlaksira S. & Beamish, Paul W., 2021. "Unbundling the effects of host-country institutions on foreign subsidiary survival: A case for subsidiary heterogeneity," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:135:y:2021:i:c:p:496-507. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.