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The Effect of Social Norms on Bribe Offers

Author

Listed:
  • Klaus Abbink
  • Esteban Freidin
  • Lata Gangadharan
  • Rodrigo Moro

Abstract

We report a sequential bribery game to disentangle the effect of descriptive social norms among public officials on bribe offers by firms. Participants who knew that they were interacting with a partner from a group with a majority of corrupt (as opposed to honest) partners offered twice as many bribes. This effect of norms occurred independently of strategic considerations and the possibility of being sanctioned. Indeed, the effect of sanctions was not significant. These findings highlight a causal connection from perceptions of bribery to actual behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Klaus Abbink & Esteban Freidin & Lata Gangadharan & Rodrigo Moro, 2018. "The Effect of Social Norms on Bribe Offers," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 457-474.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:34:y:2018:i:3:p:457-474.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewy015
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Shuguang Jiang & Marie Claire Villeval, 2022. "Dishonesty in Developing Countries -What Can We Learn From Experiments?," Working Papers hal-03899654, HAL.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2021. "The Power of Public Choice in Law and Economics," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Margarita Leib & Nils Kobis & Rainer Michael Rilke & Marloes Hagens & Bernd Irlenbusch, 2023. "Corrupted by Algorithms? How AI-generated and Human-written Advice Shape (Dis)honesty," Papers 2301.01954, arXiv.org.
    4. Campbell Pryor & Amy Perfors & Piers D L Howe, 2019. "Conformity to the descriptive norms of people with opposing political or social beliefs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Jun Goto & Takashi Kurosaki & Yuko Mori, 2022. "Distance to news: how social media information affects bribe-giving in India," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 179-209, January.
    6. Margarita Leib & Nils Köbis & Rainer Michael Rilke & Marloes Hagens & Bernd Irlenbusch, 2023. "Corrupted by Algorithms? How AI-generated and Human-written Advice Shape (Dis)honesty," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 251, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    7. Drichoutis, Andreas C. & Grimm, Veronika & Karakostas, Alexandros, 2020. "Bribing to Queue-Jump: An experiment on cultural differences in bribing attitudes among Greeks and Germans," MPRA Paper 102775, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Benno Torgler, 2022. "The power of public choice in law and economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1410-1453, December.
    9. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Radoniqi, Fatos, 2023. "Republic of beliefs: An experimental investigation✰," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 30-43.
    10. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Radoniqi, Fatos, 2021. "Republic of Beliefs: An Experimental Investigation," IZA Discussion Papers 14130, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Jin Zheng & Arthur Schram & Gönül Doğan, 2021. "Friend or foe? Social ties in bribery and corruption," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(3), pages 854-882, September.
    12. Schram, Arthur & Zheng, Jin Di & Zhuravleva, Tatyana, 2022. "Corruption: A cross-country comparison of contagion and conformism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 497-518.
    13. Buntaine, Mark T & Bagabo, Alex & Bangerter, Tanner & Bukuluki, Paul & Daniels, Brigham, 2022. "Recognizing Local Leaders as an Anti-Corruption Strategy: Experimental and Ethnographic Evidence from Uganda," OSF Preprints x86q3, Center for Open Science.
    14. Levati, M. Vittoria & Nardi, Chiara, 2023. "Letting third parties who suffer from petty corruption talk: Evidence from a collusive bribery experiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Mitra, Arnab & Shahriar, Quazi, 2020. "Why is dishonesty difficult to mitigate? The interaction between descriptive norm and monetary incentive," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Oana Borcan & Nikita Grabher-Meyer & Stephanie Heger & Amrish Patel, 2023. "Right in the Middle: A Field Experiment On The Role Of Integrity Training And Norms In Combating Corruption," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2023-05, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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