IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/mgtdec/v47y2026i2p457-467.html

The Effect of Corruption Priming on Happiness and Negative Emotions

Author

Listed:
  • Meytal Machani
  • Zeev Shtudiner

Abstract

The 2023 World Happiness Report revealed that Israel had risen from ninth to fourth place in the global happiness index, with the absence of corruption identified as a significant contributing factor. Given the ongoing public discourse surrounding corruption in Israel, this study aimed to isolate and examine the specific impact of corruption perception on subjective happiness and negative emotions. The research employed a priming methodology across four groups (N = 249) to investigate the relationship between corruption perception, happiness, and negative emotions. Results indicated a significant link between corruption perception and increased levels of negative emotions. Additionally, the study highlighted the importance of considering an individual's political stance, as those aligned with the current opposition exhibited higher levels of negative emotions. These findings underscore the need for policymakers to consider both happiness and negative emotion indices, alongside prevailing perceptions of corruption, to foster integrity within governmental systems and promote a stable and corruption‐free society.

Suggested Citation

  • Meytal Machani & Zeev Shtudiner, 2026. "The Effect of Corruption Priming on Happiness and Negative Emotions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 47(2), pages 457-467, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:47:y:2026:i:2:p:457-467
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.70053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.70053
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/mde.70053?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2019. "Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol Graham's Happiness for All?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(2), pages 385-402, June.
    2. Derek Bok, 2010. "The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9107, December.
    3. Manion, Melanie, 1996. "Corruption by Design: Bribery in Chinese Enterprise Licensing," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 167-195, April.
    4. Angela C. Rowe & Emily R. Gold & Katherine B. Carnelley, 2020. "The Effectiveness of Attachment Security Priming in Improving Positive Affect and Reducing Negative Affect: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, February.
    5. Easterlin, Richard A, 2001. "Income and Happiness: Towards an Unified Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(473), pages 465-484, July.
    6. Dreher, Axel & Öhler, Hannes, 2011. "Does government ideology affect personal happiness? A test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 161-165, May.
    7. Israel, Avi & Rosenboim, Mosi & Shavit, Tal, 2014. "Using priming manipulations to affect time preferences and risk aversion: An experimental study," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 36-43.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yoshiro Tsutsui & Shoko Yamane & Fumio Ohtake, 2015. "Why Are Cabinet Supporters Happy?," ISER Discussion Paper 0923, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    2. Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn & Joan Maya Mazelis, 2017. "More Unequal in Income, More Unequal in Wellbeing," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 953-975, July.
    3. Ozge Gokdemir & Emine Tahsin, 2014. "Factors that Influence the Life Satisfaction of Women Living in the Northern Cyprus," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 1071-1085, February.
    4. Arie Sherman & Hila Axelrad & Guy Barokas, 2024. "On subjective well‐being and excess strategy to cope with financial‐scarcity problem," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(4), pages 2535-2547, June.
    5. Rita Remeikienė & Ligita Gasparėnienė & Viktoras Chadyšas & Evaldas Raistenskis, 2020. "Links between corruption and quality of life in European Union," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(4), pages 2664-2675, June.
    6. Gross-Manos, Daphna, 2017. "Material well-being and social exclusion association with children's subjective Well-being: Cross-national analysis of 14 countries," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 116-128.
    7. Arie Sherman & Tal Shavit & Guy Barokas & Nonna Kushnirovich, 2021. "On the Role of Personal Values and Philosophy of Life in Happiness Technology," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1055-1070, March.
    8. McCausland, David & Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2005. "Some are Punished and Some are Rewarded: A Study of the Impact of Performance Pay on Job Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 14243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Yamada, Katsunori & Sato, Masayuki, 2013. "Another avenue for anatomy of income comparisons: Evidence from hypothetical choice experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 35-57.
    10. Christian Grund & Dirk Sliwka, 2007. "Reference-Dependent Preferences and the Impact of Wage Increases on Job Satisfaction: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 163(2), pages 313-335, June.
    11. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    12. Mookerjee, Rajen & Beron, Krista, 2005. "Gender, religion and happiness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 674-685, October.
    13. Atsede Desta Tegegne & Marianne Penker, 2016. "Determinants of rural out-migration in Ethiopia: Who stays and who goes?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(34), pages 1011-1044.
    14. Harry Freeman & Jeffrey Simons & Nicholas F. Benson, 2023. "Romantic Duration, Relationship Quality, and Attachment Insecurity among Dating Couples," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-18, January.
    15. Yunxiao Dang & Guanpeng Dong & Yu Chen & Kelvyn Jones & Wenzhong Zhang, 2019. "Residential environment and subjective well-being in Beijing: A fine-grained spatial scale analysis using a bivariate response binomial multilevel model," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(4), pages 648-667, May.
    16. repec:lan:wpaper:4841 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Muhammad Faress Bhuiyan, 2018. "Life Satisfaction and Economic Position Relative to Neighbors: Perceptions Versus Reality," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 1935-1964, October.
    18. Salvatore Bimonte & Antonella D’Agostino, 2021. "Tourism development and residents’ well-being: Comparing two seaside destinations in Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1508-1525, November.
    19. Hong, Yan-Zhen & Su, Yi-Ju & Chang, Hung-Hao, 2023. "Analyzing the relationship between income and life satisfaction of Forest farm households - a behavioral economics approach," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    20. Clark, Andrew E. & Senik, Claudia & Yamada, Katsunori, 2017. "When experienced and decision utility concur: The case of income comparisons," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-9.
    21. John Cullis & John Hudson & Philip Jones, 2011. "A Different Rationale for Redistribution: Pursuit of Happiness in the European Union," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 323-341, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:mgtdec:v:47:y:2026:i:2:p:457-467. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/7976 .

    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.