The relationship between culture and corruption: a cross‐national study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930910922978 |
| Pages | 165-184 |
| Published date | 16 January 2009 |
| Date | 16 January 2009 |
| Author | Ahmed Seleim,Nick Bontis |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
The relationship between
culture and corruption:
a cross-national study
Ahmed Seleim
Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, and Beirut Arab University, Beirut,
Lebanon, and
Nick Bontis
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the GLOBE (Global Leadership
and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness) project national cultural dimensions of values and
practices and the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Design/methodology/approach – Most empirical research on culture dimensions and corruption is
based on Hofstede’s dataset of culture conducted more than 25 years ago. Evidence from a more recent
dataset of culture dimensions is needed before current generalizations can be made. The GLOBE
project is based on the perceptions of 18,000 individuals.
Findings – The results provide empirical support for the influence of uncertainty avoidance values,
human orientation practices, and individual collectivism practices on the level of corruption after
controlling for economic and human development, which, in turn, adds to the efforts to build a general
theory of the culture perspective of corruption.
Research limitations/implications – The findings offer valuable insights on why cultural values
and cultural practices should be distinguished as they relate to corruption.
Practical implications – International policy makers as well as managers at multinational
corporations can benefit from the findings of this research study.
Originality/value – The research reported is among the first to investigate the issue of corruption
from the perspective of national cultural values and practices.
Keywords Corruption, Culture,Cross-cultural studies
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Corruption has become one of the forefront managerial issues at the national and
international levels. Corrupt practices in international business are widespread and
growing (Greenberger, 1995). Economists refer to some indicators that might be
influenced by the level of corruption, such as GDP per capita, government expenditure,
and foreign aid (e.g. Kuton et al., 2007; Ashour, 2006; Svensson, 2005). However,
corruption has many consequences, such as the delay of economic development,
international trade and investment (Glynn et al., 1997), which negatively impact
economic growth (Mauro, 1995). Empirical research shows that the presence of high
corruption significantly hinders the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to host
countries (Zhao et al., 2003), negatively affects economic success (Mauro, 1998), reduces
the level of human capital, and destroys confidence in both public and private
institutions (Husted, 2002). Moreover, globalization has increased the need for
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Culture and
corruption
165
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 10 No. 1, 2009
pp. 165-184
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691930910922978
managers to predict the potential for country corruption (Davis and Ruhe, 20 03; Park,
2003).
Notwithstanding, fighting corruption is very difficult because it is a multifaceted
social phenomenon that penetrates horizontally and vertically in many aspects of
societies. There are extensive efforts within governmental, non-governmental, and
international organizations to fight corruption and to establish specific guidelines to
prevent bribery and unethical practices in international business (Getz and Volkema,
2001). Furthermore, dealing with corruption has become an important issue in building
the state’s institutional capacity (World Bank, 1997). To understand how these
organizations can implement this, the antecedents of corruption must be investigated
empirically.
Literature review
An initial survey of the literature indicates that there are many antecedents of
corruption at the societal level. There is an agreement among various scholars in
different fields of research that distinctive societal cultures influence a wide variety of
social phenomena (House et al., 2002; Hofstede, 1983). Organizational behaviour studies
indicate that values and culture strongly influence personal behaviours (Rokeach,
1972; House et al., 2004; Hofstede, 2001). Cultural dimensions may influence the
individual’s perception of ethical situations (Scott et al., 1993); therefore, national
cultural differences are expected to influence corruption. Understanding cultural
dimensions that may influence the level of corruption is critical for a firm’s and a
country’s competitiveness (Davis and Ruhe, 2003) and for conducting international
business overseas (Park, 2003). Previous studies have shown that national culture is an
important factor that may explain corruption, but this has not been investigated across
different countries (Davis and Ruhe, 2003; Park, 2003; Husted, 1999).
Although the importance of the classification system introduced by Hofstede is
useful to understand national culture, this paper will investigate the impact of cultural
values related to corruption as investigated in the GLOBE project by House et al.
(2004). This research focuses on the relationship between cultural dimensions in the
GLOBE project, which include uncertainty avoidance, power distance, performanc e
orientation, future orientation, assertiveness, institutional collectivism, individu al
collectivism, and gender egalitarianism and human orientation as independent
variables, and corruption as a dependent variable. The present study is an extension of
previous empirical studies (Husted, 1999; Davis and Ruhe, 2003; Park, 2003) that have
used Hofstede’s (1983) culture dataset. Empirical studies that have used Hofstede’s
measures in explaining different phenomena assume that cultural values are stable and
are applicable to present-day ethical situations (e.g. Park, 2003; Davis and Ruhe, 2003;
Harris and Davison, 1999; Myers and Tan, 2002; Hasan and Ditsa, 1999). Moreover,
Mead (1998) argues that Hofstede’s findings are invaluable with regards to applying
cultural analysis to practical management problems, even though they were initially
reported more than 25 years ago.
This research is an attempt to overcome these concerns by using the GLOBE project
data set of cultural dimensions, which is more recent, extensive, and reliable. The
purpose of this research is to contribute to the understanding of corruption based on
national cultures. Javidan and House (2001) indicate that cross-cultural research can
provide insights for senior executives facing global challenges. The implications of this
research will benefit international firms, global leaders, and investors in different
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